Thread: Quick Question Wax/Polish/Rubbing Comp

Rubbing compound is probably a lot more aggressive than what you need. You want to remove as little clear coat as possible to make the swirls disappear. I don't think our clear coat is thick enough to wet sand safely, but you'd need a thickness gage to be certain.

Here's a good place to start: We Are Car Care -- Car Wax, Car Polish, Auto Detailing Supplies, Car Buffers & Car Accessories Store
They have a good selection of products and a lot of tutorials and information.

If you're looking for minor to moderate swirl removal, I'd recommend getting two polishes. One moderately abrasive polish (I used Menzerna Intensive Polish on the badly scratched areas. Then, you'll want a less abrasive finishing polish to remove minor swirls from the rest of the car without remove too much clearcoat. I used Menzerna Final Polish on mine. You'll also want different pads, as some pads are more abrasive than others.

If you've never polished before, I'd recommend a random orbital buffer (like the Porter Cable 7424) over a rotary. It's much less likely to cause permanent damage to your finish.

As for which order to go in, I'd recommend:

• Wash
• Claybar (to remove contaminants and old waxes)
• Wash (to remove claybar residue)
• Polish (to remove minor scratches and swirls)
• Wash (to remove any polish residue)

Your paint will now be clean, free of contaminants, and smooth. It will also be exposed to the elements, so you'll need something to protect it. Your options are:

• Glaze: Gives a deeper, wetter looking finish, but doesn't provide a lot of protection. Should always have sealant or wax applied over it.
• Sealant
• Wax

Here's a good writeup on the differences between waxes and sealants.

You don't need anything so involved to get rid of swirls. After a few applications of turtle wax Ice my swirls were gone. When I finally clayed the car, I saw them come back but of course I just waxed it right after that (wash in between, of course). I used P21S Concourse wax with carnauba and haven't seen any swirls since, and that was back in July.

formula 113 wax FTMFW

Originally Posted by MNGP07

wait why do you wash after polish? i always just went straight from the polish to the wax. is that ok? it shines like a mofo...

It's probably not necessary, but I just like to make sure there's no residue left over.

Edit: Some polishes (including Menzerna) leave a residue from the lubricants in the polish. After polishing my new car, I used Menzerna Top Inspection to clean off any residue.

Originally Posted by Sabrewings

You don't need anything so involved to get rid of swirls. After a few applications of turtle wax Ice my swirls were gone. When I finally clayed the car, I saw them come back but of course I just waxed it right after that (wash in between, of course). I used P21S Concourse wax with carnauba and haven't seen any swirls since, and that was back in July.

It depends a lot on what color car you have. Some waxes are very good at hiding swirls, especially on lighter colored cars. I try to remove as little clear coat as possible, and hide what I can with wax, but on a darker car (e.g. Redfire Metallic or black) pretty much everything shows up. I thought my Redfire Metallic GP looked good just hiding the swirls, until I polished it and saw how clear the paint was.

A full polish regimen can be a PITA, but you should only have to go through something like that once if you take care of it.

thread is old....too old.