I have a quick question, say that you clayed your whole car and then waxed it, can you wash the car and polish it and then wax it again ?

Or do I have to re-clay it?

 

From what I've learned so far is that you always wax last. So you will probably have to remove any wax from the car. The polish needs to be directly in contact with the paint. I am not sure if clay will remove wax, but I imagine so. So basically you haave to start over from scratch.

 

Clay -> Polish -> Wax

Since you already clayed, just wash and then polish, then finish with your wax. The polish will remove the wax

 

Now when you say wash your car do you mean rinse it down or wash it with like dawn or something car soap?

 

don't ever wash your car with dawn always use car soap man!

 

well i heard that if you wash it with dawn it removes the wax that was on before...

 

So does a clay bar and paint cleaner.

Dawn will dry out your paint, so just use a car soap and clay it like you should anyways.

 

alright thanks man

 

just jumped into this thread/what is a clay bar/what about the 3 step deal with mcquires.with the 1st step being a deep cleaner/would that take off all wax and get you back to scratch?

 

Im not an expert in this field but, clay bar will clean your paint for oxidation.
Not to sure about the three step. But I am almost 100% sure your going to have to wash and clay the car before you let the first step touch the car.
If you wash your car it should get rid of the old wax. So after that you clay the car, and then start the 3 step

 

I just a week or so ago got the Maguire kit w/ the clay bar & stuff in it and man, what a nice feel the the car and looks great! I wish I had known that dish soap was bad for the paint...been using it for years but atleast only 2 on my Max...bummer.

 

many if not most car washes do not remove wax. for example, i use simple green car wash which does not remove wax. so, if you want to polish your car after waxing it, you'll need to use a cleaner that removes the wax first. if your bottle of car wash does not say if it does, consult the manufacturer's website. i personally wouldn't waste a bar of clay and all the effort involved in claying to remove wax when a simple washing would do.

 

Dish soap dries out the paint, huh? Haven't heard that one. It's gotta get through the clear coat first, doesn't it...

I DO hear that Dish soap is hard to rinse completely off (bad) but [also] that it does a pretty good job of removing waxy residue (good).

And if MichMaxFan (post #11) has been using it for 2 years and not noticed any consequence, I'm inclined to believe the negative stigma is exaggerated.

...But, uhhh, back on topic: wax last. If the problem is removing the wax, so that you can polish it since you've already clay barred it, mothers sells a "Pre-Wax Cleaner" that takes off old wax.

Fi shizzle.

 

Dish soap doesnt dry out paint, its dries out rubber trim and seals.

 

wash - clay bar - pre-wax cleaner - polish - wax

you want to start with a bare surface (cleaner), then smooth out the surface to your liking (polish) and protect that finish (wax)

wax does nothing more than protect.

 

Never use Dawn soap... it does absolutely nothing if you've done your steps correctly.

Wash
Clay (don't need to wash again if clayed properly)
Paint cleaner (will remove wax off of paint)
Polish
Sealant/wax

Remember that if you've prepared your car well, any wax will look good!

 

I waxed my car today with Turtle wax, the directions say let it dry to a white haze and wipe it off. Works good except in one spot the haze is not coming off. Could be that it dried too much or I used too much wax, I really dont know.

I dont wanna buy a bottle of paint cleaner just for that spot. Would a dish soap fix it? Or maybe even a clay bar.

 

Yeah, I didn't notice any consequences of using dish soap, but I have read that you should NOT use it on many car sites. True, it may be alot of hype to get you to buy special soap, but then again it's one of those "unseen" consequences until it gets bad. Kinda like believing doctors that say you need a prescription for a cough & congestion when for $6 you can get OTC fenugreek herbs that almost always loosen it up and make you better. Works every time. You tend to believe the "pros" and it's hard to know if they exaggerate to keep you coming back or are telling the truth.

I guess for $2 and it covers lots of washes I will buy the "special" car soap to prevent unseen issues...

 

you probably used too much wax and/or maybe it was too hot. just use some pressure and, if it really comes down to it, use the clay.

 

Use the quick detailer that came with your clay kit to remove the dried wax