Someone on this board told me a while back to use Polish before Wax when detailing the car. When i talked to a professional auto detailer, he said you alwasy use wax before polish, or else the wax won't sink into the pain, it will basically bead off. I wonder why someone would have misled me with something so simple.

 

I have always heard you polish first then wax. Polish to shine, wax to protect.

 

That detailer is wrong. As said, polishe shines it up, and wax protects that shine. If you wax first, the polish isn't doing anything but rubbing the wax.

 

Wax is a coat that adheres to the paint. Polish is just an abrasive that rubs down the paint and then rubs off.

So first you rub down the paint, then you coat it.

 

hmm, thats interesting...i know this guy has done good work on cars, I've seen some of pictures of cars he's detailed ...

 

According to Meguiars . . .

Step 2 of 3

Deep Crystal System Polish A2116 Product Information

Step 3 of 3

Deep Crystal System Carnauba Wax A2216 Product Information

You do the math.

 

The guy you talked to is a tool, not a pro detailer. He may get paid to detail cars, but if he can't get this simple concept down he's an idiot. If he's a friend of yours or your family, I'm sorry, but the guy is either trying to pull your leg or he's just dumber than a post.

Just think about what the two products, polish and wax, do. A polish is abrasive, from mildly to agressively, and is used to correct paint defects like swirls, fine scratches, etc. Polishes usually also have oils in them that help to "nourish" the paint, and in some cases actually fill in fine swirl marks and scratches. Keep in mind that a polish with fillers will ultimately wash off and your swirls will be back - they were never actually gone. But I digress.....

The act of polishing is what really gives you the best shine possible out of the paint. I'm sure you've seen older faded red cars where the paint looks almost pink. If you wax this it might bring a little bit of the color back, but not much. If you polish it you can often do an amazing job of restoring the finish, and bring back a lot of the gloss. That's because the polish is agressive enough to actually remove the upper layer of oxidized paint, replenish the oils, and bring back the shine.

If you properly claybar and polish, then the wax you use is almost (almost) not important. Wax, or more modern polymer sealants, are sacrificial barriers. That is, they wear off when exposed to the elements, protecting the paint in the process. You always want to wax after you polish, because you need the protection of the wax. Don't think that just because you polished you can skip the wax.

If you wax first and then polish, the abrasives in the polish, no matter how mild, will take the wax off and the finish will be left unprotected.

If you don't believe me, spend some time at Meguiar's Online or Autopia - Car Detailing (Wash, Wax, Polish) Enthusiast Forum.. Look at the Extreme Makeover or Click & Brag threads. You'll be amazed, I guarantee it.

The picture below is the trunk lid of one of my other cars after the dealership totally screwed the finish. They did some warranty work and then washed the car before giving it back to me. I don't know if they washed it with Comet and an old broom, but they trashed the finish. I taped off half the trunk and polished part of it with Meguiar's #80 Speed Glaze, then pulled off the tape and pulled the car into the sunshine. The swirls are GONE!! If I waxed it first and then polished, the swirls would be gone but so would the wax.

 

He told me the last step after the wax and polish is a claybar.

But really though, he is wrong. I've always heard (if the car needs this many steps) Wash -> Claybar ->Abrasive (Swirl remover such as SSR2.5) -> Glaze (Such as Vanilla Moose Hand Glaze or Red Moose Machine Glaze) -> And seal it with wax. I've read NXT isn't a good sealer, and that you should finish with a Carnuba such as Carnauba Moose Wax.

 

yeah always polish first. I use astroshield polish, works great! It seems like if you wax first then polish, you're working backwards. I mean that you put on a nice coat of wax and then take it right off with the polish.

Polish first then wax, your car will look awesome-

 

And this is where it all comes down to personal perferences. I've seen cars that look just plain stunning using all sorts of different products. I've seen people say "Brand X" is pure crap and then someone else comes along with a perfect finish using just "Brand X". Go figure. Heck, I've seen people say that the product I used to remove the swirls in my picture above doesn't work and it's hard to use. Obviously that isn't necessarily true because my swirls are gone. I even did an alcohol wipe to make sure there wasn't any product left on the paint just filling in the swirls.

As for a final sealant, although I'm a huge Meguiar's fan, NXT is not my favorite, but I know plenty who swear by it. I much prefer the polymer sealants in their professional line, like #20 or #21. But the Moose line has a great reputation and unless you use it wrong, I doubt you'd be disappointed with it. But that's true of any good product.

 

-Andrew

 

Unless he is talking about using something like Pledge, the furniture polish, that some people put on the car at car shows.
Other than that, wax is last.
Polish by itself doesn't last long, wax does.

George

 

Thanks for all that info...I guess everything worked out well for me, because late last year I put a couple coats of polish on my car first, then a couple coats of wax...i think it looked/looks good...but for a while there, i thought i did it in the wrong order. I just put another coat of wax on toady...its got a nice shine, although i have water spots that appear to be embedded in the hood.

 

Some good polish should take those out.