Quick OCD/Detailing Question

bigchez · 28 Apr 2008 at 19:11

I've got the car in the garage spotlessly washed. Can I clay and polish/seal/wax a panel a night, or do you need to clay then wash then polish?

Ta. xxx

Psycrow · 28 Apr 2008 at 19:28

no reason why you can't, but why not just do it bit at a time? I had the teg in the garage for ages, I clayed one day, T cutted the next, polished the next, waxed the next and sealered on the last day. It didn't catch fire or anything...

AnastieByte · 28 Apr 2008 at 19:30

bigchez said:
I've got the car in the garage spotlessly washed. Can I clay and polish/seal/wax a panel a night, or do you need to clay then wash then polish?

Ta. xxx

Its in the garage so it will be fine.

bigchez · 28 Apr 2008 at 19:40

Psycrow said:
no reason why you can't, but why not just do it bit at a time? I had the teg in the garage for ages, I clayed one day, T cutted the next, polished the next, waxed the next and sealered on the last day. It didn't catch fire or anything...

That's what I wanted to do, except do a panel at a time - say the bonnet tonight, and clay, polish, wax.

Guess I didn't word it very well - what I meant was does a panel need washing after claying, before its polished? Only I don't want to have to wash the car like 10x just to get it clayed!

Fr0dders · 28 Apr 2008 at 19:54

tcut cuts down the surface of the paint. Its an abrasive so cuts down the surface of the paint to make it shine better. Polish achieves the same thing but works on filling the microscop gaps in the paint, wheras tcut works on cutting out the ridges in the gaps to make the paint reflect more light. But they're complimentary.

As far as im aware, you Tcut and Polish (as they both try to make the surface as flat as possible to reflect more light) and then Wax to preserve the finish ?

Psycrow · 28 Apr 2008 at 19:57

You need to wash the car after its clayed, thats why you should just do the whole car at once. Panel at a time will be a headache. Just do it stage at a time instead of panel at a time.

bigchez · 28 Apr 2008 at 19:59

Psycrow said:
You need to wash the car after its clayed, thats why you should just do the whole car at once. Panel at a time will be a headache. Just do it stage at a time instead of panel at a time.

Cheers, that's exactly what I wanted to know.

Toker · 28 Apr 2008 at 20:44

MrLOL said:
tcut cuts down the surface of the paint. Its an abrasive so cuts down the surface of the paint to make it shine better. Polish achieves the same thing but works on filling the microscop gaps in the paint, wheras tcut works on cutting out the ridges in the gaps to make the paint reflect more light. But they're complimentary.

As far as im aware, you Tcut and Polish (as they both try to make the surface as flat as possible to reflect more light) and then Wax to preserve the finish ?

Tcut and polish are both abrasive, although you get polishes which also have fillers but a glaze does a better job than a polish in that respect.

T-cut is stone age, the abrasive stays the same no matter how much you rub but with modern polishes the more you rub the finer the abrasive becomes, producing a better result without removing as much material.

if you're not machining out defects the best practice is clay/polish/glaze/wax or seal

as for doing a panel at a time there's no problem at all with that