I'm about to put some racing stripes (non painted).

Should I clay the car before adding the stripes?

I was thinking clay the car, put stripes on, polish, and then wax?

I've never clay or wax the car. So, I wanted to do everything at once.

Any suggestions on what brands to use will also help.

Thanks.

 

Also, those orbital machines they sale at Walmart are they use to polish or wax?

 

You sure do want to clay bar the areas first, then polish with a DA polisher and wool bonnet, then wash the car again before laying down the vinyl. Stay away from the orbitals to polish and go straight for the DA polishers. The orbitals are too weak to effectively polish the clear coat, and should be used only for waxing purposes.

 

You want to remove all the wax wherever the stripes will go. Otherwise they won't adhere properly.

 

ok so the correct steps should be:

1. clay
2. polish
3. put on stripes
4. wax

or

1. clay
2. put on stripes
3. polish
4. wax

?

 

1. Clay
2. Wash car with Dawn dish detergent (at least where the stripes will be)
3. Install stripes
4. Polish
5. Wax

Don't polish the vinyl stripes... just put a coat of wax on them.

 

All I did was claybar and then lay down my hood stripe .... it's stuck good! When I cut the hole for my shaker I peeled the vinyl off the cutout section .. and it was not easy at all to get off .. and that was only after being applied for about 4 weeks.

My stripe is matte black ... so wax goes no where near it.

 

Actually professional shops such as Baltimorestreetmods reccomend not washing the car for a week after installing the stripes, and not waxing them for three weeks.

Depending on the temps in your area you could "shock" the vinyl and stop the curing process. This leads to cracking and peeling of the stripes.