Ok I've had my Maxima for over a year now (second owner so she's over 2 years old) and have never waxed her. When it's nice out I'll wash her every few weeks but lately it's been about 3 months since my last car wash. Spring is around the corner and I want to do some extensive cleaning. Can you guys please recommend what products I should use to do this?

Is there anything special I should wash it with. What do I use to apply the wax? I've heard of clay bars but not quite sure what they are and I have some Zymol wax along with Eagle One tire dressing laying around. Wanted to know what you guys thought of those. Thanks in advance.

 

Let's start with the definition of a clay bar and its function. Clay bars are either made of natural clay (e.g. Clay Magic) or synthetic (e.g. Pinnacle). These bars are designed to remove embedded contamination in the paint. However, they can also be used on glass and wheels to remove contamination.

As for recommendations, here's a short list of stuff I personally have:

Meguiar's Gold Class Shampoo (Target (128 oz for $9.99))
Clay Magic Clay Bar Kit (Wal-Mart, AutoZone)
Sonus SFX-1, SFX-2, and SFX-3 Polishes (www.autopia-carcare.com)
Poorboys SSR 2.5, SSR 1 (www.poorboys.com)
2 Buckets (K-Mart & Home Depot)
Chenille Mitt (AutoZone)
Foam Applicators (AutoZone)
Porter Cable 7336 (Can be gotten from Lowe's)
Sonus DAS Pad Kit (www.autopia-carcare.com)
Klasse All In One & Sealant Glaze (www.autopia-carcare.com)
Eimann Fabrik Hi-Intensity (www.properautocare.com)
Stoners Invisible Glass (Pep Boys, AutoZone)
S100 Wax (Local Harley Store)
Pinnacle Souveran (www.autopia-carcare.com)

In your case, I'd recommend Poorboys SSR 2.5 applied with a Porter Cable and then follow it using Klasse All In One and top with Klasse Sealant Glaze.

 

Jay, 3 months??? Have you been hibernating?

 

haha. shut up dude i'm lazy and it's been hella cold. i keep wanting to wash it but there's always rain forecast for the coming days.

 

if you have a hose, a bucket, and it's above freezing out i would say it's warm enough to wash. the only time i don't wash is when the water in the hose has turned to ice. in regards to the forcast, i don't always rely on meteroligists predictions because sometimes they've predict rain for three days in a row, but turned out wrong

if you want to work on some detailing this weekend let me know!