THE Meguiar's Professional Way to Detail your Car or Truck

***Special Thanks to the guys at IS300.net for this great info***

I am a memebr of that forum (as also I own an IS300) so I thought I would share what I just learned from the guys over at Meguiar's. Let me tell you THIS IS THE WAY TO DETAIL YOUR CAR PERIOD. Night and day difference over anything other method I have been trying for years....






This meet was one that i'm glad i didn't miss. I went into the Meguiar's class knowing practically nothing about paint care, and came out of it confident enough to put a mirror shine on any cars clear coated paint. So first I have to thank Mike at Meguiar's for teaching this class.

I will not reiterate what Don has stated above. only that Mike thoroughly went over the "Meguiar's 5 step paint care cycle" with us. (which can be found here at question #7.)

Here are the steps and the products that were used on WiLz's car:

Step #1 - Washing
It was explained that you are only to wash your car with a soap that is formulated for cars, and NOT to use regular dish soap like Dawn or Parmolive. the dish soap has degreasers and other chemical in it to that helps strip the wax off of your car and can then work at your paint to accelerate oxidation!!! (I had always used dish soap to wash my cars, BUT NO MORE.)

Mike also explained the "Two Bucket" system, (one bucket for soaping up the car, and the other to rinse the dirt off of the mit so that your not putting dirt back into the soap bucket. this dirt might find its way back onto the car and possibly you rubbing it into the paint and damaging it).

But Mike recommended to use a "One Bucket" system with a Meguiar's "Git Guard" at the bottom of the bucket. The dirt will fall below the guard and stay at the bottom of the bucket and your mit will be guarded from touching the bottom of the bucket.

Mike recommended Meguiar's following products:
• Quik Suds Car Wash Strip (Part# G-11920)...$4.99
• Grit Guard (Part# G-408)...$14.95

Step #2 - Cleaning / Prepping
Claying the car to remove hard stuck on contaminates, that standard washing of a car would have no chance of removing. claying is important for making the surface of the paint flat and smooth. (the smooth surface is needed for the base of a mirror finsh end result).
i didn't even know what claying was. so this was a big new thing for me. not to mention with the hands on class, i got to use it to help clean WiLz's car.

Removing paint imperfections, (eg. swirl & cob web marks, bird dropping stains and other acids that have etched into the paint. we use Meguiar's Scratch X and some elbow grease for this one.

Mike recommended Meguiar's following products:
• Quik Clay Detailing System (Part# G-1116)...$9.99
• Scratch X (Part# G-10307)...$6.99

Step #3 - Pure Polishing
I did really understand polishing until i read "Meguiar's 5 step paint care cycle", which in it gives Webster's definitions:
"A preparation that is used to produce gloss, and often color for the protection and decoration of a surface." &
"To make smooth and glossy by friction."
again an emphasis on making the surface "smooth".

The polish that was used was "Speed Glaze 80" that was applied with the Porter Cable 7424 D/A variable speed polisher. i had never used this tool before and wilz was brave enough to give people the chance on his paint. and i was one of those people, and as you can tell by looking at wilz's hood above, all that got the oppertunity to try this did a good job. (the Porter Cable 7424 was set to setting 5.)

Mike recommended Meguiar's following products:
• Mirror Glaze "Speed Glaze" 80 (Part# M-8032)...$14.99
• Meguiar's verion of the Porter Cable 7424 (Part# G-100A)...$231.95
• Polish Pad for the Porter Cable (Part #WDAV99B)...$24.95
(Mike mentioned a possible sale promotion next month for the Porter Cable @ $140 with lifetime warranty.)

Step #4 - Protecting
We applied "NXT Generation Tech Wax" and removed it 15 mins. later, (both appling and removal was by hand).

Mike recommended Meguiar's following products:
• NXT Generation Tech Wax (Part# G-12718)...$14.99

Step #5 - Maintaining
This is like periodic touch up cleaning/maintaining of all the work that was done in steps 1-4.

Mike recommended Meguiar's following products:
• Quik Detailer (this comes with the Quik Clay Detailing System from step #1 above.)
• or just Quick Detailer (Part# A-3332)...$6.99
• NXT Generation Spray Wax (Part# G-12824)...$6.99

Step #3 - Pure Polishing
I did really understand polishing until i read "Meguiar's 5 step paint care cycle", which in it gives Webster's definitions:
"A preparation that is used to produce gloss, and often color for the protection and decoration of a surface." &
"To make smooth and glossy by friction."
again an emphasis on making the surface "smooth".

The polish that was used was "Speed Glaze 80" that was applied with the Porter Cable 7424 D/A variable speed polisher.

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This is the problem I have with Meguiar's products - so much marketing hype that it is hard to figure out what they are really saying. Even with all the talk quoted above they still don't manage to explain that Mequiar's #80 is an abrasive. Though all the marketing hype and the reluctance to use the word "abrasive" is understandable since Mequiar's is trying to sell to the general public.

If you go to http://www.autopia.org/ you will find that the people there understand that a polish is an abrasive and don't feel the need to avaoid using the term "abrasive".

That said, you shouldn't need or want to use a polish (abrasive) each time you apply wax/sealant to the car. A polish is used to remove defects in the paint such as swirl marks but if you take proper care in washing and drying you should not be leaving swirl marks that need to be removed before waxing/sealing; just a clay bar treatment should be enough.

The reviews of Meguiar's NXT Wax at autopia.org show that people don't think highly of this product, perhaps in part because Meguiar's so overhyped the product, but that it is considered not bad for something that you can buy at most any local store.

Meguiar's verion of the Porter Cable 7424 (Part# G-100A)...$231.95

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You can get much better prices on a Porter-Cable 7424/7336 polisher and pads from Autopia or other vendors on the Autopia Vendor Links page.

dcampen said:

This is the problem I have with Meguiar's products - so much marketing hype that it is hard to figure out what they are really saying. Even with all the talk quoted above they still don't manage to explain that Mequiar's #80 is an abrasive. Though all the marketing hype and the reluctance to use the word "abrasive" is understandable since Mequiar's is trying to sell to the general public.

If you go to http://www.autopia.org/ you will find that the people there understand that a polish is an abrasive and don't feel the need to avaoid using the term "abrasive".

That said, you shouldn't need or want to use a polish (abrasive) each time you apply wax/sealant to the car. A polish is used to remove defects in the paint such as swirl marks but if you take proper care in washing and drying you should not be leaving swirl marks that need to be removed before waxing/sealing; just a clay bar treatment should be enough.

The reviews of Meguiar's NXT Wax at autopia.org show that people don't think highly of this product, perhaps in part because Meguiar's so overhyped the product, but that it is considered not bad for something that you can buy at most any local store.

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Thanks for the tip. Now I have never tried Meguirs stuff. Usually Eagle One, Zymol and 3M has a great wax. Any other great products....

okkin said:

Any other great products....

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Do a search for Zaino's or Griot's.

I have tried and use he NXT wax every 6 months with Eagle One Tech Wax every 3 months. Perfect combination. By the way...I do it all by hand.

Shaun

There are a lot of people who like NXT, and others who don't. In reality, most waxes/sealants are pretty good............ some are just better than others, or look that way on certain colors. Much of that is subjective. However, one thing that isn't subjective is good paint prep........... that is the key! So, in that sense, Meguiar's is correct............ cleaning/claying/polishing/glazing the paint is the key to success. If you get the prep right, just about any wax will look nice.