It does seem like the detailing videos are biased towards certain products. I like to try out different products and ask other guys at cruise nights what they use when I see a car turned out really nice.

I can’t seem to stray from Meguiars for polishes. The professional line and even the Ultimate polish is such a great finishing polish. I love the swirl remover for a quickie polish on a black car after a hand wash right before waxing.

for waxes I’m more open to try different things. I love that the polymer sealants last forever, but carnuba gives richer shine. There are synthetic and carnuba blends now too. I’ve seen great results with Chemical Guys butter wax.

Someone gave some advice on tire dressing in another thread that I need to go back and take note of. I’m always trying new tire dressings. Nothing has really blown me away.

I’m also always looking for good chrome polish for my Tahoe wheels. Mothers seems good but I’m open to whatever. I try to keep all my wheels really clean and mostly use car wash and a soft wheel brush.

for car wash I really like the Meguiars Gold Class.. It suds up nice, doesn’t take much and keeps the wax glossy and effective for a long time. I’ve tried a lot of car washes..

Yes, what Tibo said..

Polish is like sand paper. There’s different grit for different things and there’s polishes with synthetic particles that break up and just remove the harsh edges of fine scratches and swirl marks without taking down the clear coat.

when you do paint correction you usually start with a compound to take the clear coat down and use a finishing polish to make it clear and shiny again. Some high end paint corrections use multiple stages of polish starting with a rotary and going down to a DA polisher for the final stages. The paint will essentially look new again because you took a thin layer of clear coat off and removed defects. At that stage you’d want to seal the paint and protect it with wax, sealant, ceramic, etc.. That will keep the paint from being oxidized and help keep the finish clean and even prevent scratches from casual contact with the paint. Wax is like a hard layer of oil that sits on the finish and repels water/ contaminants. Obviously synthetic polymer will take longer to breakdown.

good hand washing technique will keep a sealant on the paint longer. Car washes strip wax pretty quickly.

Cleaner wax is a combo of polish and wax and is good for hiding swirl marks. I use it for quicky jobs..

Ideally polishing by machine is is better but if you polish by hand, only do a section at a time. Keep the polishing pad flat to the paint and don’t apply pressure. Go over a section and before the polish dries, wipe off with microfiber and keep moving. You can apply pressure when removing scratches with a compound, but then you need to do stages of light polish and finishing polish to remove any haze in the paint. Keep the polishing pad clean using a terry towel to remove waste product. Caked on product will hurt the effectiveness of the polish.

You should always wax or seal the paint after polishing..

Keep in mind you can only paint correct so many times. There’s only so much clear coat! I stick to the less abrasive polishes and only do my black vehicles once/year. I keep them clean and waxed so they stay pretty swirl free.

3M makes a good system for wetsanding and polishing scratches too. I use Trizact paper to wetsand scratches. Works really well.