Joined
·
476 Posts
Over the years I've developed a routine that works pretty well and wanted to run it by the pro's around here.
I absolutely loathe cleaning the interior, so I take my car to a hand wash commercial car wash (no machines). Yes they use strong detergents but I've never had any major swirling or scratching problems from the one I use. Basically my regimen is this:
Week 1: Wash car with Meguiar's gold class car wash and dry with a synthetic chamois (probably going to switch to a "waffle" towel next time). If there are any stains from bird plop etc., I buff them out with Meguiar's DC-1. Minor scratches, a little Scratch-X or DC-2, then coat all the polished areas with a bit of NXT wax.
Week 2: repeat
Week 3: repeat
Week 4: commercial car wash, fix any blemishes, then 1-2 coats of NXT.
So basically it get's waxed every month. After 3 washes from me and one from the commercial wash though, virtually all of the wax is removed.
Then as needed, usually every 6-8 months, I clay the car after the commercial wash and continue with my routine. Every 2-3 months, I use DC-1 on the whole car which gets the paint super clean, and delays the need for claying.
The results look quite good to me, but after reading about layering the Klasse glaze, I might try a few coats of that before waxing. Which leads me to some questions:
Since the NXT is a synthetic cleaner wax with some carnuba in it, wouldn't it remove some of the glaze? Maybe I should use it before the glaze then finish with a straight carnuba? Or just toss it out and use either Klasse All In One or Meguiar's DC-1 before the glaze?
Roughly speaking, how many commercial car washes will the Klasse glaze hold up for? Obviously I can't layer it up every single month, just wondering if it holds up well to commercial detergents.
FWIW, I do all this by hand. Both of my shoulders were badly separated in bicycle crashes, so waxing and polishing by hand is very therapeutic. I do my wife's car too, on a schedule that's different by two weeks. It's a lot of time consuming work but it really helps my shoulders.
Thanks for any advice!
I absolutely loathe cleaning the interior, so I take my car to a hand wash commercial car wash (no machines). Yes they use strong detergents but I've never had any major swirling or scratching problems from the one I use. Basically my regimen is this:
Week 1: Wash car with Meguiar's gold class car wash and dry with a synthetic chamois (probably going to switch to a "waffle" towel next time). If there are any stains from bird plop etc., I buff them out with Meguiar's DC-1. Minor scratches, a little Scratch-X or DC-2, then coat all the polished areas with a bit of NXT wax.
Week 2: repeat
Week 3: repeat
Week 4: commercial car wash, fix any blemishes, then 1-2 coats of NXT.
So basically it get's waxed every month. After 3 washes from me and one from the commercial wash though, virtually all of the wax is removed.
Then as needed, usually every 6-8 months, I clay the car after the commercial wash and continue with my routine. Every 2-3 months, I use DC-1 on the whole car which gets the paint super clean, and delays the need for claying.
The results look quite good to me, but after reading about layering the Klasse glaze, I might try a few coats of that before waxing. Which leads me to some questions:
Since the NXT is a synthetic cleaner wax with some carnuba in it, wouldn't it remove some of the glaze? Maybe I should use it before the glaze then finish with a straight carnuba? Or just toss it out and use either Klasse All In One or Meguiar's DC-1 before the glaze?
Roughly speaking, how many commercial car washes will the Klasse glaze hold up for? Obviously I can't layer it up every single month, just wondering if it holds up well to commercial detergents.
FWIW, I do all this by hand. Both of my shoulders were badly separated in bicycle crashes, so waxing and polishing by hand is very therapeutic. I do my wife's car too, on a schedule that's different by two weeks. It's a lot of time consuming work but it really helps my shoulders.
Thanks for any advice!