Meguiar's results

[mustang84]

Yesterday I woke up at 8 AM spent 6 hours washing, claying, and waxing with Turtle Wax Car Wash, Meguiar's Smooth Surface Clay Kit, and Meguiar's Next Tech 2.0 Wax. I'm sold and will swear by the stuff...my car was shiny before, but now the paint is like glass and when sunlight hits it, light bounces off in all directions.

I didn't do any polish although it could use it in a few places, so I may do that in the spring. Anyway, take a gander.

Edited August 23, 2009 by mustang84

[pow]

Great job! I wish my 8 year old car were as ding-free as yours.

[ocnblu]

Necessary equipment for viewing this thread :

[FUTURE_OF_GM]

Meguairs is teh shiznit.

I swear by it.

[A Horse With No Name]

Used the stuff on my wife's car, worked great...

Chris

[daves87rs]

My cars get the NXT 2.0 treatment in a few weeks...

Sharp looking ride you have there!

[FAPTurbo]

That first picture should somehow make it onto Wikipedia for the LS article or something. Almost looks liek something you'd find in a brochure or auto rag. Great pictures, and the car looks fantastic!

Edited August 24, 2009 by TheCaptain

[Intrepidation]

I swear by Meguiar's as well, as you saw what it did for my paint. Looks great dude, shines like a new car!

[FUTURE_OF_GM]

LOL @ the google bot which is now featuring a prominent "Mothers" ad.

Seriously though, that is one fantastic looking car. I often consider the LS the last great Lincoln.

(Not that the new Lincolns aren't great, but the should be Mercurys IMO and Lincoln should still be chasing BMW)

[mustang84]

LOL @ the google bot which is now featuring a prominent "Mothers" ad.

Seriously though, that is one fantastic looking car. I often consider the LS the last great Lincoln.

(Not that the new Lincolns aren't great, but the should be Mercurys IMO and Lincoln should still be chasing BMW)

Google bot is giving Mother's some lovin.

I agree, and the last sporting Lincoln, IMO. I went to the L-M dealership today just to drive around and when you see the new MKS & MKZ, they're nice, but they don't stir my blood as much as the LS. Between the big split grille, huge side badges, and some strange lines...it feels like Lincoln is trying a little too hard these days. Plus all the extra weight and FWD. The LS has taut and clean styling, more in line with past Lincolns, and I think that's why it succeeds so well.

Edited August 24, 2009 by mustang84

[GMTruckGuy74]

Your Lincoln looks great, and I'm sure non-enthusiasts will think it's a new or newer car

I used the Meguiar's Next Gen 2.0 Tech wax on my wife's '08 Pontiac G6 Sedan in mid-July and it still makes the car look great (even when it's dirty and after two dozen rain storms). My '06 Saturn AURA is getting the exterior detail, wash & wax treatment tomorrow with the Meguiar's wax.

I have a question - how hard or time consuming is it to do the clay bar process? The '96 Caddy Fleetwood I'm about to buy would benefit greatly from a detail job like this, but I want to know how much added time this adds to a regular wash & wax detail job. Also, how much does the Meguiar's Smooth Surface Clay Kit cost, and does it include everything needed to do the job?

[A Horse With No Name]

My wife drives a car (her choice in car) that is the opposite of your Cadillac, Roger-one of those boxy first gen Scion xB's. It took me all day on a Saturday to clean the car thouroughly inside and out and clay bar it.

I think the clay bar kit was $18 at Autozone or something.

But the clay bar worked great. Tree sap from my parents driveway that stained the car when it had 10,000 miles on it (103,000 miles and 4 years ago) came right out with the clay bar. With the Ohio winters, hauling around 5 kids, and everything else it's been though it was starting to look so bad that I was going to repaint it.

It now looks great. Your Cadillac is a much better starting point paint wise than my wife's car was, so clay and a good couple coats of wax and she should look like a million bucks. With a couple of other detailing projects I've done on larger cars, sometimes I will do a panel at a time, sometimes over a few days. You can then wash the car, vacuum it, and give it one good final coat of wax. Not orthodox but I'm lazy so that's how I sometimes do it.

Once you get done waxing the Caddy you'll know why I want a MINI so badly!

Chris

[mustang84]

Your Lincoln looks great, and I'm sure non-enthusiasts will think it's a new or newer car

I used the Meguiar's Next Gen 2.0 Tech wax on my wife's '08 Pontiac G6 Sedan in mid-July and it still makes the car look great (even when it's dirty and after two dozen rain storms). My '06 Saturn AURA is getting the exterior detail, wash & wax treatment tomorrow with the Meguiar's wax.

I have a question - how hard or time consuming is it to do the clay bar process? The '96 Caddy Fleetwood I'm about to buy would benefit greatly from a detail job like this, but I want to know how much added time this adds to a regular wash & wax detail job. Also, how much does the Meguiar's Smooth Surface Clay Kit cost, and does it include everything needed to do the job?

I think the Meguiar's Clay Kit was $39, so it's not too pricey, but it's not really that cheap either. The results are worth it though. And yes, it includes 2 synthetic clay bars, some spray-on detailer that you use to lubricate the clay, and a sample bottle of wax.

Between all the washing, claying, and waxing, I spent about 6 hours. I'd say 3 1/2 hours of it was claying. I did mine in kind of a methodical order though...I started from the top and worked my way down, doing the areas along the rocker panel and wheel wells last since these have the most grit and you want to avoid getting all the crap in the clay early on. Also, you want the clay to stay free of specks when you're doing highly visible areas like the hood and trunk, since any little speck of grit could scratch the paint. So that's why it works better to start on top areas first and then do the sides, then do the bottom, and then wheel wells last.

One last thing...I made a newbie mistake and dropped the clay when I was doing the sides. If you drop the clay on the ground, toss it. All the sand and stuff it picks up will scratch the paint. The best thing to do is use smaller, thinner chunks of clay (about 2" in diameter) in case you do drop it. I went through 3/4 of one of the clay bars for the LS, so I still have a whole extra one.

[Intrepidation]

Don;t forget to kneed the clay every so often too!

[mustang84]

This is the video I watched before I did it...it will show you how it's done.

[mustang84]

And as long as the clay isn't too soiled, you can reuse it for a later time. I bet I can get at least a couple more times out of the used clay bar I have.

[GMTruckGuy74]

Thanks for the input. It looks like I will be planning for a cool day in late September or October to do this to the Caddy. I washed, detailed & waxed my AURA yesterday in the hot heat & humidity (thankfully I had my dad's 2-car garage <1 large garage door> to use to detail & wax - otherwise I would havce died of heat exhaustion!! The AURA isn't worth the clay process since it's going back in 3 months (lease), but I think it will do the Caddy much good for the upcoming winter months, and then I'll use it on the wife's G6 in the spring. One question: you don't wash the clay after using it on a section, you just knead it to keep it clean as you go along the process?

[Intrepidation]

When claying, you frequently check the clay for dirt, and when it looks dirty, you kneed it until you have a clean surface again. You repeat this until you can no longer get a clean surface, and then it's time for a new one.