polish and wax - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

#1 12-10-2002, 01:05 AM

What do you guys do in the way of polish and wax? My red '86 has very nice paint and looks great, especially with a new coat of wax. I recently got some Mcguires swirl remover, glaze, and wax. The car looks better than ever but I wonder if I'm doing it right or just wasting time and money. What the heck is glaze anyway?

4NDELIT · #2 12-10-2002, 01:26 AM

I would highly reccomend Zaino's bro's polishes. They are synthetic waxes that do a great job of bringing out the shine in paint, and since they are synthetic, they will last a LONG time.

sublettd · #3 12-10-2002, 03:10 PM

Took my SL to the Mercedes dealership for an external detailing...claying, polish, wax, etc., for $120.00...and now maintain it by using Liquid Glass regularly. You can apply additional coats after four hours.

Two minor cautions: use back and forth motions for application; and dark colors have a tendency to streak a bit with Liguid Glass. So, instructions on the can say to take a damp cloth and rub out the streaks before they harden. My 500
SL is also red and it shines like a new born baby's butt.

suginami · #4 12-10-2002, 06:36 PM

I have used the Zaino's products, and they are good, but I prefer the Meguiar's products. It doesn't last as long as Zaino, but the members of the site went to Merguiar's headquarters in Irvine, and did tests on a glossy black panel with Zaino and other products, and with our own eyes it was clearly obvious that nothing shined as good as Meguiar's Gold Class Wax.

islander · #5 09-13-2003, 01:18 PM

Get yourself a can of "Finish First" I've been using it for many years on all my cars and it is the best........Forget all the highly touted waxes , they can't hold a candle to this silicone. giving your car several coats of wax is not possible since the waxes contain a remover which will remove your first coat.

4NDELIT · #6 09-13-2003, 01:30 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by islander
giving your car several coats of wax is not possible since the waxes contain a remover which will remove your first coat.

I've never heard of that... I thought the only way to get wax off your car was to wash it with dish soap?

ESVIC · #7 09-13-2003, 01:37 PM

I followed Afshins advice and worked out really well. Here it is

Quote:

Originally posted by placo1
Hi Jay,

Ok here's a list of what to do, if you follow these steps your paint will look amazing.

1. Definitely take the time to clay the car, even a garage queen will accumulate contaminants over time. I'd consider my car a garage queen as it had 54K when I bought it last year and it needed to be clayed. I clayed it again this year (63K miles) and once again the clay did get dirty. My car is always in the garage only driven weekends, hasn't seen rain since I bought it and I'm as anal as they get about keeping it clean. The reason I'm saying all this is because it really does make a difference. You can buy Clay Magic at most Wal Marts or the Mothers Clay bar at most auto stores. You will also need an empty spray bottle which you will need to fill with a cap full of car wash soap and water.

Begin by completely washing the car and rinsing, don't dry. Then use the home made lubricant and spray a small area and gently glide the clay over the surface. Start at the top of the car and work your way down. Keep gliding until it feels like glass. Complete the whole car using this technique and be sure to knead the clay constantly to push contaminants away from the working surface. Once you've completed the paint and plastic cladding take a small chunk of the clay and do your wheels.

2. Wash the car a second time to remove any clay residue and the lubricant.

3. Polish/Swirl Remove the paint. You can use two different products for this. I recommend S100 Shine Enhancing Paint Cleanser because it's effortless to use and can be purchased at the Harley Dealer for $9.00. If a Harley Dealer isn't convenient I would recommend Meguiars #9 Swirl Remover, which can be purchased at most auto parts stores.

Both polishes can be applied by hand or random orbital. If doing this by hand you will want to move your hand in straight lines in the same direction the wind flows over your car. On the sides you should use an up and down straight line. This is to prevent swirls. S100 should be applied a panel at a time and removed before it dries. Meguiars can be applied to three panels at a time and then removed. Remember no circular motions.

4. Glaze the paint if you want. I've personally never used #7 Show Car Glaze but as I mentioned earlier it provides excellent results. With this glaze you will need to apply a very very small amount and spread it as thin as possible using the same technique as the polish. Do the entire car before you start to remove anything. Go back to the first panel and start removing only the top layer of the glaze, don't waste your time trying to remove all of it as it will take forever. Once you've gone over the entire car go back to the first panel and remove the remainder of the glaze.

5. Wax the paint. For this I recommend the Meguiars Gold Class as it really deepens the paint color, enhances the pearls and has an amazing reflection. Apply this also in straight lines the same way you applied the polish. Do the entire car and go back to the first panel and start removing everything.

6. Finish with a water spritz or quick detailer. In humid climates the Gold Class can be streaky and will almost always create the white wax dust. A spray bottle full or water or a Quick Detailer will remove the streaks and white dust and leave the car looking perfectly clean. My personal favorite Quick Detailer is Meguiars Final Detail. You can use this on your wheels, chrome, rubber, plastic, in the engine and door jambs. This has to be special ordered from a Meguiars distibutor, usually a auto paint supply store.

BTW if you do all of this I would split it up into two days and work from early morning until noon. This way you won't piss off the family and will still have part of the day to relax.

For those following this thread let me know if I missed anything. Any questions?

islander · #8 09-13-2003, 05:06 PM

Wax can either be removed by a detergent, wear off, be broken down by sunlight or just deteriorate. The polish I use is easy to apply and polish and has the added advantage that the more coats you apply the better the finish becomes. I usually apply three coats ( about 10 minutes per coat) annually and the water runs right off. the cars are much easier to wash also. I even did a 37' boat on a regular basis and I would never try that with a wax.

jjrodger · #9 09-13-2003, 07:46 PM

I've used a lot of different products. Zymol I think is over-rated. It is very expensive and a pain to apply. The finish is good, but not breathtakingly good. I'm now using Meguiar's Liquid Crystal system 1 and 2 followed by Gold Class wax. I am very happy with the result. I think this is the best finish I've yet achieved.

ESVIC that E500 looks great!

LeaUK · #10 09-14-2003, 06:39 AM

Uhm,

I've been using AutoGlym for the last 4 months on my 'new baby and to be honest have been reasonably happy with the results. However I often get really frustrated after rain kindly deposits nasty 'splot' patterns all over the car. More importantly I'm almost our of AutoGlym, so a change is as good as a rest - as they say!

Having looked at Meguiar's web site and undertaken their Rx questionnaire, Meguiar recommends the following products for my car.

Car conditions:

Paint - Like New, Two-Tone
Parked indoors - never
Paint condition - partially repainted

Appearance Goal - absolute best
Odometer - 79000
Time Goal - 4 hours or more / month
Sunlight - severe
High Temp - fair
Low Temp - Moderate
Acid Rain - moderate
Ozone - moderate
Airborne Salts - moderate
Rainfall - serious :-(
Humidity - fair

Products:

1. Gold Class Premium Car Wash Shampoo & Conditioner (as I'll regularly wash my vehicle (2 times/month min)

2. Scratch X - not sure if my paint does need this yet, as there are zero marks on the paintwork anywhere. No bird droppings/tar or anything. But a couple of very slight swirl marks are evident - what do you guys think??

3. Deep Crystal System Polish

4. Clear Coat Car Wax

5. Quik Detailer - I quite like the sound of this as I'm often just trying to remove dust - but is it just distilled water, or is their actually some ingredient?

Any comments chaps?

4NDELIT · #11 09-14-2003, 11:58 AM

as far as dust, try buying a california duster. Sounds odd, but it's a red duster that picks up dust like a magnet.

http://www.calcarduster.com/originalDuster.asp

LeaUK · #12 09-14-2003, 03:58 PM

Interesting, but not too sure....

Unfortunately the dust and rain marking here in the UK probably require little heavier removal technique

But this could be good for 'standard' dust - of which I do suffer too.

Do you own one? If so, I guess that your personal experience is positive?

jjrodger · #13 09-14-2003, 05:35 PM

Learoy, be careful about using a quick detailer or duster in the UK. I used Autoglym's instant show shine two years ago, and while it was great at removing flies from the bumper and windscreen after a day's driving, it was inappropriate on the paintwork: just too much dust. Similarly dusting the paintwork down. I had to work hard to repair the damage done.

Now if the car is only dusty or maybe covered in tree sap, I hose it down and wipe it off with an Autoglym synthetic chamois. Once you get a routine going, it only takes 15 minutes and gives better results.

This weekend I waxed my SL with Meguiar's Gold Class wax, good result. I also did my mother's SLK230, which I have not waxed for at least a year, and used the Liquid Crystal system, steps 1 and 2, followed by Gold Class wax: excellent. It is showing the best finish in a long, long time, better than new. The shampoo is good, too, and the Tyre Gloss is also excellent, better even than the Autoglym Tyre Dressing.

The marks you see left after rain have got nothing to do with your polish. It's just all the crap in our air over here. I keep a bottle of autoglym and use it regularly for various bits and bobs because it is so easy to use.

LeaUK · #14 09-14-2003, 07:54 PM

Well I have been happy with AutoGlym and the rest of my bottle shall stay in the boot - it's so easy to use, and gives such a good result.

Maybe best for those quick polish as 'I'm off to the relatives' scenario!

4NDELIT · #15 09-14-2003, 09:37 PM

I do have the california duster, and it works on my car, but around here, it's a dry dust, I'm not sure if it's different over there. I know it works well, and I haven't had any problems. They're actually quite popular here. But, if jj says they're not appropriate for over there, I'd trust him.