Hey guys, i was wondering if you guys have used a paint polish to bring back the shine. My paint is looking a little rough and faded, i have alot of time on my hands right now so trying to keep busy. Any suggestions??


Chad...

 

I like Maguires products. I use the 3 step setup and it does a good job of cleaning the paint and it sure does shine.. Works well on really old paint, like my 97 but also on my 02 T&C van. I also use a small power polisher. I am not skilled enough to use a big polisher and heavy materials..

 

I was leaning towards maguires, ill look at the 3 step set up. So you didnt use a terry cloth or something like that.

Thanks Chad..

 

If you've got the time do it right. Hand wash, clay bar, wash again, scratch and swirl remover, polish, wax. If you take your time to do it right it will take you a good 2 days atleast. Once all the crap is off the roads i'm going to get mine shining up with this method, I rushed last year with just polish and wax and it still make the truck look great.

 

I use good cloths. As was said, hand wash and dry. Then into the shop for the 3 step method. I use the polisher just to make it go faster. Works pretty well. The Clay bar technique is touchy as you have to make sure you know where not to push hard, like hard corners or creases in the body work. With todays waffer thin paints, you could be to primer in 2 swipes..

 

I think ill just stay away from the brick then! Im a rig hand, im not use to taking much care into doing stuff gently lol...I usually break all my kids toys when trying to fix them, or im just too rough with stuff.

 

Red B, why do you think your 06 paint is fading? Have to park outside and harsh environment? I guess the red vehicles I've had fade faster. Good thing is it will look like new when you are done with it. If you don't want to use a clay bar, I have use the Liquid Clay Bar called ICE by Turtle Wax.I first wash truck,then shake the bottle of liquid clay bar up real good, as it in 3 layers. Wash it real good with the Liq Clay, it will get everything off as a kind of "prep" to polish or wax it. Pretty good results for a lazy fella like me and you can be as rough with it as you want. I got on a detailers web site, and some were bragging on the new McGuires NXT 2.0 - - I tried it and got really good results. Good luck. Wish I had the discipline to do mine once a season, it would pay off.

 

Do you think the clay bar would take my vinyl decals off or wreck them? What does this clay bar do exactly? Is it something that does a real deep clean and get rid of all of the oxidization on the paint?

 

I don't know about it taking off decals, I think it could if you were to rough on it. It takes all the crap out of your paint, that even hand washing won't do, even hand wash your truck and take one light swipe and see how much better it looks. I waxed my truck once last summer and the more you do it the less work it is each time, 2 times a year is the magic number i'd say. I imagine I will be at it a solid 3 days to get it looking good, I got a ton of light scratches over the winter, and a small one that is threw the paint that will take forever to fix I don't know about a liquid clay bar, probably better in some ways, like because if you drop the clay bar you throw it out. It probably won't do as good of job, but fine for most.

The one time being rough on the paint is good is scratch remover, you couldn't rub to hard by hand, ever. I would highly recommend a buffer, I use one from Princess Auto, it goes so slow that you could leave it in one spot all day and do nothing. If you really know what your doing you can use one on a grinder, but you can burn your paint VERY easily, but for someone who is good it will do the best job.

If you wanted to skip one step I would say clay bar. I just did polish and wax it looked good for about a week, got rid of all the light scratches but the polish washed off and they came back, because polish won't get rid of them it just fills them up temporarly. But even that I rushed it like crazy and did a bad job and it still took me all day.

 

Well im always driving on gravel roads to work, she gets soo dusty then with all the mud and snow it picks up. My buddy has the same colour and his paint looks soo much cleaner then mine, but he never leaves town though. He has had his longer then me too, i try to clean my truck atleast twice a week at the car wash and always use the wax when done. "spray wand wax" She just looks really dull, looks great wet but when it dry's there is like no shine left. Truck is just alittle too big to park inside plus the wife parks the 300 in there, it would be war if i could park in there. I finally got my Rig back to work so ill be buzy for a couple of weeks, but when im done work ill be bathing that thing till she shine's.

 

i would highly recommend a 3 step system - cleaner, polish, wax
i clay bar once every 2 years. once per year is overkill - or so i've heard from some detailing gurus - as long as you keep up with regular polishing/waxing between clays

i have had great luck with the mother's system. i have also had great luck with a porter cable power polisher - that thing saved so much time it's not even funny!

 

A lot would depend on how often you wash it and waxing. If the truck is a few years old and never been waxed, clay bar is a good idea. I think for the climate we see clay bar 1 time a year is fine, and polish/wax twice. Our paint sees a lot worse crap then someone in California, and needs the upkeep to protect it.

 

I think once you "clean" the paint with either the 1st step cleaner or clay bar product you will see a noticable shine difference. That wand wax at the car wash builds up on the paint and makes it look cloudy. The first time you do the 3 step, it will look like new..

 

The less you do at the car wash the better! The hand brush is like taking a knife to your paint

 

Agreed. I only use it on the chrome wheels or bumpers for that salty fog.