So Sunday I decided to get out and get the stang all cleaned up for the upcoming show. I decided I would clay bar it, and wax it, condition the leather and dash. So I went down to my local O'reily's and bought $80 worth of car loving gear. I picked up the following:
1 gal of Gold Class Car wash
Quick Clay
Gold Class liquid wax
Quick Interior
Gold Class rich leather spray
Hot Rims all wheel cleaner
Hot Shine Tire Spray
Water Magnet Drying Towel

The experiance:

The car was has to be a thick as honey. I had never seen a car wash so freaking thick. But it had very nice sudding action and washed as well as any other car wash. Which is to say it worked (or seems to work) as well as the cheap blue coral stuff I had used before. During this washing I used the wheel cleaner and I have had multiple experiances with wheel cleaners that just don't live up to the bottle. However, the Mequiars product did work, the looser dust started to run immediately and what wasn't removed with the hose was easily wiped off with a rag.

Next step was the clay bar. I've never tried this before so I had no clue what really to expect. My one complaint if any is that the directions don't tell you whether your car should be dry or damp. They only say to wash all the loose dirt etc off before clay baring. So I refered to the picture on the box and decided that it looked dry. So I grabbed my Water Magnet drying towel and set out to dry the car. Let me preface this by saying I have used everything from genuine Chamios to the synthetic to standard towels and I have to say that the Water Magnet is by far the best drying towel I have ever used. It dried the whole car without ever having to be wrung out. Now back to the clay bar, again not knowing what to expect I figured this would an interesting task. Other than my hand cramping up a few times this process was relatively uneventful. It does leave the paint with a very smooth finish, but it's not a cure all to all paint imperfections. There are still a lot of gritty spots in my paint. Just waited to long to clay bar it. That being said, I wasn't dissatisfied with the result.

Next step was the Tire shine, not much to say here. Kind of a nice feature on the spray bottle was a setting to set the spray narrow so that you didn't get the tire shine all over the wheels. Overall satisfied.

Now I moved on to the Wax. Can't really say to much here either. The product is straight forward. Apply wax with included applicator let dry and buff away (finally put my Craftsman Auto Buffer/Polisher to work). With finish is nice and crisp. At least as much as a white car can be.

Now we move to the interior and I have to say this is where I met my most dissappointing product. The Quick Detail did clean and I'm sure it conditioned but I'm used to products like AmorAll and F2001 that leave a nice shine. This product didn't leave the shine I was expecting. However, it is safe on all interior surfaces, plastics, vinyls, audio faces etc. So I can't agrue with the fact that you don't have to worry about what it gets on. Second and last product was the leather conditioner, WOW! This stuff is nice and a little goes a long way. It puts one hell of a shine on your leather and soaks into it nicely. Looks like this is a very good leather product.

No pics of the car do to the fact that it was early evening when I finished and it was threatening rain. Suffice it say the car is very clean.

Also, one last note that I found very interesting and really quite a nice touch. All the Meguiar products (excluding the towel) have really pleasing smells. The don't smell like cleaners or anything of that nature. Hell I swear the clay bar spray smelled like bubble gum at times.

Basically what I'm getting at here is that unless I find a Meguiars product that just ****es me off, I think I will continue to buy Meguiars. I was very pleased with 95% of what I bought and if you asked me I would recommend Mequiars.

Matt

 

the soap is thick because it creates a slippery, frictionless surface on your paint so the dirt falls off of the car more easily instead of scrubbing hard to get it off so that you are less likely to put scratches or swirls in the finish.

I too love their water magnet, I use it in combination with the Microfiber Super Suede Drying Towel, it works great.

when calybarring did you use a quick detailer to lubricate the surface and the bar? this is esential for it to work. It will take off everything, just keep working it until the claybar starts to break free and just slide freely across the surface, if it is still gritty then you just didnt work it long enough, but it shouldn't take too long to get to the point where the bar is sliding freely. When you say gritty is it above or below the surface of the paint? Run your hand across the surface of the paint and if you can feel that it is gritty in the way that it is "bumpy" above the surface then go ahead and reclay, if it feels more like divits or something that is recessed or below the surface than it is pitted and the clay bar wont do anything further to help out.

for the wheel cleaner, which one did you use and what kind of wheels do you have?

the interior quick detailer is a cleaner, with a slight protectant, but its main function is to clean the interior nothing else. If you want a great UV protectant and that shine you are looking for then you need to follow up with an interior protectant product Meguiars offers several great products that do this, including the Gold Class and NXT lines.

glad to see your car is clean and youre stoked on it, Meguiars makes exceptional products and as you progress and if you would like some recommendations on some of their other products let me know.

BTW the black stang on the box of the detailer clay bar package is my car.

 

The claybar kit came with the quick detailer and I used it libraly. For what I could tell the grit is in the paint. The surface was smooth to the touch. After each application I would dry it and run my fingers across to ensure it was smooth.

The wheel cleaner is Mequiar Hot Rim, says it's safe on all rims. The kind I have are '03 Cobra Rims polish aluminum look.

Looks like I need to pick up some interior protectant.

 

cool that wheel cleaner will work fine, I usually agitate after letting it soak on there for a bit before rinsing, also although it is safe for all wheels, I still usually only use that stuff once in a while when the wheels are really dirty, normally I just use soap and water and get great results, reason being that most of the polished aluminum wheels have a protective clear coat on them and that will eventually start to look wierd (hazy and such) if any cleaner is used too much from my experience (but again too much is REALLY TOO MUCH so most people probably wont ever encounter this problem with occasional use)

and definately get that protectant, especially if you want that shine.

 

Will do! Thanks for the info.