What’s the correct way...

To wash, wax, clay bar, etc? I bought my truck last week and have new rims and tires coming in for it this week. I usually wash with meguiars gold class soap and then do a spray wax.. nothing else.. I may be a little proud of my new truck and want it to be “right” going back to work Monday. It has a few light scratches that i want to try and remove ( Meguiars Scratch X) before then and also i bought the meguiars hybrid ceramic clay kit with the spray and clay pad. Do i wash the truck then work on the scratches and then the clay bar? Do i work on scratches, wash and then clay bar? Should i go buy the liquid ceramic wax and put that somewhere in between? I’ve never gotten this detailed with it and want to be sure it’s done in the right order while also bringing out the metallic in the paint.. sorry it’s such a long post.. Quarantine has given me way too much time to think and overthink

 

Try here. Lots of good info and detailers who like to help.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/forums/detailing.32/

 

First there is no correct way there are many variations on how you can go about just washing the truck. However the more you touch the paint the more chances you have to mar the finish. So look into "two bucket method" or multiple mitt/towel washing. Then you also have Rinseless and Waterless washing products, look into these as well. Always wash first before rubbing with anything.

As for the steps it would be:

Wash
-Chemical Decontamination (iron removers, tar removers)
Clay
-Polish
-Paint Prep
Protection: (Wax, Sealant, Coating or hybrid)

Chemical decontamination is optional depending on the life of the truck and where it's been exposed to they can be worthy steps. Paint prep would be more or less if you were going to apply a ceramic coating it removes the polishing oils that get left behind. Polishing oils can be deceiving in masking the scratches giving you the impression you've removed them.

Regarding claying whether it be synthetic clay or real clay is a process that can mar your paint. These "swirls" show up much like the marks you get from improperly washing or particularly drying the paint. They can be hard to spot without lighting at the appropriate angle. I'm bringing this up because you mentioned metallic, swirls would dull the pop that metallic paint gives in the light. So look into claying and why it's generally recommended to polish the paint after the clay process. Also you'll get WAY more pop out of the metallic then you ever will with a product you spray or wipe on. Hybrid ceramic clay does sound like something you'd not want to use if polishing, does sound gimmicky.

There are tons of videos on Youtube about this, focus on the process rather than whatever product they are using. Again there are MANY ways to go about this at least skim through a couple videos for each of the steps to see what is out there. Not saying you have to do all these steps but just know what is out there, some of it can get a little over the top but if you want it to really shine it takes a bit of work. Worry about the polishing later if need be as that will take a bit of time to look into and or buy the gear.

Or skip all of this nonsense and wash, clay, scratch repair and then spray on the ceramic wax.

 

YouTube is your friend .

 

I wouldn’t be clay-ing a new truck if I didn’t plan on machine polishing afterward (unless there are obvious signs of contamination- search “baggie method” to see if you actually need to clay). You basically put your hand in a plastic bag and run it across the surface and see if you feel little bumps. If not, clay isn’t needed. Then just go straight to your last step product (wax/sealant).

 

Also- scratches and swirls are very hard to remove without a machine. It can be done. But you’re in for a workout of many hours. Maybe multiple days.

 

I just happen to have some pretty decent pics from several recent details that show surface contamination. Here's one from a pearl white Mercedes S550 that had a terrible case of iron contamination. Note what looks like little rust spots.


Although you could definitely feel these spots, the white paint made them very visible. Most any darker color would pretty well hide them. That's where the plastic bag test comes in. I removed the contamination on this particular car with a Nanoskin Mitt and detail spray as a lubricant. As others have said though, by removing the contamination, you do induce some surface marring that needs to then be polished out. Said another way, the situation gets worse before it gets better. So how did it look after (2 stage) polishing and a coat of Jescar Power Lock?



Given that any type of white paint tends to hide surface marring, I just happened to do a Mazda 6 the other day that supposedly had metallic black paint, but due to a serious case of marring, looked flat grey. Here's what it looked like before washing, decontamination, 2 stage polishing, then the same Power Lock.



Here's the same car 6 hours later after the marring was removed. The owner didn't recognize it.



See how removing surface marring improves the way the paint looks and reflects light?

 

Here's one I just did but its fresh automotive paint. Just wanted to remove the orange peel. Just glad it was not much surface area. wish my real vehicles looked this good.

 

I used to have an HPI Savage nitro truck many years ago, that thing was a blast. Still miss that sound and smell coming off that thing. Think I had an F150 body for it and had painted it that same grey color. This was more of a "bashing" truck which just meant lots of time replacing broken parts. Still was cool launching a 20 pound truck 30 feet in the air off a ramp while your asshole puckered trying to level it out in the air so it would land on all four wheels.

 

Nice....Thinking of building a nasher next. This is just going to be a working Minime of real truck.

 

[QUOTE="Too Stroked, post: 23212221, member: 208501"Here's the same car 6 hours later after the marring was removed. The owner didn't recognize it.



See how removing surface marring improves the way the paint looks and reflects light?[/QUOTE]


That looks awesome on the Mazda!

 

Yep! I have about a gazillion photos too, from when I owned a detailing biz (and online store). Here's another example of what polishing can do to improve appearance. Rear door and back is done, front isn't.
Almost looks like the front half was never even washed, but in reality, it's just how the light reflects off the paint.