Mother of all Mother detailing threads...

One word of caution with Swirl-X, at least in my experience, is to only apply in no larger than one square-foot section at a time, and to wipe off immediately after application. IIRC, the instructions say to let it haze or set for like 5 minutes, but doing so will require a DA to fully remove.

For car dark color cars (gray/graphite, black, dark blue), may I suggest using Meguiar's 26 Hi-Tech Yellow Wax:

My FG2 is NBP and I've tried a myriad of waxes, both carnauba and synthetic, including Meguiar's Tech Wax and Dodo Juice Purple Haze, but there is a great deepness and wet-look that comes from Meguiar's 26 that I'm very satisfied with.

As far as a know all polishes on the market should be removed after you work the section, including SwirlX....allowing them to dry, as you've experienced, will only make them difficult to remove. You are correct on keeping the section small too, especially if you're working by hand. ;)

Note: Some AIO polishes can be left on the paint to cure as they contain a wax/sealant.

Great thread Bill! :thumb:
 
I've used the 2.0 tech wax on previous vehicles but I've always taken my car to a friend to get it done just wondering how would I apply the wax to the car if I'm hand waxing
 
All of these "how to detail" videos have something very important in common: all the polishing and waxing happens IN A GARAGE. I tried to clay, polish, and wax today in the sun. It is completely impossible, especially on a black car. I spent the better part of two hours figuring this out the hard way. I knew it wouldn't work, but I had to try anyway. If you don't have a garage or an extremely shaded area to do this stuff, just pay someone else to do it or wait til the sun goes down and see all your mistakes the next day and wait til the sun goes down again to correct them, and then repeat that process til it looks right.
 
Yeah, waxing a car in the sun doesn't work. Usually the bottle will even say to avoid applying wax in the sun or over a certain temperature. Hot paint is bad
 
I just bought Wax today and cotton towels. Is it fine to just wax without all of the other stuff like clay, polishing etc? and would using the cotton towels be a bad idea?
 
when you say cotton towels....do you mean towels like bath towels? You'll want to use microfiber towels, or even a leaf blower to blow the water drops off. Normal towels can leave scratches in the clearcoat.

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Its a 12 pack of hand towels for detailing. It had a picture of some dude rubbing it on rims so i figured it would work out
 
wax foam applicator pads?
 
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Here's a link I haven't seen....... Ten tips on what not to do........... Detailing

Larry's videos are definitely top notch and very informative. I may not agree with everything in them, but they are still very well done.
 
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