My Neon is Black and live rather rurally, but the roads are all paved save for my driveway which is gravel. It's long enough that it'll will cost me a small fortune to black top it but I am already tired of the constant cleaning a black car needs. My only color choices were black or red. Well, before I rub the paint completely off the car, what does everyone like to use to clean and wax with? Most importantly, is there a product I should not use? I have one for you all. Be very careful with Castrol Super Clean. Undiluted, it will eat the clearcoat right off aluminum wheels. Thankfully, I did not learn this on my SRT.

 

Zymol - for liquid wax - great stuff and very easy to use.

Claybar if you want a solid that will fill the swirls even better.

 

I use Blue Coral to wash & mothers or Miquires to wax

 

I use Meguires 4 step process on cars with fading paint, but on the SRT-4 I use Meguires to wash and to wax...
I love their products, they work very good!

 

Wash the car first off (a given)

Get some Wax/Tar/Grease remover, like DX330 (PPG's W/T/G Remover), and take ALL of the residue of wax, tar, bugs, grime, etc off the car. Its best to use a Rotary after this, like a Dewalt Variable 849, which is what I have, use, and love. If you dont have one, you can rent one from Home Depot.

To get evil swirl marks out that just wont quit, use a Black foam waffle buffing pad from 3M, I believe its a Hookit II. Youll need the velcro Hookit II 3M backing plate. DONT use the buffer at OVER 2000 rpms, youll burn the paint with a foam pad regardless of the PPI of it. You dont want to cut the paint if its not absolutely neccessary, especially on black. Use the Finesse it around 1000-1300rpms, and youll be golden. If the swirls aren't bad (i.e. no need for a micro polish compound or wetsanding), bring out the 3M Finesse-It. This stuff works MIRACLES! Do small spots at a time because the Finesse-It dries EXTREMELY fast.

Rule of thumb, never apply any wax in circles. Follow the body lines, thats what they're there for. Synthetic waxes, such as Zymol, arent neccessary. They'll cost you an arm and a third leg.

For conventional waxes? Theres this kick *** stuff, that is expensive, but as a hand glaze works wonders, its called 3M Insulator wax. Made mainly for boats, but it does wonders on black cars.

Turtle wax makes a colored black wax, that sells for around 8 bucks here in Rhode Island. It really comes in handy for the front bumper, if yours has the divets mine does, and just being that its black it shows everything.

Meguiars and 3M are ALL I will use, except for that turtle wax. Ive detailed for 2.5 years, and thats all my cars will see when it comes to waxes. Any of their products are incredible, but the professional line of Meguiars surpasses their NXT line.

By the way, pick up some 3M Hand Glaze, and finish off the car with that. It takes time, but its worth it.

 

Wow Lilsparkplug! Sounds like I should just have you do my car. Looks like you have it pretty well scienced out. Thanks for the post.
The only thing I have used on the Neon to date is Turtlewax spray one step. Works ok. I bought a 16oz. bottle of Zymol at a local discount store for 1.49. I have yet to use it on anything, but I will try it. My secret weapon (if it could be called that) (and I believe it does qualify) for making good paint shine and look 6 inches deep is stuff called "Liquid Crystal" by a company called Plastone. I have not tried it yet on the Neon but I expect great results. I have used Meguires and like it. I have used raindance with success long ago but, I know a guy who's Subaru GLXT that the raindance ate his hoods clearcoat off. That was back in the 80's. I don't know if Raindance has changed something to be safe on the new paints or if it was something with his car, but it was new at that time. I have not used raindance in probably 20 years for that reason. It was ugly. I have also used 3M finesse as a plastic polish and I know it works well.
For metal, I like Neverdull, Blue Magic and Simichrome. For cleaning other things 409, Fantastik and Simple Green work good. I have used Simple Green to get grease spots off of velour car seats and greasy foot prints off of light gray carpet and it works really well, plus it smells good.

 

Zanio Brothers (sp)...

I've yet to try it, but they seem to have some good stuff online...

 

LOL! If you lived closer to me, Id be happy to do it. I love detailing cars.

A new system for rotaries that I just found out about today is called Liquid Ice. Its by Norton, around 96 bucks for the entire set. What it includes is ONE bottle of micropolishing/finishing/glazing solutions all in one, but it comes with three pads. A cutting pad, light/fine cut blue foam pad, and a white finishing foam pad. I may buy it myself just to try it out. Theres way more than enough solution in the bottle for at least 3 whole cars with the rotary.

Black just sucks. I'm going down to my body shop June 16th to repaint my front bumper, then Im considering purchasing some of the 3M Rock Blocker film to put over it. The divets are just plain annoying. Ive got 18,000 miles on my car, and except for the black Turtle wax covering up most of it, my front bumper is charcoal instead of black. Its a tough color to maintain, but theres nothing like the black mirror when its clean

No prob pressurecooker, anything about detailing ill help you out as best i can.

For windows im HUGE on the drum size or gallon size concentrates that you can get from meguiars. They are absolutely streak free if your using two blue window towels, and they really do a nice job. Good for tint too, as their non-amonia based so they wont fade the tint from the inside when you cleaning it.

What I use on my roof, shockingly enough, to get the marks from dirty hands and cigarette smoke off is the Armor-All Glass Cleaning wipes. They actually work WONDERS! Since its a roof you cant get a steam cleaner up there, but getting those gray stains off the tan headliner is a cinch with those wipes. And I was seriously surprised when I tried it. I also use those wipes on the dash since armor-all itself is greasy, obnoxiously glaring, and destroys the longevity of your dash itself.

Yeah the Finesse-It is an incredible product, you can even use it with a rotary or orbital to polish your mirrors, door trim, and cowl panel. Most people wouldnt put a buffer anywhere near their mirrors, but I havent come in contact with one yet that has burned on me.

Spray wax? Ehhhh no. Not for me. The only thing I use it for, and it kicks *** in this respect, is when Im buffing the car I spray it in the jams and spaces between the parts (i.e. fender and hood). That way the over"spray" from the buffer wont get stuck in the jams and wipes right off instead of requiring a chisel or elbow grease.

Yeah....when it comes to detailing, I need a life.

 

Oh yeah and for cleaning wheels, especially aftermarket, those rim cleaners are nothing but trouble. They kill the finish on the rims themselves. Meguiars and 3M sell concentrated wheel cleaning solution thats gentle enough for all rims but if left on too long will eat through the finish.

The best thing is good old fashioned 3M Car Shampoo (or whatever you use to clean the car), and a sponge (brush for the calipers). Spend the extra 5 minutes wiping the dust off them, and youll never have a problem with their finish.

 

I use the Eagle 1 A to Z All Wheel cleaner, it's safe for all wheel types and finishes, and it's in a clear orange bottle with a black trigger/nozzle. The best wax I have found is the Turtle Wax Ultra Gloss (it's in a really dark green bottle with a silver/grey cap), it goes on easy and comes off even easier leaving nothing but an awesome shine.