Hey guys, just bought my first ever Mothers California Gold Clay Bar package and will be washing, clay barring, waxing and polishing my s2000. I was just wondering, if I were to wash and clay bar her today, would I be able to wax and polish her in 5-6 days (after a wash of course). Or will I need to wash and clay bar her all over again. *All done by hand*

Cheers.

 

I'm no expert, but I think you would want to at least put on a coat of wax immediately after you are done claying. If you don't the car's paint won't have a lot of protection in the mean time. That is unless you are going to just keep it in the garage for 5 or 6 days. BTW...you will see major improvements after the claying. Good luck.

 

+1 ^^^

you definitely dont want to wait. hopefully youll have time to apply your protection after clay. id recommend claying in the morning while its still cool out so it glides on a cooler surface. good luck

 

So I just wash it, clay bar it, then wax it and I can wait until next week to polish it? After another wash. Also after a wax would I need to wash it again? Sorry for my questions just new to doing this stuff .

 

General process:
- Wash
- Clay
- Wax

or

- Wash
- Clay
- Polish
- Wax

or, if you're waiting a week, your second week should be

- Wash
- Polish
- Wash (if needed)
- Wax

 

Ohh ok thanks. So polishing is before waxing is it? What if i don't end up polishing it but just wash clay bar and wax. Will it still be ok? I daily drive my s2 and was wondering how long will my car be shiny and beautiful for (99 model parked in garage), washing it occasionally. I don't want to go through this process if it doesn't last long. Cheers

 

you just need to wash clay wax like he stated. thatll take the shortest time, and it should all be done in one day. good luck

 

Claying doesn't need to be done frequently unless you've regularly got bugs, environmental fallout, etc. sticking to your paint. Be especially gentle with it and use lots of lube on that soft Berlina paint. Polishing is a step that will remove your wax, so yes, it's done before waxing.

The point of polishing is to clean and correct the paint. And unless you're using a machine to do the work (or have monstrous arms and are feeling masochistic), it's only good for small touchups by hand. A polish contains abrasives that actually remove some very thin layer of clearcoat to remove scratches and swirls.

If you don't want to do that, you can use a glaze before waxing to help HIDE light swirls and scratches, although this is not a long term fix and will require frequent reapplication.

 

Ohh, I now understand thanks for everyones answers and input . Greatly appreciated. I rarely have bugs stuck onto my car so that should be fine, environmental fallout such as bird crap? Was sitting in my car under a tree with my roof down and felt a drop on my head.. I think you all know what it is, but no luck has come to me yet . Just thought I'd share my misfortune with the forum haha. I'll be washing, claying and waxing (hopefully will be using a buff machine) my car tomorrow. Don't think I'll have the time to polish. Sorry for this animes2k, but you said polishing is a step that removes my wax, did you mean the wax that is originally on the paint or? Cheers for the input again.

 

Polishing will clean your paint of contaminants and waxes, so yes.

So will strong soaps like dish soap (Dawn, for example) so make sure to use a good car wash soap. Meguiar's Gold Class is decent and readily available.

BUT, if you're planning on claying and waxing your car anyway, you CAN use dish soap as a means to cleanse the car and help to strip old coatings. Just don't use it all the time.

When you say buffing machine, what are you talking about? If it's one of these



skip it and do it by hand.

You don't want to jam a bunch of wax into cracks and emblems and the like.

Wax should go on very thin and be taken off with light pressure. Part of it depends on what wax you're using.