Calling you detailers
 

Hey those of you who are experts with detailing, I wanted to ask you all what order I should use for applying a glaze, paint sealant, and a paste wax.

There's a car show coming up this Saturday and I want my baby to be looking her best for it. Even if I don't win, I want to have a few people give me a nod! haha. My plan is to do a full wash, full clay-bar, then (I think), glaze, paint sealant, and then finally a paste wax for a deep shine.

Thoughts?

Clay, glaze(what kind?), paint sealant or wax..You dont need to use wax if you use a sealant. also depends on the wax and sealant being used if it will make any difference in look.

http://mothers.com/02_products/07240.html
http://mothers.com/02_products/07100.html
http://mothers.com/02_products/08100.html
http://mothers.com/02_products/05550-05750.html

I knew you'd be the one to help me out here haha. I appreciate it!

I have Meguiars Ultimate Polish, which is sort of a stupid name since it's description is really that it's a glaze that just aids in hiding the smaller swirl marks and everything like that.

The sealant is Wolfgangs Deep Gloss Paint Sealant 3.0, and the wax is Meguiars Gold Class Carnauba Plus Paste Wax. The only reason I had in mind doing both sealant and wax was to add a little more depth to the shine, I was aiming for as wet of a shine as I can manage

I used to use Wolfgang's Deep Gloss Paint Sealant 3.0, but switched to Blackfire Wet Diamond All Paint Protection. They're both good but I prefer Blackfire. You can put carnauba wax on top of a synthetic sealant, but you can't go back to the sealant after that. I use sealant only since it provides enough of a shine and I don't have to clay the car to reapply sealant. I reapply sealant every 2-4 months, the paint looks extremely shiny even when the car is dirty.

the ultimate polish is a polish to remove defects..its not really a glaze..it has cutting power. Things like Mothers glaze, Poorboys White diamond or Black hole are glazes. If you have Wolfgang 3.0 I wouldnt bother topping it with the wax as it wont make it look any better as the Wolfgang is good stuff..I have it. you do know about the procedure with it right? Apply it to the whole car then remove it an hour later..then let the car sit for 12hrs in a garage or somewhere dry while the sealant can cure. if it gets wet before it has to time fully cure it will wash it off the car.

the order that you would go in would be clay, polish, sealant, glaze, paste wax

clay removes impurities, polishing fixes the defeects, sealant bonds to the "naked" surface and adds protection as well as some shine, glaze will add extra depth and shine, and the paste wax will give you even more depth and shine...

some people like to apply the paste wax and then the glaze, but i don't reccomend that as the glaze breaks down the paste wax

who ever puts glaze over wax doesnt know what they are doing..Glaze offers no protection and it will wash off in like 1 or 2 washes..thats why you wax over the glaze so the wax locks it in so it doesnt just wash away quick.

To be honest I'm okay with using the polish anyway, I do have minor defects that need to be dealt with before the show in any case. Nothing terrible but worth working on with something with some minor cutting power. To be honest my problem is that around here the selection of car products I've found to be pretty poor. I haven't found much of mothers or poorboys anything.

Alright I appreciate the advice! I think I might run a test with the sealant vs sealant + wax on my old fuel door I have sitting around to see if it really makes a difference at all. And I appreciate the procedural advice, luckily I had just read about it last night too so I won't make the mistake of not letting it haze long enough before removing it.

Man. The hoops we jump through to get a car looking beautiful lol

Here's something I found on AutoGeeks....

Concours Tip: