I'm quite sure this has been discussed many times, but a search of wax vs polish gave so many hits that it was difficult to find easily. Please forgive the redundancy.

My car was built in August and I waited 4 months before waxing. I have been using wax products for years and am happy with the results. Wax removal is not always easy, but the results are worth it. I've looked into different polishes, but am not sure why or when I would use it. For a new car with the finish in new condition, claying and waxing seemed the way to go. I didn't have swirls or scratches. Some products suggest wax after polish, some sound like they only use polish and no wax. If wax is put over polish isn't wax more of a protectant and isn't that what I want?

My car is NBP. The color is deep with great reflection after waxing. A freshly waxed black car looks great. What would be the advantage of adding polish to process?

 

The terms wax, polish, sealant, and cleaner, etc are used (incorrectly) somewhat interchanably and that makes a confusing topic even more so. To make it even more confusing, some products are combinations of the products.

Anyway, polish is used between claying and waxing or sealing to remove minor scratches, swirl marks, pitted areas and other paint blemishes. Since your car is NBP (so is mine), you'll have swirls soon if you don't already have them. It's a great color but our color shows swirls very well. A good wax will temporarily fill some of the minor imperfections. A properly applied polish of the correct abrasiveness will actually remove the minor imperfections.

I highly recommend going to Autopia for more information. It's an excellent site with some very knowledgable and helpful people.

 

Norty, contrary to popular marketing belief, all in one type products privide very minimal protection. They usually have very lihgt grade abrasive or chemical cleaners in them with either a polymer/acrylic protection. You are way better off going with multistep products, each providing there own unique benefit. Polishes are what makes the car look good, waxes provide a barrier of protection, and not an armor barrier. Carnaubas long known for their warmth in appearance provide good protection, but far from the best, they usually require an additional application every 3-4 weeks, as they have a tendency to either melt or evaporatewith UV or sun exposure, there just not really the best out there in todays world. Polymer or acrylics on the other hand are synthetic "waxes", which will outlast (the good ones) any carnauba product. There applied in the same fashion, some requiring anywhere froma 15 to 60 minute wait time for removal, so there is some bonding, or "cross linking". They will actually bond to the paint as opossed to laying (carnauba) on the surface.
With your new car, theres no need to wait for paint curing, that was accomplished way before you took delivery of it. If your happy with the general appearance of it, congrats, your not as anal as most! For proper bonding, I would still however, recommend a light grade polish before you seal it up, with either above product. You still need to clean the paint, you may not think so, but theres industrial fallout and/or dirt, brake dust etc on your surface. If left unprotected, you leave the surface open to attack from the elements. So regardless of what the label says, always seal up after polishing. Theres a sticky in this forum designed to help out with folks unfamiliar with claying, many people have added additional purposful comments. Theres also a proper washing sticky. Good reading!

So to answer your question, adding polish to the formula in my opinion, isnt an option, its a necessity.