Ramune

I've done a few searches on various forums to learn how to go about waxing my car. With my current supplies, it appears that my steps will be listed as:

First, wash and dry the car, then use a clay bar on it. I have a mother's clay bar.

Next, I've found some polish in my garage that my father had planned to use on his SUV, but never did. It's that turtle wax chipstik polish for red cars. Luckily, my car is red, too. Apply and remove the polish, correct?

Finally, I bought some of the mequiar's gold class wax. It's the paste version (what's the difference between the paste and the bottled version?). After snooping around here, I've learned I should only apply one coat because it's a cleaner wax. Incidentally, the mother's clay bar kit came with a little bottle of wax as well. I was just going to chuck it though.

In a nutshell, that's all I should need to do, right?

ReNxWar

Sounds like a plan . I would of gotten NXT though. All I do is dawn it, wash it very thoroughly, let dry / dry it, depending on how it sitting, then apply. I usually don't claybar, but if your cars never had it done, I would do it. I've never really used polish, so I can't say anything about that.

lbls1

If you are really serious about waxing your car, I would recommend that you do not use a cleaner wax. Cleaner waxes are good if you don't want to spend a lot of time prepping and waxing your car, and you are not concerned with getting the best results for your money.

In your case, I'd first deep clean the paint with a buff clearcoat cleaner, then apply the cleaner wax (because its there), then follow up with a pure carnauba wax. Do not use the cleaner wax again, or else you will reverse your efforts by not building up an adequate wax surface.

Ramune

I looked around at a couple places and couldn't find any of the non-cleaner waxes. It seemed as though that's the only stuff they sell around here. In fact, the only thing I've seen around these parts that's even recommended here is the meguiar's gold. I suppose I could have ordered stuff online, but I didn't think about it. I think I will do that clearcoat cleaner instead of the polish, as my father tried polishing his SUV today and got some of it on his lights. It freaking melted the plastic. Do all polishes do that?

lbls1

ya some polishes can do that, so be careful. You should be safe with the occasional overwipes as long as you get it off quickly.

Go with the Meguiars pure wax from their 3-step system, or you could even use Mother's California Gold pure carnauba wax.

That is a wise decision by going the right way with the paint cleaner first, then a pure wax. Good luck.

mvnatedog

The Mother's California Gold works great, I've used it a couple of times on my car (going with NXT now). The only thing is their whole 3-step system takes forever.