I've read over the forums and see the great lengths people go to wash/wax/polish their cars. Impressive to say the least but I'm lazy and do not want to spend 6 hours detailing and waxing.

When I owned my TSX, I would take it to a quality car wash in the morning before it get hot, I'd get it washed, bring it home, and put two coats of Meguirs number 26 yellow wax on (in the garage). I'd do this twice per season and the car shined like brand new for three years (until I traded it in).

I want to do this same thing with my IS 250. Is there anything I need to be concerned with? Do I really need to hand wash? Do I really need to clay? Do I really need to polish?

Thanks

 

What color is your IS250? If it is a dark color I'd probably recommend it. I polish my ES when the swirls and scratches are bad, which is like once a year. Otherwise wash and wax is done to maintain it

Take your hand and slide it across your paint after it has been washed. If it isn't as smooth as a baby's butt (neighbors reference ) then it needs a clay. In terms of polishing, take a good look at your car in the sun. If it is white or a super bright color use sun glasses. If you can see all these little lines/circles in your paint those are swirls. If you have those it is that reason alone why we all polish our cars. We would rather have a clear reflection rather than a faded one. Polishing also brings out the true color of a car as well. Take a look at this and it'll give you an idea of what I mean
(See the gray unpolished side and the black polished side? Which would you rather have?)

 

Thanks. I have a starfire white and it doesn't even have 300 miles on it yet. Do I still need to polish this early?

 

Hmm, white is the one you can usually get away with haha. If you don't want to go through the hassle of polishing your car, I'd just claybar it. Clay bar will remove the contaminants (all those bumps in your paint) and it'll help the wax/sealant/whatever you are putting on for protection stick and last longer.

If you really want to polish your car, go out when the sun is bright, put on some sunglasses, then look at your paint. If you are standing at the right angle to where you can see the sun in the corner of your eye, then you should be able to see any swirls in the paint. Try not to look directly at the sun rather look at the edge of the sun (sorry if its confusing, just try it different ways and you'll understand what I'm talking about lol). Then you can decide to polish or not.

Honestly, deciding whether to polish is your call. I doubt for white the true color may be noticed or not but later on you may notice the color fading due to oxidation. When I polish white cars, it restores the gloss in the paint. I shall show you with another pic what I mean lol. Keep in mind that the pic is an extreme case but a recent AW BMW I did had minor oxidation for being only 2 years old. Gloss was restored after I was finished with it though. I don't have pics of that detail yet though since I still need pics of it haha
Pic of oxidation and after. Notice how much gloss is added back into the paint

 

This is good info thank you. I have a clear bra on the car, does that area need claying, polishing, waxing?

 

^^I believe you can clay, polish and wax that. The only thing I've heard is that its a different process to polish it. I would probably just do a small test spot to make sure no bad stuff comes out of it

 

I was going to recommend you go with Optimum Car Wax or Optiseal. Both product will let you do the car in probably 15 minutes. Then I saw you wanted to do it 2x a year, and scratched Opt Car Wax off the list. Waxing only 2x a year is tough. Optiseal may be able to squeeze it out, but its a stretch. Same with my second recommendation, which is collinite 476s. This stuff is pretty durable, and is my other recommendation for 2-3x a year waxing. Now, the difference between the two. Optiseal is a sealant that when applied, does not need to be buffed off. It simply evaporates. 476 is a carnauba and will need to be buffed off once applied. I personally like the look of a carnauba on Black vehicles, so I'd choose 476. I like Optiseal on lighter colors. But this is obviously all personal preference.
If you can spend the time to clay, I definitely would. It doesnt take too long and does make a noticeable difference if your car spends a significant amount of time outside.
For the clear bra, you can polish it, just use a finishing polish on a finishing pad. I would not use anything strong at all. Something like Vanilla Moose or Polish w/ sealant will do.
Heres some links to the products mentioned above:
http://www.glimmerglassdetailing.com/paandwhse.html
http://www.glimmerglassdetailing.com/cawaandgl.html

http://www.glimmerglassdetailing.com...ubricants.html

http://www.glimmerglassdetailing.com/poglco.html

 

With a lighter colored car, using a Laser touchless automatic car wash and a couple waxings a year probably would be adequate for your needs. Swirls just are not as evident in lighter colored cars. Touchless types of car washes really don't remove the dirt as well as a hand wash so you might want to occasionally do it yourself by hand and even consider using a spray wax or quick detailer after each wash to restore the slickness to the paint. This only takes about 20 minutes.

You might try using NXT 2.0 instead of #26. It is inexpensive, lasts longer, has a better gloss, and is very easy to apply and remove.

You might also consider a cleaner/wax which accomplishes two tasks in one step. There are several products from the better manufacturers that make decent cleaner/wax products. They are a bit harder to apply and remove, however.

Agreed, not everyone want's to spend 6 hours detailing their car. Many just want to keep the car clean and presentable for three to four years. As strange as it seems, some just haven't yet been stricken by this detailing disease. LOL! Once infected it is seemingly incurable. You should be very cautious around those who are infected as this disease is highly contagious. You might wind up with your garage looking like this.

 

Got Dayummmmmm I thought i had a lotta stuff!!!

I got get like you!!

 

Nice!

 

Thanks for the info. In my original message I stated I would typically wax twice per *season* not per year.

 

Well I hand washed and waxed today. I detailed the interior and wheels as well. Took me a total of 3 hours and 30 minutes. To my suprise, some oxidation appeared to come off which I was suprised since this is a brand new car (5 miles on it when I bought it).

 

Told you it was contagious. LOL.

 

holy crap thats a lot of stuff dude LOL...if its only got 300 miles i highly doubt it needs a polish, just keep in mind that you are slowly cutting away at your clearcoat each time you polish n stuff

 

I didn't polish it, I waxed it. All I did was wash and wax, nothing more. I assume wax is ok?