ShaneM

So i have decided to buy some decent detailing stuff recommended by the guys at detailer's domain. My question is this, what do i use to take the old turtle wax ice stuff off the car and trim before fixing swirls and stuff and laying down new polish? Can i use adams all purpose cleaner? i know they say use that to remove old VRT from moulding near the paint, i assume it is good enough for paint. also that optimum concentrate detail spray, is it good stuff? A gallon for $50 that makes 4 gallons of detailer sounds really good to me and i think you can change the dilution ratio and use it as a waterless wash too. i use a ton of detailer during show season.

The recommended the menzerna polish kit and the menzerna powerlock polymer sealant. the guy i emailed with said i didn't need a wax over the sealant, but i keep seeing things where people put a wax over the sealant for a better shine. If i used a wax over the sealant would it look better? If so what wax would go good with that product.

19stang88

You can wash with dawn soap. It will strip off all the wax. Also, by clay barring you will remove wax from the finish. Polishing will also remove the old wax from the paint finish. I wouldn't recommend using apc on the paint to remove the wax. If you do decide to go with th dawn method make sure you apply vrt to all the trim parts, the issue with dawn it dries these parts out, so only use dawn once or twice a year. You asked a question about waxes and sealants. Since sealants provide great protection and it is very durable, it lacks in shining and making the car look "wet" although you will still gain pretty good results. With a wax you will get outstanding results and you'll get that "wet" by using a quality wax, on the other hand, durability isn't as great as a sealant. With Adams waxes, people often put a layer of machine super wax (sealant) let the sealant cure within 24 hours and then apply americana (carnuba paste wax) after the sealant has cured. Thus technique offers durability and a very "wet" look. I hope this helps

ShocK

I agree dawn dishwashing liquid is the 1st and best choice to remove wax. I would never suggest the use of polish to remove wax. The main reason is that Dawn dishwashing liquid is non abrasive and won't create swirl marks or dull spots in the paint.
Secondly There has yet to be a wax made that could stand up to a dawn stripping.

Kitzy

You can use APC for washing and it will definitely strip your car of any wax you may have on it. I don't do it because I generally don't strip anything off of my vehicle unless I'm going to be polishing and in that case I just mix the car wash soap stronger than normal which will take car of most if not all of it and whatever is still there will be taken care of with the clay. If it's been a while since you've clayed your car, they give it a good wash and then clay it. There won't be any wax left. Back to the APC, I've spoken to the owner of Poorboy's World about this before. You can dilute it up to 15:1 or for really trashed vehicles, doing a straight APC wash can be a good starting point but not necessary for what you're looking to do.

Are you referring to Optimum Instant Detailer & Gloss Enhancer (IDGE)? If so, I have used it often and still do occasionally. I like it a lot. There are different types of quick detailers. I've mostly shyed away from using them for anything other than a final wipe down after a wash or detail because they can actually do more harm than good. Anyway, there are some that lean more on the cleaning side such as Meguiar's #34, some that are meant strictly to enhance gloss like Dodo Juice Red Mist and then there are some that fall somewhere in between like IDGE. I wouldn't substitute any of them for a waterless wash. Optimum actually recently released their own waterless wash called Opti-Clean. Poorboy's World has a good waterless wash, Spray and Wipe. There is also ONR (Optimum No Rinse) which is a hugely popular product. Some people have ditched traditional washing all together for this method as it's claimed to be even safer and it's super versatile depending on dilution. Even for a show, depending on what you have to drive through to get there, take a few gallons of water with you, some ONR, a bucket and some good MFs and you're good to go. You can wash the entire vehicle in less than 10 minutes and not risk swirling the crap out of it.

As for topping Powerlock with a carnauba, you can probably top it with anything you want. Everybody has their favorite waxes. It's all a matter of personal preference. You may occasionally find that some products just don't play well with others but usually that's just user error, ie first product didn't cure long enough, too humid out, too cold, etc. Without getting in to anything too expensive, I can tell you that you can't go wrong with Poorboy's World Natty's waxes. Red is the best but is also best used when the paint is in great-better than great condition. Blue is great for darker colors and when the paint still needs a bit of work. White is for lighter colors but all of them can be mixed and matched for different looks. Wet Obsession is another great wax. Meg's #16 if you can get your hands on it is really nice but a bear to remove.

You mentioned "layering down new polish". I just want to make sure you know it's not like waxing. You have to work the polish in to the paint and break it down. If you don't, you risk inducing more swirls and hazing. And if you're doing it by hand, I suggest looking in to some Lake Country hand pads because a common issue with people polishing by hand is that they apply too much pressure to their finger tips and you end up with a disaster in the end. I'd hate to see that. I'll post the picture I'm thinking of if I can find it online.

Edited for pictures. If I remember correctly, this person did the entire vehicle by hand in the shade and never checked his work. When he was satisfied with how it looked in the shade he pulled it out in to the sun which revealed this...

The problem was he had poor technique, going back to too much pressure with his finger tips and not distributing the pressure better. It all could have been avoided if he had been checking his work more often. Direct sunlight reveals every imperfection you have. Work in the shade but pull your vehicle in to the sun to check your work. And work in small 1x1 sections by hand or 2x2 by machine. Here is a picture showing what I was describing. Note, you won't see color like this picture because the car being worked on was single stage where new paint is base coat/clear coat.

ShaneM

Thanks dude

Jim D.

Using dish soap to "strip wax" is completely unnecessary 99.99999% of the time. It also strips away any protection from rubber, vinyl, and other trim.

The other problem is that it contains no lubricity during the washing and drying process, so you're likely to introduce more problems than you realize.

When you do paint correction, you are going way below any coating of wax that may be left on the surface, so don't worry about your remaining Ice.

n/a4v

i use dawn soap