iv been reading on here the basic steps are wash, claybar, paint cleaner, polish, then wax, is a glaze the same as a polish? or is the paint cleaner the polish? or is it different all together?

 

no..glaze is the finishing touch to the wax that basically adds that extra shine...to your protection (wax) paint cleaner rids the paint of lil microscopic dirt...debree swirls on the paint...polish buffs the shine of the paint back to life

 

The Meguiars machine glaze that I purchased recently, is a polish. Not to be put onto wax, but to be used before a wax or sealant.
clay,clean,polish,seal,wax

On my DD, I only do clay,clean,polish,sealant.
But for the Stang. I let the sealant cure for 24-48 hrs. then apply a coat (or more) of Meguiars #26. Show car yellow wax.
That is the layering that some enthusiasts like to do. BTW, it really is worth it. You get the 6 month protection of a synth. sealant and the nice carnuba shine of a carnuba wax. To maintain the shine, over a wax, you can use a detailing spray. I like Meguiars "Final Inspection". Between washes, and to get off bugs 'n such before they get dried on good.

Your car looks great in the pics. Next time you're ready to wax give the above a try.
check out how to's at autogeek.net and autopia.org
Good luck.
Later.
S W

[IMG]local://upfiles/27334/56A9079840DA4FD08078BA756F9DF577.jpg[/IMG]

 

A reference I've found handy, since I can print it out and put it in a notebook, is the info available over at www.detailguide.com. It also has a chart that tells you how often, in general, you should do most of these steps and other detailing on your vehicle.

The thing that's confusing at first with the traditional 3-step method, say 1 Pre-Wax Cleaner, 2 Sealer & Glaze, & 3 Carnauba wax (what mothers calls their Ultimate Wax System) -- you don't need to do all three steps each time. And they don't even sell all three together at the store. See, if you maintain your vehicle well, you can leave out an earlier step.

Of course if you go with a defect removal method (assuming you've got paint enough to handle a little "exfoliation") instead of the defect hiding method (sealer & glaze), that's a whole different ballgame.

The nice thing about the 3-step systems is that they're easy to do by hand and they sure do look great.

 

Cool link. Thanx for posting it. Later.
S W

 

The typical "Full Detail" process would be typically:

Wash
Clay
Paint cleaner if there is heavy oxidation
Polish and swirl removal
Glaze
Wax or sealant

The procress and products vary based on paint condition, personal preference and your own level of stasifaction. Some people are happy with a one step cleaenr wax while others take a lot of pride in their vehicle's appearance and will do a lot more.

 

Well put! You sir, are a wordsmith!

 

now when you say polish and swirl remover, is that one product, or it is a polish first, then a swirl remover, and can you recomend one?

 

A swirl remover will function as a polish. The goal is to clean up the surface and level/reduce imperfections. They function best by a good polisher such as a Porter Cable 7424/7336 random orbit polisher or a rotary. Cheap buffers aren't strong enough for the task and doing it by hand is a bit of work.