sandman

Great questions mnkyboy! I'll answer the ones that I can!

1 - You're right! Out of the magiuars products, the mirror glaze line is the best. That line is specially formulated for body shop pros whereas the Gold Class line, 3 steps, etc are formulated for everyday consumers. The BIG difference is that the Mirror Glaze line is a lot more concentrated and as such more powerful.

2 - see #1. The gold class is a weaker, diluted formulation designed for the person that doesn't want to spend a lot of time detailing their car. I'm not sure about the cleaner wax. I'm guessing it contains some sort of cutting agent in it like a weak polish or something to help a person 'cheat' and skip steps. I think I would prefer to use the 3 separate products. More work, but would be worth it for the end results...

3 - When I had my escort, I used to wax everything but the lights and the windows. I don't think i'd want to use polish or glaze on the black trim parts, but a little wax couldn't hurt it. From the conversation I got the majority of the .doc file from, kemist's comments were roughly the same. You can get the polish/glaze on the trim, etc, but should clean it off if you do. Or mask it off before you start. I imagine a good rule of thumb would be to use is - if it's the same color as your paint job it's fair game!

4 - I don't know! Again, with my escort I used to wax that part but I don't think I'd want to polish it. If anybody knows what you can use on the black part between the windows, and the roof rails, etc. Let me know!

5 - Do you know anyone with a garage/carport/shady area you could borrow for an afternoon? Maybe make it a group effort where you both work on both cars.. If you can't find a shady area to work, my suggestion would be to just go ahead and do it anyway. I used to wax my escort out in the baking sun and the job still came out fine. The reason you don't want to be doing it out in the sun is the water dries off super fast when you're washing your car so you gotta spray it down more often to keep it from forming water spots before you can get to it. If you have access to a hose to keep your car wet while you're cleaning it, you'll be fine doing it outside. As you wash each panel, spray the whole car. That should be enough water to keep it from drying up too fast.

Hope that helps! Keep the questions coming. We can have one kickass thread talking about car washing, etc for people to search on. (even though the title is spelled wrong! )

Pro_fan

Cleaner waxes lick. What they try to do is be a cleaner (ie. removing oxidation, etc.) and a protective wax at the same time. Trouble is, it doesn't do either very well. Also, you cannot put a coat of cleaner wax on top of itself as it will "clean" off the layer underneath.

From what I've read, the Professional line (ie. #26) is better to use than gold class. Don't get me wrong....gold class is supposed to be very good.

Wax/polish only painted surfaces. Don't wax trim (ie. door handles that are plastic, side mirrors that aren't painted, etc.). The wax will stain the plastic. Not pretty.

If you really want to protect the divider, you could use a very low stick tape (like that blue tape....). Masking tape will work, but there is stuff that is less adhesive and will work the same, but has less chance of sticking to your paint.

If you don't have a carport/garage, then you're SOL. I just do it in the shade of a tree. I would say, don't sit under trees that crap is gonna fall out of frequently. Try to be judicious in your trees

For a lot more info, goto www.autopia-carport.com or www.meguiars.com or www.mothers.com

Pro_fan

Check out this thread....it talks about #26 being better than gold class in terms of durability:

http://www.autopia-carport.com/forum...ght=gold+class

mnkyboy

Thanks for the replys
You say plastic door handles, what about the P5 door handles? They are painted, but plastic. I notice scratch marks on the door under the handles. Do you mean black plastic door handles like on some older cars? Also the side mirrors are painted, but are plastic.

neuromancer

Anything that has paint on it should be handled the same way as the rest of the car. Otherwise you wouldn't wax the bumpers, side skirts...etc.

I've polished and waxed the door handles on my car and have noticed no problems at all. YMMV.

Jay

sandman

I do mine!!

sandman

Pretty wacky - 2 Jays from Edmonton! Just noticed..

neuromancer

Yup what are the chances When I was a kid in school is seemed like one in five had the same name. Yay for my parents being creative!

Now if we both had silver p5's, then I'd get a little worried!

Jay

Pro_fan

LOL! I have the '01 LX so my handles are cheap *** unpainted plastic. If your handles are painted the same as the body colour than have at it with the wax! Same goes with the side mirrors...mine are cheap unpainted plastic. Wax = ugh on those.

If it's painted go for it. Side skirts, spoiler...whatever. Wax it!

mnkyboy

In regards to my previous post with the questions, do I need anything else besides the
Meguiars
#6 Cleaner Polish
#7 Glaze
and
#26 Yellow Wax?

From what ive read, the Glaze isnt really necessary, is this correct?

What order should I do these in?

Bruce95fmla

the glaze is not really necessary to be honest, just the cleaner and the wax, will do , . I don't really fancy the wax, though cause it is yellow , my car is red, the dang streaks that are left at times gets on my nerves
Bruce

sandman

Well like it says in the doc, polish --> glaze --> wax

if you have an orbital buffer you'll save LOADS of time and make sure you have a bunch of nice fluffly made in the USA 100% cotton towels for drying, and wiping off the waxes,etc

glaze isn't necessary, BUT if you wanna have the BEST looking shine possible, you'll want to glaze it too.

sandman

No ****!

I bet u any money you're about 25 too right?

My mom was a playschool teacher and one of the kids moms was a nurse. When my mom told her she had three kids she asked what age we were. When she told her, she guessed all three of our names from our ages!

I guess for my year of birth, Jason was the most commonly chosen name... Same with my brothers and theirs.

neuromancer

In 1972 my first name was #5 and my middle name was #3. I think that alternate they had picked (Andrew) was in the top 5 as well. My parents suck

Jay

Pro_fan

Dude....Goto http://www.meguiars.com/secrets.cfm

The glaze, or polish in step 2 of the Meguiar's 3 step system, is what restores the shine and lustre to the paint. The wax is for protection and gives the paint a deep reflection.