Tinbucket

I let the Dealer wash the car twice. The guys that do it talked nice and said they used new mitts etc.
I have micro scratches all over. Looks horrible, in the sun.
I've tried Meguires polish as per its instructions. Seems to do well but it is not as glossy, I'm thinking as before polishing and waxing with Mequires also.
It's a lot of work without power tools but I've seen too many disasters by too many people using them. Not going to try, I think.
An older arthritic guy doesn't particularly look, with enthusiasm, at the task.
What is the best polish and easiest to work with? Is there abetter procedure than light pressure pressure washer and then synthetic Meguires car mitt?
i keep the car spotless and don't drive in the rain. The underside of the hood is pristine as is the engine.
My intent is to maintain this hobby for a long time.

m a x i m u s

3m hand glaze is great for removing the "spider webbing". follow it up with some wax, like blitz hand wax. one important thing to remember is to not use a swirling karate kid wax on wax off motion; use a back and forth motion in the same direction as airflow over the car instead.

chrisridebike8

If you want to really get the scratches out as opposed to filling them in, you will need a buffer like a porter cable or the Griot's Dual Action. Our paint is really hard which is great once it's polished but is a pain to get corrected. I use a Griot's polisher with Menzerna products to get the paint right, then their sealer, wait at least 3 hours (24 preferable), and throw a nice coat of 100% carnauba on top of it. YouTube ammonyc. That dude is pretty awesome at detailing cars and will help you more than any write up I could ever do. He also does stuff on the Drive channel (Drive clean).

Clark Kent

I use a three product approach. Menzerna 1500, then 4500, then the sealant. It is a lot of work - as I read about your concerns. I use a Porter Cable power tool because I do the entire car with each product. But, my point being perhaps you could use those products and take care of one panel at a time if you are going to do it by hand.

jvanbrecht

Use a random orbital polisher, almost impossible to burn the paint with one of those.

Also, once you have spidering, it is not hard to remove, but is labor intensive, there is no easy way. You can hide it, but that is short term. Ideally, you want to remove them totally, then protect from their return.

For light spidering, the Meguires M105 and M205 (you might be able to get away with just 205...) followed by glaze and paint sealer. Then wax it every few months and you should be perfect.. just keep it away from the swirly machines (I'm bad at following my own advice, sometimes it is the only way to clear off the salt/sand crap from winter road treatsments)

m a x i m u s

FYI, I used 3m hand glaze with excellent results on my black car, and it's not labor intensive at all.

95_993

+1 on porter cable random orbital polisher with Mezerma polishes.

3M hand glaze is just that....a glaze. It does not remove the fine scratches, it simply fills them in and won't last that long. I have used it for show prep to put a nice, final pop on the finish but only after I know all the scratches have been polished out.

m a x i m u s

individual results will vary, i suppose, but it lasted for months for me. of course, I'm not taking my car to shows though.

rediesel

The Griots Garage One-Step-Sealant is amazing if you want a product to polish and protect in one step that can be applied by hand, dries fully, and buffs off easily. HOWEVER

A multi-step process (polish then wax/sealant) will give better results. The paint on these cars is very hard - espically the metallic finish. This makes it difficulty to polish by hand. Griots makes a Fine Hand Polish if you must go that route.

If you are arthritic and view this as a hobby I really reccomend a machine, it makes the job much more tolerable. I have a Griots Garage Dual-Action Random Orbitals in 3" and 6" and they work well with lots of products Maguiars, Ziano, 3M. The Porter-Cable is good too I hear. I wouldn't worry about burning paint with one of these units. A direct drive will burn paint when used incorrectly.

The zen of car care ahhhh.

Faris63

I'd recommend getting Meguiars DA Microfiber Correction System with Porter cable or Meguiars DA polisher this system has two microfiber pads one for cutting and the other for finishing our cars has really hard ceramic coat this system is very easy to work with after you finish polishing get the car sealed with Wolfgang Deep Gloss Paint Sealant 3.0 you'll get the shine your looking for . Get the machine and polishes from AutoGeek they have really good discount right now.

jvanbrecht

You can also hit up https://www.detailedimage.com/
I find their articles more useful, but they are not always the cheapest around.

My yearly major detail (usually takes 2 days)
Wash
Clay
Wash
Medium Polish (Menzerna)
wipe down with iso propyl alchohol
Fine Polish (Menzerna)
wipe down with iso propyl alchohol
Glaze (Chemical Guys)
Sealant (Blackfire Wet Diamond)
Wax (Chemical Guys 50/50)

Wash every weekend or 2, rewax every 3 to 4 months in summer.

tfthach13

Newb here. What does the isopropyl do? Can I just use quick detailer?

Faris63

Removes polish oils

jvanbrecht

No, you cannot use anything that leaves a residue, which is pretty much every cleaner on the planet.

It is used to remove any left over residue from the polishes. While a good polish breaks down (as part of the polishing process), it leaves behind binding agents and lubricants which need to be wiped away. In theory, you could skip the in between the 2 polish steps, but it is quick, and its cheap.

tfthach13

Oh ok! That explains quite a bit that I've been mulling over about when I previously detailed my car. Thanks!

Clark Kent

Agreed - you gotta buff the swirls out before using a glaze or polish in order to get that deep rich shine.