Prepping Car for show
 

I just waxed my car last week. I washed, used Meguairs Deep Crystal Paint Cleaner, then Meguairs Deep Crystal Paint Polish, then finished up with Meguairs NXT Paste Wax. My question is what i should do to prep the car, I am going to wash my car the night before, should i do a quick detailer after the wash? I am going to wait until i get to the show to put on the tire shine. I will sweep everything out and use Meguairs Cockpit shine for the interior. What else should i do to the car? Or not do? Should i use the quick detailer after the wash or wait till i get to the show?

wax after you wash it. I suggest use megs. nxt wax. i personally think its the best you can buy in a regular auto store. Then when you get to the show use quick detailer to get the dust off it. Grease up the tires at the show, and make sure the windows look perfect with no streaks.

I just waxed last week, you saying i should wax it again?

yea why not, i wax my car 1ce a week

Damn thats alot, i heard you only wax your car a couple times during the summer if that.

Cough up the dough and get souveran. :sweet:

I say use QD right before show... dress tires at show and anything else that looks dull.

Is an indoor or outdoor show. If indoor i hope u dont have tooo many swirls... they will show like a mofo.


Pce

Its outdoors, Souveran, what is that?

How many coats of NXT paste did you put on? For the best results you should do 2 coats if possible. Ideally you should do them about 12 hours apart so that the polymers in the wax will set up but we dont all have the luxury. With the NXT its best to use very thin layers on both coats for the best look. The only way to get the just waxed look is to wax it, however, the NXT Speed Detailer works great to keep it maintained and compliments the wax well. You can always polish over the wax too. It wont remove the wax because it has no abrasives. I recommend the Meguiars #7 Show Car Glaze. It really goes well with the NXT, i think it adds more shine the the DC polish and then NXT adds the depth on top of it.

meguiar's #7 show car glaze followed by wax. The glaze makes the paint shine, wax doesn't really do anything but protect the finish. Don't use the cheap crap. Did you clean under the hood?

Get a good polish/glaze apply that and then get a good wax to put over it. You can layer the polish to get a better shine. 2-3 coats of polish depending on how good the paint is to begin with. Then use a good wax, only one layer. Souveran is an expensive wax, but it s widely accepted around the world as the best wax out there. Think it runs about 70 bucks. If you are gonna use that though, wash->clay bar->polish x2-3->wax->as needed when you get to the show use a spray like meguiars or mothers has. You can use the spray from the mothers clay bar pack it is a "detailer" and a smooth lubricant. Great for quick touch ups before a night on the town or a show. Oh and if you've got it, machine apply polish and wax, gets a much more uniform coating and shinier wetter look. Polish should only be applied 2-4 times a year as the wax protects it, wax monthly.

There is no real benefit to layering the polish. All you are doing is spreading oil on top of oil and wiping of the excess. The shine is achieved by just doing it correctly.

My question is do i need to wax it again? I just waxed my car last week. Or should i just wash it?

Soonercivic, so i should polish over the wax? and then add another layer of wax?

It is ok to polish over the wax for added shine but it isnt as effective but will still shine quite nicely. Since you already have wax on it the paint has been sealed and has a coat over it which will preven the polishing oils from getting into the paint. According to Mike Phillips at Meguiars, NXT is actually the most durable and best protecting wax that they make so if you do polish it wont remove any of the wax. I polish with #7 over my NXT and it comes out great, you just need to make sure you have even application because its easier to get streaks due to the fact it is on top of the wax and not worked into the paint. If you have just one coat of wax on, i would say you should put another on because NXT looks twice as nice when you have 2 thin coats. Just make very sure when you do this the car is very clean. If it isnt clean you will rub dirt around and cause swirls and scratches. When you go to the show, take some tire shine, glass cleaner, and NXT Speed detailer to shine it up nicely when you get there. The Speed Detailer will remove any dust that you have and provide a shiny smooth surface, its pretty much a super thin spray wax.

Some of you guys know what your talking about here. But #7 is way to greasy and hard to get off, for someone like this guy to try it, he'll just make a mess. If i were you and you had my knowledge, Id first Clay it with the blue clay magic, Wheel the car with a 3m compouding pad and use Automagic's XP polish, Go over that with a portercable polisher and a lake country orange pad with Automagic's xp swirl remover, mix a little or Pro's cherry wax in there. Than for the final coat go with Automagic's EZ paste :tup: . Slap a coat of that on at your house. and even when you get to the show re-wax it again just to add clarity and make it shine. EZ paste also Hides imperfections in the paint. (and thats only to take care of the paint). you still have the engine and interior, but ill let you figure that out.

Just my .02

Sooner, sounds good, Saturday night i will be putting on Meguairs DeepCrystal Polish over the NXT then i will put another coat of wax on. When i get to the show i will put on the QD at the show and clean the windows and shine the tires.

Sooner, should i just wash the car, then put the polish on then the wax again?

the deep crystal is good for polish. There is so much you can do to your paint. But for a car show you would want a caranuba wax for the reflection and wet look. Do the crystal polish first. And than you can do the nxt, wich is a polymer based wax. I suggest going to and autoparts store and getting meguiars #26 yellow paste wax. Remember compund-polish-wax. so polish the paint first. Trust me ive been detailing for almost 7 years, not to sound like a jerkoff i kinda know what im talking about

civicrice-
#7 applies by hand very easily and removes very easily. If not, then you are doing it wrong. Also, it doesnt sound like drew has a polisher. The process that you are recommending is good, but for a car that has a lot of paint imperfections. You are also doing it backwards. Why would you use swirl remover over the polish? Polish contains pure oils and swirl remover is abrasive, so the swirl remover would remove a majority, if not all of the polish. He may not even need a rubbing compound anyway, we dont know the condition of his paint to that extent. He is also looking for what he should do the day of the show to prep his car, there is no way he would be able to accomplish this before the show.

Drew-
If your going to wash the car here are the steps i would recommend.
1. wash
2. pick up a clay bar and use that before you dry, its easy just rub it on the paint. this will remove bonded contaminates from the paint and leave a "smooth as glass" feeling. Its very cheap to do, probably take another 10 minutes.
3. Dry very throughly
4. Polish the entire vehicle. Polish doesnt need to dry, wipe on wipe off.
5. Do 2 thin coats of the NXT to ensure complete coverage. Let dry for 10 to 15 minutes before you remove it. Use the "swipe test" to make sure its ready to remove. Run you finger on top of it, if it comes of easily then your ok, if its sticky then wait a lil longer. If you have time, allow as long as possible (up to 12 hrs) before the second coat. NXT contains polymers that, if you let them set up correctly, it will provide better protection and shine. Also with NXT if you only do one coat, it tends to look streaky, 2 will eliminate that. If you dont already, use microfiber towels to remove the polish and wax. They wont cause swirls like terry towels will.

If you use a tire shine put it on and let it dry overnight if possible and then re-apply again the morning of the show. This will allow it to soak into the tires so it will last longer and add more deep shine. Also, make sure when washing that you wash the wheel wells. Thats what everyone forgets when they go to shows. You might also want to pick up some trim detailer to use on the black plastic trim. When you get to the show use the QD to remove any dust you picked up on the way, clean the windows and youll be good to go. Not only will it look good, but it will provide proper protection for the paint. If you really want to get into detailing it though, then we will add some steps.

your right on the swirl remover, but thats why you thorw some cherry wax in there to polish at the same time, sounds like bs but it works. I know he's not going to do that, but thats how i do my car. but i do suggest the #26 over the nxt, i forgot all about it.

I tried that, but on my nhbp civic the nxt gave a much deeper wetter shine and #26 took some of that away, and ive experienced that on many cars ive done. In my gallery there are some pics of my car after spending about 8 hours with #83 #80 #7 and 2 coats NXT on the paint. If you are going to add a polish to the swirl remover, you might as well use Meguiars #80. It is abrasive, but contains a lot of TS oils as well. Save the trouble of mixing.

you need microfiber towels to final buff #7 glaze. Otherwise it will be streaky.

To my understanding a glaze is the product with oils and a polish has abbrassive qualities. Glaze such as #7 have oils and fillers which fill in and round off the swirls and scracthes which causes the light to reflect rather than refract. Polish's are used to remove thin layers of CC to eliminate paint defects. So basically a swirlremover is a polish and a glaze is a oil based filler used to hide swirls for a short period of time which would be great for a show. Also i find it easier to dry the car off then clay the vehicle rather than using soapy water b/c the lubricty of clay lube is far better than soapy water and when using the spray you can actually see the zone that can be clayed rather than a totally wet panel which leads to a better job and less marring of the paint.

Just my .02cents

Pce

Yea last week i washed my car, put on Meguairs Deep Crystal Cleaner, then took Meguairs Deep Crystal Polish, then followed up with the NXT Paste Wax, i used MF towels to remove them all.

Is it bad to wax your car too much? Cause i bought the Car April 4 and they detailed it before i got it. I then waxed my car last week like i said above. People are like, your gonna wax the paint off your car. So it is okay to go ahead and polish and wax it all? Should i use the Paint Cleaner again before i use the polish and wax if i do it?

The Deep Crystal cleaner is a chemical cleaner only, it has no abrasives in it at all. According to Mike Phillips, the meguiars rep, #7 as well as all other meguiars polishes are pure polishes containing only oil and no abrasive qualities at all. A paint cleaner will make it look better and will minimize any swirls and defects. Balistek is right, it is easier to clay after drying, but faster before hand. Either way will do the same job. It isnt bad to wax you car too much. It is impossible to wax the paint off the car unless your using a cleaner wax only. NXT contains no abrasives and will not remove any paint or previous wax.

How often should you remove the old wax and go over with Clay Bar, Cleaner, Polish, and wax?

So Saturday night i'm going to was my car then polish and then wax. Should i put a coat of shine on the tires when i put my car up and let it sit, then when i get to the car show put on another coat?

With the old wax you dont want to remove it very often because you sacrifice protection. I remove my old wax twice a year. Once before winter so i get a few good coats on it and once before summer so i can start fresh for the nicer weather.

As for the tire shine are you using spray to wipe on? If its a spray then spray after you dry the car, let it soak for an hour or so and then once again before you put it up. If you spray at the show it will appear runny before it soaks in. If its a wipe, wipe it on when you put it up and then re-apply at the show.

what i did was washed, clayed, waxed the car a week before then washed it and waxed it the night before the show
then when i got to the show, wiped it off then used the detailer spray on it and used the tire gel and also i used back to black for all the dull black trimming and the windows i had lil microfiber towel i use just for windows, it worked perfect! my car was ooooo so clean! and it stayed that way all week too!


as for waxing every week, yea i do it every week too, many people say u shouldnt do it, bla bla bla, but when i look at my silver and the silver of others i let them say what they have to say, cuz my shit looks dope! plus takin care of it and parking away from everyone always helps too ;) good luck to ya at the show man!!! have fun and get ready for a long ass day.








and heres a pic, its the only one i still have hosted online, its not the best one, but the car was gleamin! jessica (that girl, my friends gf) was slidin off the ride.

http://ryzor.com/of/up/jesnmycar2.jpg




seee!! u can see the metalic in the paint!!! oooo so clean babay baby!

I may stick the carbon fiber hood on my car for the show, i have a friend who is selling hers and i may stick it on for the show. Do you think i should?

it is the oem style? if so i say go for it, i think the black hood would look sweet on your car.

its the VIS Invader hood.

i still say do it. i like that hood. i think it would look sweet if edges of it were painted red like the car with the middle behind the scoop still carbon fiber.