Today, i decided to clean my pretty dirty maxima. i got a zymol car care kit for christmas, and wanted to give it a spin. I used their soap in a bucket of water, and after scrubbing each pannel, rinsed the whole car to keep it damp and clean. then when i began to dry the car, the paint felt very rough, and i was getting water spots like crazy. So i thought, heck, im already out here with everything out, so i washed the car a second time and guess what, didnt help at all. So then i used a clay bar with the given solution, testing it on the roof (by mothers california series) and it made it feel smoother. i rinsed it and dried it again, and the roof still had water spots. so i used the clay bay again, and it got smoother....water spots still after, and the paint wasnt perfectly smooth still. I didnt want to clay bar the whole car since i already spent a lot more time on the car than i wanted to, and i was running late. Then i tried to use the zymol wax and wax applicator. The wax went on good, and the applicator was very nice, and the instructions said for best result to buff the wax off before it totally dries, so i do...and it just clouds. after lots and lots of buffing, it was still a little cloudy. there HAS to be a better way to do this. what is with my paint, how do i get all of that crap out of it. its almost as if a bunch of dirt got waxed over or something. if i have to clay bar the whole car, that would definately suck, but you gotta do what you gotta do. Any suggestions would be awesome...im stuck here and not sure what to do.

another question, the clay bar insructions say not to use it with plain water, but just with the solution...if i have to clay bar the whole car, i think i would use a lot of that solution. i would hate to have the entire thing only last for one-two washes...can i use the bar with just water, or soapy water etc? any suggestions there would be great too.

 

Were you washing the car in a shaded area? Did you consider adding a polishing step before waxing?

As for the water spots, Vinegar should get those out.

 

Prinz- How much vinegar do you recommend to mix with water? Whats the ration of vinegar/water or do you just use straight vinegar?

-Nick

 

I clayed my whole car with the bottle that came with it. Still had a good bit left over. You just need to keep the area your working in lubed up. You might as well do the whole car. No point in only doing 1 or 2 panels. Being a 98 you'll notice a big difference in your paint. I know i did with my 99. Felt like glass when i finished with the clay.

 

I've used the clay bar with just plain water. Just keep the area being done very wet and rinse often - works for me. I used Meguiars clay bar and Quik Detailer and it was a lot of work. I got better results with Clay Magic and water. Just my .02

 

i was washing it in my drive way, which was shaded by my garage. but it was warm out. I could add polish in there...but i was trying to get the car CLEAN before i waxed. I too would like to know more about the vinegar trick

ok so it would be fine with water? good. it gets annoying to spray, rinse, buff, etc...it would be much nicer if i could just do it with water while the car was soaking wet. I used a mothers clay bar, is clay magic another brand? I want to check out some others, hopefully they will work better

i know it was stupid to not to the whole car, but i was running late. My girl friend was coming over at 4:30 for dinner, and at 4 i called it quits, had to get ready and start cooking! if i get some good tips, next weekend i will wash it GOOD

 

I don't think you should try washing it even "harder". That's not the problem.

Vinegar will work if the water spots are actually dried mineral deposits, but...

....I'm wondering if maybe you have water spot etching/damage. I noticed that you said the spots didn't come out even after repeated claying attempts. Also you said that your paint still felt rough after, and that the car was quite dirty, which could be a case for etched damage since your car is black (which is more susceptable because the paint gets hotter/warmer).

If this is the case then you should treat it like oxidation and you'll have to use some kind of mild abrasive polish (depending on how severe the damage is) to remove it before waxing. In the future wash the car more frequently. This damage occurs when acid rain and pollution is left to bake dry and super-concentrate on the car.

Is this Zymol wax a less expensive ("Zurtle") cleaner wax, or one of their slightly fancier waxes that suggest the use of HD Cleanse first? If it's the latter than I am thinking: A) Too much was applied, and/or B) The surface is still contaminated or oxidized, which can cause all sorts of problems. Pure non-cleaner waxes usually do not like to be applied to imperfectly prepped paint. Sometimes even cleaner waxes have trouble (they're not that aggressive).

PS: I would not suggest claying the car with pure water if the surface is as bad as it sounds. This probably works better with cars that still have some wax left on the paint so that it can glide. Use a soap solution instead if you want. I wouldn't bother switching clay brands either as Mothers' clay is one of the better ones out there.

 

any suggestions on the ammount to use, should I use it with soap still or without? Any more suggestions would be great.

the water spots got BETTER with the claying, and it felt smoother, but it definately didnt go away. The parts that were clayed looked better than the parts that were not, but it wasnt as effective as it should have been.

I was the car a fair ammount, but recently its been raining so much, it was too cold or soaking wet to give it a good wash and polish.

its one of those BS fancy brands. Its not one I would normally buy, but it was a christmas present. I was looking into a car detailing catalog, and zymol has a lot of crap out there. I dont think the surface was clean enough to apply the wax, but I tested it on the hood where I had already clayed two or three times. I think I might use a "less picky"wax next time.

For claying with water, when you say to use a soap solution...as in soapy water or what?

 

The bottom side panels on my car never get clean but I haven't tried some serious washing methods that I ahve learned on the forums yet.

 

yea, but my roof, trunk lid, etc are giving me issues, not just the low pannels that get dirty.

 

I haven't had much use for vinegar myself since water is so soft around here, but I've heard of 50/50 solutions or straight up too. In either case you're going to have to wash the surface and re-wax it though.

Just mix up some soapy water for claying like you would for a wash and put it in a spray bottle or something. Play with the mix if you like if you find it's not slippery enough. Again, rinse/rewash before doing next steps.

I wouldn't toss out the Zymol if you got it free - to get an idea of how to use it, take a look at Mothers (or Meguiar's) 3 step system and just use the Zymol as the 3rd step. That's assuming you can apply it thinly and didn't otherwise dislike using it...

 

i got the zymol has a gift as i said, so i wouldnt get rid of it...but i might just not use it. It does smell like banana, and thats kinda nice

i will try some of these methods and get back to you, thank you very much for all the tips!

 

i didn't read the whole thread but take whichever u want from this :

-wash your car during the evening... sunset time
-wash car top to bottom
-after claybarring your car, you dont have to wash it again. The solution dries up and you buff it off! make sure u buff in 1 direction like waxing.
- after claybarring, just wax it! or better yet, polish it.
-get yourself the california water blade (makes drying REALLY quick) and The Absorber.


I use zymol wax on my celica and i think it's good. the only problem with zymol is that it's very hard to buff off.

yeah... that should definately help

 

- i did wash it during evening.
-did wash it top to bottom
-the solution that came off the car from clay baring dried into dirt on my car...the solution got too dirty to just allow to sit there.
-i did try to wax it
-sounds good, i will try and get one...any chain auto stores have em?

oh yes...definately

 

One thing that causes a lot of confusion is waxing/polishing. Some folks use the terms interchangably but they actually describe two different processes.

Polishes contain abrasives to remove different imperfections in the paint. Even the cleaner waxes you get in the stores can be loosely be called a polish because it is designed to remove oxidation from the paint.

Waxes do not have any abrasives in them and are solely designed to add lustre to a finish that has been polished.

With that said, the situation you may be facing is that your car may be in need of a good polish (e.g. Meguiar's Dual Action Cleaner Polish) to get rid of whatever's in the paint. You might want to do this after you have clayed the car.

The DACP will get a lot of oxidation and other things out of the paint in order to bring back the lustre. After that, I would recommend following it with the Zymol that you have.

Try that and LMK how it works.

 

I was pretty clear on the polish vs wax thing, but the advice is well recieved.

I will look into the meguiars to fix up the paint, i need some other car stuff to finish up a project i got going.

 

don't get the water blade or absorber from an auto store... expensive there. I know the cheapest for the water blade is @ Costco. If not, then go to Wal-Mart. I'm not sure if costco carries the Absorber but I know Walmart does.

If both stores are too far or something, i'm sure any chain auto store should have them.

I try to get almost all my regular carwash stuff from costco now just because they have everything i'd need for cheaper price. I get my microfiber towels from there too.

good luck! btw, norcal is tryin to organize a Dyno meet in fremont sometime late Feb. Try to make it!

 

awesome, costco is right by my house. dyno meet? awesome! more details?