Bringing the shine back.

[Jayota]

My paint is in a pretty rough state right now, its almost a flat blue, I was woundering if there was a simple way to get a little bit of shine back.

I was going to try either:

nu finish polish
or
Turtle wax ICE

Anyone have experiance with any of these? If so, how well did they work?

[camrycoupe95]

Depends on how oxidized the paint is. If there is zero shine then a high speed buffer is probably your only hope to get a quality job. If you apply wax on it without removing the oxidation, will only smear it around.

If you don't want to get it buffed then you could get a tub of rubbing compound. It's available at Walmart or any parts store and only costs a few bucks.

Work in a couple coats of that. Afterword hit it with your favorite polish, then a final coat of wax.

[Jayota]

There is some shine, not to much but there is some reflection. In hard sunlight it looks flat.
I have never done any polishing or waxing before so. But thanks for the help

[eledan]

Get some detailing clay on that paint! Then polish and wax and it should be looking good as new.

[Pb]

Don't try to wax overtop of oxidized and dull paint. It will only be a temporary bandaid. You need to clay and polish your paint before waxing. Do some searching here. I've posted some before and after pics of what polishing can do. And check out the Detailing sticky thread.

[Jayota]

Would the turtle wax liquid clay bar work just as well as traditional clay bars?

[Tideland Prius]

Yeah, you might wanna check my thread on my friend's Accord. It's 11 years old and you couldn't see yourself even if he washes it. Now, it has a mirror glaze (well, as mirror-like as you can with 11 year old paint technology on an Accord). It's beige but it looks darn good to me.

Check out the thread for the tips that touringcamry, jim and pb gave for my challenge to bring back the shine in my friend's car.

[Jayota]

I think I will head up to canadian tire and pick up some stuff.

clay bar and the cleaner that goes with it?
and some spray wax.

friends say go with mothers..

[Pb]

Originally Posted by Jayota

Would the turtle wax liquid clay bar work just as well as traditional clay bars?

I'm not sure, but I would stay with the regular clay bar kits. Don't fall for Turtle Wax's flashy bling advertising.

[Tideland Prius]

Originally Posted by Jayota

I think I will head up to canadian tire and pick up some stuff.

clay bar and the cleaner that goes with it?
and some spray wax.

friends say go with mothers..

I dunno. I'm using Mother's. I haven't tried Meguire's and I'm currently not tied to any one brand. I have used Turtle Wax before (back in the 90s) but it was liquid and wasn't that great.


I would try the 3-step process. Pre-Wax Cleaner, Sealant/Glaze, pure Carnuba wax. As well as the claybar.

The claybar kit will set you back $25ish. I recommend Meguire's version only because it comes with a bigger bar and without the wax (which you don't need). Mother's kit comes with a small bottle of wax but you'll be using pure carnuba wax so there's no point splitting the cost of the claybar with a small bottle of wax.

The pre-wax and S/G will set you back ~$10 each and the pure carnuba wax (I use the paste version) is $25. Don't confuse the pure carnuba wax with the cleaner wax that says (Genuine Brazillian Wax). Mother's have two version so read carefully. The cleaner wax is fine but if you're going to use S/G, a pure carnuba wax layer is much better in bringing out the gloss.

[jami143]

I agree with what Tideland had said. If you will top yours with some kind of sealant and decide to put a wax as well, don't ever use a wax that has a cleaner on it. If you do, it will just removed your sealant. Just make sure you will use a pure carnauba without a cleaner.

[Tommy]

sounds like your gonna need more than a claybar. I imagine at least some polishing compound will be needed.