07bmw525i

I usually clay bar/wax my car twice a year and I was wondering if I should polish it too this time. Will the polish remove the clear coat? Is this the correct order: Clay bar-Polish-Wax? I will be doing all these stages by hand. The products I?m using are in the picture below.

07bmw525i

anyone?

v_therussian

I think the reason you aren't getting any responses is because this has been covered several times in the detailing section of this forum.

Your order seems okay, but you should do some research and see what others are doing. Some people, for instance, repeat some of the steps, depending on the condition of the paint. Also, you might want to wash the car before you clay-bar - just a good once-over with water and shampoo, don't wax or polish. This is really a kind of thing that needs to be evaluated on a case by case basis. Personally, I think if your paint doesn't have any pits stuck to it, you shouldn't bother claying the car at all - it is essentially risking scratching the surface, every time you clay bar, if you happen to not spray enough quick detailer (or whatever you use) on the surface.


Anyway, enough of this - go read through the detailing section and check out detailers domain for even better tips

07bmw525i

Okay, I will do a search on the forum. Also I will be washing the car before doing all those steps.

v_therussian

The way I usually do it is like this:

1. A good thorough wash; better to shampoo twice thoroughly, no need to dry between shampoos.

1.1 inspect the car and if you have any compounding that needs to be done, do it before anything else.

1 and a half - Make sure you have enough quick detailer! In my experience, you should have a couple of bottles - this way, even if you run out of one, you'll have the extra bottle and won't have to leave the job half-way to go get some more, or worse yet, look for an alternative.

BEFORE YOU GO ANY FURTHER, MAKE SURE YOU REMEMBER TO NEVER EVER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES APPLY PRESSURE TO THE CLAY BAR. It should slide easily over the surface. If you apply pressure, you'll ruin the paint. If you have a spot that isn't clearing up, just apply more quick detailer and keep at it without applying pressure. Sometimes, I resort to a greased up razor blade or a bug/tar remover spray and some good old-fashioned rubbing, when there are things stuck to the paint so good, claybar doesn't take it. But generally, I don't recommend straying from claying over a few times, because obviously a razor will damage the paint much faster than a claybar. Anyway, back to the subject, next step is to finally:

2. Clay bar. I start with the roof, because for me that is the least accessible place, so I work my way down.

3. Some people add Polish after claying, some do compound wax and then polish. What I do is apply carnuba wax and call it a day. But this is kind of an arbitrary thing and you may want to find your own method that works better - if you do, please share


So if you put all my comments aside, my method is actually very simple and quick:
1. Wash
2. Clay
3. Carnuba Wax


Although on some particularly tough projects, you may need to repeat the "wash and clay" cycle a couple of times to get all the tree sap and such out of the paint.

I hope this helps a bit


PS if you are totally intent on applying the polish, my call would be to do it after the claybar and before carnuba. Basically, carnuba always comes last.

DetailersDomain

are you doing this by hand? if so you will not remove any clear/paint

07bmw525i

Yes, I will be doing this by hand. Thank you both for the help!!!

08535xiNJ

I just finished up with the following process:

-Wash
-Claybar
-Polish
-Wax

This was my first time detailing, but overall was happy with the results. Think you should be fine with the above recommendations.

v_therussian

We just did two cars yesterday - AW E93 335 and a black G37. Great day Used claybar to extract all the tree sap and pitting from the paint surface, then polished everything off with carnuba. A little compounding here and there on the G37, but the paint is so messed up on it, we will be bringing it back in for some scratch removal and paint correction soon. Still, it's no comparison to how it looked before - it finally started to shine properly Also will be doing some window trim wrapping on it and some other modding - I don't want to call it "shadowline", bc that's only for BMWs

Have an E36 M3 Vert that was totalled, but we got it back to essentially perfect running condition - now it needs some cosmetic TLC (bumper, fender - if anyone has some parts, give me a holler), we will eventually get around to modding it and showing.

If anyone in the NYC area wants a good outside detail, we are going to be doing promo deals for several weeks - PM me
I'll be hiring someone for interior detail eventually, and we will offer complete packages, but right now it's only exterior. Everything done by hand, no abrasives, no power tools to crap things up. We even offer filtered water car baths for those who don't want tap water on their cars

I love this stuff!

07bmw525i

Here is mine