after polishing, sealant then wax or the other way around?

 

I believe it is the final step in the process It just adds one more layer of protection to help shield the the other products. One of the guys should be telling you if I am wrong. I hope that I'm not but I just recall doing it that way. Hope it helps a little.

 

You can either put wax or sealant after polishing the car. First you wash the car real good, I recommend using a clay bar after washing the car (if you use the clay bar your buffer pads will not turn black, because there will be not dirt!), then polish, take off the polish and THEN wax or sealent either one. Wax and sealants do the same job execpt wax lasts for about 3 months whereas the sealant lasts for around 6 months and costs about twice as much. The finish of your car all depends on how you PREP the surface before waxing/sealanting the car.

You can double layer with the wax/sealant as well if you have a garage to keep the car away from dirt. Just buff in one layer of wax/sealent let it sit for about 12-15 hours untill it hardens and put another layer on and buff it out.

 

Assuming you're talking about a pure carnuaba wax, that will always go on last.

 

should I wait 8 - 12 hours before I apply sealant for the first time or is that only for inbetween coats of wax/sealant?

 

Usually its best to wait a good 24 hrs inbetween Sealant coats. Its like trying to add 3 coats of paint to something without giving each coat time to dry. You just end up wasting paint.

 

The first coat of sealant can be applied right after polishing. Then wait at least 12 hours for the 2nd layer of sealant. 24 hours would be good, too, like BlueC said.

I'd wait another 12 hours after the last layer of sealant before waxing.

Which products are you using?

 

I'm going to try out Klasse for my brother's black Mazda. I wasn't getting the shine I was expecting from using Mothers product

 

Klasse AIOand SG are great products. The AIO is a very mild polish. Depending on the Mazda's condition, you may need to use a more agressive polish to remove anything more than swirl marks.

I use that combo on my black followed by S100 or Souveran wax and the results are stunning.

 

Only 1 1/2 years old. My brother hardly ever cleans his car and I hate having to look at a dirty black car.

I don't see any swirl marks or anything but which polish is more agressive polish?

btw, I have some 3M rubbing compound. Can that be used before polishing?

 

The AIO ought to be good enough then. I don't know how agressive the 3M stuff is, but most rubbing compounds are very aggressive and would leave good paint looking scratched.

I use Menzerna polishes when I need something more than AIO. They have 2 types. Intensive and Final polish. They are used by BMW and Mercedes in their assembly plants.

 

I really would only reccomend using the 3M Rubbing compounds with 3M Machine glaze to follow it up. Some of their RCs can be quite aggresive and leave hazy marks (basically liquid sandpaper).

I agree with Blues, AIO should be good enough especially on a car under 2 yrs old. Anything more aggressive and you'll be spending more time polishing out the scratches left behind from the Rubbing compound. The clear coat should still be soft enough to make it easy to take out swirl marks.