Waxing/Polishing/Buffing?

[chapo123]

What's up guys I had a question for the car gurus, Im going to be detailing my girlfriends car soon and I was wondering what the difference is between the things in the title? I clay bared my car and them used mothers cleaner wax and called it a wrap and it came out wet looking :-) but her car has probably never been cleaned before lmao there's a lot of swirl marks and its pretty rough so I'm for sure going to use the mothers clay bar but what should I use/do after that? Should I use a polish or sealant wax or just the cleaner wax again? Im really not sure, her paint is blue if that matters. I'm doing it by hand I dont have a orbital buffer thing :-/ thanks guys !

[Audio-Concepts]

If you want to really bring out the shine, I would clay bar the entire car, then buff using compound, after that use machine glaze. Once you have done that, wash the entire car, make sure to get all the leftover compound and glaze. Once you have washed the car thoroughly, make sure it is completely dry and hand glaze every panel.

This should give you the shine you want!

[chapo123]

Thanks bro I will clay the whole car what kind of compound should I use ? Polish, cleaner wax? I'm really confused on what does what and the steps I need to take . For my car I clayed then washed then used cleaner wax and it came out really good And wet but my paint was new and no scratches or anything.

[Audio-Concepts]

3m makes a great compound, machine and hand glaze. Or you can go a more expensice route, but also very good and use Wizards!

[RAD]

+1 for the 3m stuff. The 3M perfect-it system is fairly decent for a simple 3-step system, but you'll be there forever by hand.

Chapo123, what do you wanna acheive? A little extra shine? Keep it looking washed longer? Or to remove all the swirls and properly refine the paint?

If you want some extra shine, you can grab Meguiars "Speed Glaze M80". It's a light cutting/heavy polishing compound that contains a glaze. You can apply it by hand with a Meguiars Terry towel. You'll be there all day doing it, but it'll bring some easy results.

Beware, all products that contain glazes are temporary; you'll have a nice shine for about a month, but the glaze will come off with regular washing or time.

Waxes are really a sacrificial substance so UV light damages the wax, not the paint. It'll add a little shine, but don't expect miracles.

If you're more serious and really want to get rid of swirls and small scratches, you'd be best to see a local detail product supplier. They could get you started with a Random orbital, plus pads and product, but expect to spend $$$.

[CortezDTV]

+1 for the 3m stuff. The 3M perfect-it system is fairly decent for a simple 3-step system, but you'll be there forever by hand.

Chapo123, what do you wanna acheive? A little extra shine? Keep it looking washed longer? Or to remove all the swirls and properly refine the paint?

If you want some extra shine, you can grab Meguiars "Speed Glaze M80". It's a light cutting/heavy polishing compound that contains a glaze. You can apply it by hand with a Meguiars Terry towel. You'll be there all day doing it, but it'll bring some easy results.

Beware, all products that contain glazes are temporary; you'll have a nice shine for about a month, but the glaze will come off with regular washing or time.

Waxes are really a sacrificial substance so UV light damages the wax, not the paint. It'll add a little shine, but don't expect miracles.

If you're more serious and really want to get rid of swirls and small scratches, you'd be best to see a local detail product supplier. They could get you started with a Random orbital, plus pads and product, but expect to spend $$$.

Don't use the speed glase. The dual action cleaner polish is the most agressive and works the best of swirls if you ask me

Buff on/ in for 20 30 min each pannel then work ur way around the car

Switch to a wool pad and buff all that shit off for another 20 min per pannel

Works wonders what I've been doing on my 65 mustang I just painted

I've used basically everything meguires makes

I also love their clay bar! !!!!!!! It works wonders anlong with they yellow wax

[SQMonte]

What I don't understand is how any supposed "detailer" (professional or hobbyist) could make a recommendation on what product is needed to get the results wanted WITHOUT KNOWING OR SEEING THE CONDITION OF THE PAINT. Not only that, but not all paint/clear coat is created equal...some clear coats are harder than others and require more aggressive product and possibly a machine as well.

If her car has swirls as bad as you're saying, the best you could possibly do by hand is fill them in for a little while. Removing them requires removing some of the clear coat itself, essentially sanding it away so the scratch (aka swirl marks) in it disappears. You simply can't generate the kind of speed and heat needed to break down the abrasives found in corrective products like compounds/polish/cleaner waxes that will allow them to not only remove the material needed to get rid of the existing swirl marks, but to also prevent formation of new one's due to not being able to break them down. I'm not saying you can't make your/her car look good by hand, but trust me when I tell you that you aren't removing any heavy swirls by hand. And whatever you do, don't use products intended for use with a machine (Machine Glaze) by hand.

So, can't really tell you what you should use but I can answer your initial questions as to the difference between the things listed in the thread title

Waxing - Waxing is the act of applying a wax aka LSP (Last step product) to your vehicle. The job of a wax is to protect the paint from UV rays and lock in the shine. Wax should NOT give your paint it's shine, if that's what you're using it for or expecting it to do then you aren't doing it right.

Polishing - The act of applying a polish to your vehicle. This should be done before your apply the wax. Polishing, depending on how abrasive it is, corrects imperfections in your paint like swirl marks, water spots, etc. Polishing levels out the surface of your paint/clear coat, which enhances it's depth and shine and gives an optimum surface for the wax to bond to.

Buffing - Pretty much the same thing as polishing but more a description of the physical act rather than the type of product being used.

[jdm39689]

There are compounds n polishes out there that don't work with heat.. they essentially chemical burn the paint down to an even level n r dubbed "risk free" for those who don't know how to buff. Now it doesn't work as well as high speed buffing but an option for those without experience. Presta compounds n polishes are way better them 3m imo .. oh and a good cleaner wax WILL make your paint shine it has grit to remove very very light imperfections I use cleaner wax after buffing to hide anywhere I miss or didn't polish out good enough

[SQMonte]

There are compounds n polishes out there that don't work with heat.. they essentially chemical burn the paint down to an even level n r dubbed "risk free" for those who don't know how to buff. Now it doesn't work as well as high speed buffing but an option for those without experience. Presta compounds n polishes are way better them 3m imo .. oh and a good cleaner wax WILL make your paint shine it has grit to remove very very light imperfections I use cleaner wax after buffing to hide anywhere I miss or didn't polish out good enough

I like how you completely ignored the "speed" part of my comment, LoL. I've been detailing for about 2 decades, many products claimed they could but none have been able to deliver on the promise of significant paint correction by hand. And the one's that did give some type of correction had their "correction" washed away after a few washes since they contained fillers which do more hiding the swirls than correcting them. If someone didn't have any experience, i'm thinking a product that chemically burns the clear coat isn't the best choice for him/her, but that's just me. You're right, a cleaner wax will make your paint shine.....Why is that? Because the "cleaner" part of it is a polish Most hand applied polishes/compounds use fillers simply because correction can only be achieved with the speed and heat generated by machines, random orbital and rotary.

But if you don't believe me, next time you're doing up a car do a quick wipe down in an area you just "corrected" via compound or polish by hand using a 50/50 mix of isopropyl alcohol and water and then shine a bright halogen light on the area and see how much "correction" all that work actually got you

[CortezDTV]

My point is the more work u put in the better

having just painted my mustang and having wet sanded with 3000 grit tyvec pad is the ultimate option if you have 2 hrs for every square foot of car

Then you still have to buff throug cleaner/polish wax, then I do yellow wax, then wax, wash it off then clay bar

This will remove the swirls like monte said depending on how bad, u could sand with 2000 or 2500 and spray a light clear ontop again

I would reccomend u get a orbital buffer for $20 and go at it with some good compound don't push hard or ull increase the swirls