Polished today, Wax tomorrow - Updated 30/10/11

[JoeDarKa]

Hi all,

Managed to get the car cleaned today and gave it a polish. I want to glaze it, seal it and wax it tomorrow. Am i best just jetting the car off and drying it or should i clean and polish it again tomorrow? I hope to god the weather is a bit better than today!

 

[B3n]

Is the car being kept outside?? Is it raining?? If it was me I'd just give the car a rinse to get any potential dust off then crack straight on with the wax!!

[JoeDarKa]

Yeah its outside and its more than likely going to rain unfortunately, my brothers going to a car show tomorrow so his is tucked up in the garage all nice and clean! 

[B3n]

Just to be safe I'd give it another wash then!!!! If it wasn't going to rain I'd prob just rinse.

[stealthwolf]

+1 for washing. If you machine polished it, you should wash it anyway to get rid of any residue.

[baldwined30]

Never know what the difference is between wax and polish???

[stealthwolf]

Seriously?

Polish is supposed to remove marks from the car. Have you seen cars where it looks like there's a spider web on the bonnet? That's caused by "swirls" or marks in the paintwork. More accurately, in the top layer of the paintwork or "clearcoat". An abrasive polish will flatten down everything so it's all at the same level. Think of it as sanding down the clearcoat but very gently so you remove maybe 1-2 microns. Some polishes have fillers that fill in the swirls. Either way, you're essentially  removing small undulations in that clearcoat so it's flat. Produces almost a mirror effect

A wax is just that - a wax. A layer of wax will add shine, seal in the finish and add some protection from the elements. Different waxes have different ingredients, leading to slight subtle differences between them in terms of looks, beading and durability.

[baldwined30]

Thanks buddy! That was me being thick!!

[JoeDarKa]

Was only hand polished, my brother has the machine polisher but I dont feel confident doing it myself!

[stealthwolf]

That's okay - the general public tend not to know the difference and even a "car" magazine like AutoExpress didn't know the difference either!

[JoeDarKa]

Well I got all i wanted to get done today and a little more!

Started nice and early at 8am, washed it mega quickly with 2 bucket method and then attempted to dry it! However there was lots of moisture in the air so no matter how much i tried to dry it, it stayed damp! Left it an hour or so and it had warmed up a bit so managed to polish it with SRP, then glazed with Poorboys White Diamond, sealed with 2 layers of JetSeal 109 and finally waxed with Dodo Juice Diamond White

After SRP, White Diamond and a single layer of JetSeal:



After another layer of JetSeal and wax:



I tried to get a picture of the metal flake "pop" but i only have an iphone!!



It looks better in the flesh!

And all done:





This was all done by hand! I do have plans to machine polish it but its finding the time and the weather! A friend has got a new unit so he might be kind and let us use it!

What do you think?

[B3n]

Looks awsome fella

[stealthwolf]

Looking good. 

[mattysmt]

Oh very nice like the sticker bombing on the fuel cap ;)

[JoeDarKa]

And dont worry, the side skirts will be painted silver whenever he can fit me in!