agstacker

Hello everyone. I bought a new car (2010) mercedes a couple of weeks ago. I looked in the front side door panel and the date said march 2010. My question is should I clay, polish and wax the car asap? Or just wax it, or wait. Its a white car. Just wondering what you guys did after your purchase. Also any recommendations on a what brands to use? Thank you.

DetailDan

Clay, polish, wax or seal would be the way to go.

Azn_C300

I'd do a full detail, even on a new car. She probably picked up plenty of contaminants crossing the pond and sitting in dealer, as well as suffered improper swirl inducing washing.

agstacker

Thanks. I have been looking for a few days for a new dual action buffer. I own a cheap buffer from a autozone right now. Would like more power. The pc 7424xp,meguiars g110v2 and griots garage orbital are the choices. I'm leaning towards the meguiars and was wondering if anyone owns this one or the others.

DetailDan

I just bought the PCxp after my 7424 went out. The XP still vibrates a lot, if not more than the older version. The Griots has been getting good reviews. Im wondering if I should of got that machine instead.

agstacker

I've been reading about that too. Though everyone seems to have a pc. Griots appears to be very good and has the most power of the three. Have you heard anything bad on the Meguiars?

Azn_C300

Honestly, after owning the 7424xp, I'd have gone with the Megs or even the Griots for the simple design reason of having the handle over the head section (as opposed to handle to the side). That makes controlling application of pressure and maintaining grip much easier. Especially important for vertical panels.

DetailDan

Nope, I have not.

rj96mb

I recently purchased the Griots unit and have been very pleased. Very easy to use and the dvd that comes with it is helpful for a beginner like me. In fact I purchsed polishes and waxes from Griots and have been very pleased with the quality and appearance of the products. My 96 C280 look slike new these days.

Rick SL55

buy the Flex.

sidwynder

Putting power buffers, clay or polish on a new car is senseless overkill.
Those are abrasives that create either friction, heat or both.
All will diminish the factory shine.
New cars need paint preservation not paint restoration.
Use an acrylic paint conditioner for safe preservation of paint, chrome and vinyl surfaces. your car will look newer longer.
You put a power buffer, clay or polish on that paint and you will be back asking how to fix the problems that using those techniques will cause.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucwo9c2Pr-I

gsrjc

I just detailed my 2011 GLK that I picked up a couple of weeks ago and I agree with other that with technology and paint these days for cars, you can go head and detail it right away. You don't have to wait like in the past. I used the 7424XP and it's great. Very easy to use.

AZN Optics

Snake oil much?

Look, it's perfectly fine to clay and polish your new car and is NOT senseless overkill. Maybe overkill if you're picking it up immediately after it rolls off the assembly line, otherwise, your car picks up a lot of contaminants as it's shipped overseas and transported either on train (rail dust) or truck (droppings, rubber, drive by overspray). Not to mention the swirl-o-matic job your dealer puts on it when they take delivery. Some cover up defects with glazes, but the defects are there and become apparent after a few washes. Claying removes the contaminants. Polishing levels the swirls and smooths out edges of deep swirls/scratches to not reflect light, therefore becoming less visible. And when you polish, do you realize you barely make a dent in the clear coat thickness? Take a paint thickness gauge and check for yourself if you don't believe me. I polish mine and shines as bright if not brighter than when I first got it.

sidwynder

I could be in the minority but I have yet to see a brand new car that needed anything done to the paint other than preserving it's original new car shine.
Claying and polishing has its place in the restoration process, when you are trying to restore a shine.
Older cars can benefit from that process.
Claying and polishing the paint on an older car will make it smooth.
In essence clay and polish are abrasives designed to make the paint smooth not shiney.
A new cars paint is both shiney and smooth.
Only a fanatic would find fault in the paint.
The only thing polish and clay will do is dull it.
The proof of this is that, When you use these products you have to follow up with wax.
The wax serves two purposes
1. to restore a shine to the paint
2. to protect the paint.
The ironic thing is that polishing will damage the paint and so will clay if improperly applied.
So getting a new car and claying and polishing it would be
1. Unnecessary.
2. Counter productive to preserving the original condition of the paint.
Wax presents another problem.
It is not designed to be applied to vinyl trim found on all cars.
It decays over time and must be removed and replaced. The removal of wax can damage the paint even further.
You got a brand new car, you got options people with older cars don't have.
Easier to preserve it than to restore it.

ohlord

Do you even know anything about automotive detailing?

The process of claying was invented by a japanese engineer to treat the surfaces of new cars before they were shipped off.Industrial pollutants were getting on the cars.

New car wash bar polish glase seal wax
the clear coat will shine like a show car and the surface will be protected for months.

btw wax does not shine nor restore shine
it protects the shine polish provides.

I'd love to hear your take on those owners of pricey cars that have their brand new clear coat wet sanded to take even the best makes paint job up to the level of show car.

Azn_C300

Sidwynder, there's just so many things wrong with what you just stated, some of which were addressed by ohlord.... Ask ANY professional detailer. The #1 step to make any car shine is prep. Without proper prep, car will not shine regardless of what LSP you slather on. You keep talking about new car new car, but you're not factoring in industrial pollutants, shipping pollutants, and just dealer sending their brand spanking new car to swirl-o-matics. I've how dealerships "prep" their new cars as they first get it for sale...they're inducing swirls and scratches in their wash. Really bad swirls I've even seen them toss a glaze on to mask the defect.

sidwynder

I am quite clear on the fact that both clay and polish prepares the suface for wax.
This process is a smoothing process.
This process can restore a degree of shine to old paint.
This process will actually decrease the degree of shine in new paint.

Neither clay nor polish is a stand alone process, both have to be followed up by wax.
Wax provides the shine after the smoothing process.

That much should be basic knowledge.

Can you smooth out the paint on a new car with clay and polish?
YES
Will claying and polishing have a negative effect on the original shine?
YES
Will the shine have to be restored after claying and polishing?
YES
Will this process have to be repeated?
YES

When the wax is removed or wears off, the smooth dulled clayed and polish surface of the paint will be exposed.

Clayiing and polishing without following up with a protective sealer or wax would also leave the paint in a condition that would leave it vunerable to staining.

For what ever reason a person may chose to clay and polish a car, the mechanics of the process do not change.
It is by definition an abrasive process.

StarPower

A brand new car fresh from painting should not have any defects that need to be polished out. However, the finish is being assaulted from the moment it rolls off of the assembly line. It'll spend several months going through industrial environments like the factory, shipyards, railyards, ships and trains, etc followed by car washes at the dealership. By the time the buyer takes the keys in hand to drive it home, a new car's finish is anything but "new."

My recommendation to the OP:
After washing, clay the car to remove any contaminants. The clay will remove contaminants and old waxes/sealants from the finish without removing any clearcoat. Then, evaluate the paint. There will be some minor swirls from the dealership washing, but hopefully they're not too bad. Most waxes will do a good job of hiding swirls (some better than others). If you don't want to polish right away, wax the car and evaluate the finish again after waxing (I recommend living with it for a couple of weeks). If the wax doesn't hide the swirls to your liking, you can always go back and polish the car later.

As for products, here's what I use:

Polishes: Menzerna makes polishes specifically formulated for the CeramiClear clearcoat used by MB.
PO106FA is all I'd recommend for a new car. It'll enhance gloss and smooth the edges of swirls (making them less visible but not removing them completely) while removing very little clearcoat.

After polishing, I use Zaino. I'd recommend the following products in order (after claying and polishing if necessary):
1 to 3 coats of Z-5 with ZFX only if your paint is very swirled and you don't want to polish. It probably won't be necessary on a new white car,
1 to 3 coats of Z-2 with ZFX,
Z-CS (This will probably look amazing on white even without using Z-2 first. It will do very little to hide swirls, so if you plan using it alone I recommend polishing first.),
Z-8, which can also be used after washing between applications.

Once applied, the system will last for several months. For maintenance, I'd recommend Z-8 to enhance gloss after washing, and a fresh coat of Z-CS every 1-3 months.

I've seen great results with other products, so these aren't your only choices. Time and patience have more of an effect than what product you use. It's all about finding a system you're comfortable using.

ohlord

sidwynder
you dig deeper in your lack of knowledge on paint and polish with each tap of the keyboard.

Wax does not polish......polish polishes.
The paint is never exposed. It is clear coated.Claying will not dull the clearcoat. It removes embedded material by pulling it from the surface.
If you dull the clear you are doing something wrong.

I recommend that you don't touch a wash bucket

sidwynder

O.K. I see now.
You have a convoluted understanding of the word polish.
The term "Polish" can be used to describe many different things, from nail polish to copper polish.
In the automotive world polish has been used to describe both wax and glazes.
In reality true polish is neither. it is an abrasive.
There is a fundemental differance between polishing and waxing.
Polishing removes material.
Waxing adds an additional material.
I never said wax polished, that distorted referance came from you.

You also do not understand that clear coat is unpigmented paint. That is why clear coat failure is so common.
It is applied over a painted surface rather than a primed one.
Pigmented paint would do the same thing.

ohlord

it makes the shine.
wax protects the shine.
Clearcoat is not unpigmented paint.It creates the shine from the basecoat that has been painted.
Polish is neither a wax or glaze in any term related to automotive finishes.
Once again I am wondering if you have ever detailed a car

clay removes contaminants
polish provides shine
glazes fill in minor swirls
sealers protect shine
wax protects shine.

If you say wax shines your convoluted understanding is that wax polishes.
Which again it does not.

TOGWT

+1

If you look at the vehicles on the road today that have a clear coat, they look great for a while, but scratches in the surface will cause white marks to appear, and dents smudge the finish, reducing the clarity of the top coat, which in turn affects both the depth of shine and paint colour showing through.

It doesn’t take long before the finish looks dull and lifeless because the clear coat isn’t reflecting light as it once did. A better finish can have a dramatic impact on the residual value of vehicles, and it certainly doesn’t hurt customer satisfaction.

The statement that “a sealant has no benefit to the paint ‘because’ there is a clear coat, is baffling, as clear coat is a polyethylene paint but without colour pigmentation, its applied to provide the colour coat (base coat) with shine, if a clear coat did not need an ultra violet protection (UV) applied, there would be no such thing as clear coat failure due to oxidation or any of a myriad of clear coat problems.

detailersdomain

i would agree with the others wash, clay, polish, wax or seal.

have you guys put a 6 inch counterweight on the PC? what size pads are you using?

agstacker

Thanks everyone for the great comments. I've yet to detail my new benz but do own a slew of new products and tools. I used a few of these on my '97 911 cab. Never did a detail myself on this car,so this was fun. This car is driven only on some weekends and never in the winter. What I used.

washed car with optimum soap.
cleaned wheels with Sonax wheel cleaner
clayed with pinnacle ultra poly and pinnacle lubricant
wolfgang 3.0 swirl and scratch remover with porter cable 7424 xp 5.5 lc flat orange pad
wolfgang 3.0 finishing glaze with pcxp 5.5 lc flat white pad
wolfgang 3.0 deep gloss sealant hand apply
optimum spray wax
diamondite glass cleaner and
plexus on headlights and rear convertible window
applied p21s multi finish restorer to polish wheels and Poorboys wheel sealant, optimum on tires
interior used zaino 9 and 10 leather cleaner
1z einszett cockpit for dash and trim
engine meguiars degreaser

Porsche turned out great and was very happy with results.


The benz should be a piece of cake. I plan on washing,claying,wolfgang finishing glaze,wolfgang sealant and collinite 476 wax on the benz.