I recently became the proud owner of a 1993 Maxima Se. The car is black, and it was sitting for around 3 months without any exterior cleaning. My question is, should I go ahead and buy a clay bar to take out contaminants, or just wash it and polish then wax? Thanks-

 

get that clay bar and some compound

 

Definately do an all out surface prep ( Clay bar, paint cleaner, polish,and wax)


97 NISSAN MAXIMA SE

 

Can you use compound on your whole car? Is this something you do before or after your clay treatment. Also which do you like best? Thanks for hte noob questions.

 

Considering that the vehicle has been sitting for 3 months w/o any type of care to the finish, this is what I would do:

a) Wash vehicle. Try to get something that will strip off any waxes or sealants. Dawn usually works.

b) Use a light to medium cut cleaner
This will get rid of the oxidation. The reason I said do this first is that the clay bar will get gunked up fast if you clay a neglected car after washing.

c) Clay the car
Gets rid of embedded contaminants

d) Polish the car
Restores the lustre to the car's finish

e) Wax/seal the car
Protection for your handiwork

Do you have any pics of what the finish looks like now?

 

I agree with Prinz's advice, except you didn't really say if it had a lot of oxidation or not. The 3 months without a wash could be the "neglect" right there.

Usually, unless you have a distinct "layer" of oxidized paint covering everything as Prinz suggested, you would perform step B in between C and D. This all depends on what shape the paint is in of course, but if you're doing this all by hand and the paint is in bad need of work, then you'll probably have to do some polishing with some stronger products. You'll have to give us some idea of how bad the paint is or what problems it has though (swirling and how bad, oxidation, scratches, etc.)

The only other piece of advice I'd like to give is to read up on some of the threads here about using SAFE materials and procedures to wash your car, which is very important for keeping a finish in good shape once you've detailed it. Also use safe applicator pads and buffing towels as well - basically any process where you have to touch your paint you want to do it right.

 

Suprisingly the car didn't have much oxidation. I went ahead and washed the car twice, clayed, then polished. The only thing was I didn't have time to do the whole car so I did the 2 sides. The paint now is perfectly smooth and beading rain like mad. I'm going to go ahead and read all the previous threads on products- thanks for the help-