Paint cleaning for wax maintenance

[TLai]

Just bought a new daily driver two months ago. I'm new to the detailing scene, and I've got some questions about how to maintain your car after a big detailing session.

I understand that depending on the wax/sealant you use, you should wax/seal every 3-6 months. According to the forum you should also "clean the paint" before you wax. Does Meguiar's Ultimate Polish count as a paint cleaner? And if it does, do I really need to use it before every wax? From my understanding it has abrasives in it, and if I wax on the more frequent end of the spectrum won't that take off too much paint? Any paint cleaner recommendations?

Thanks!

 

[trekkeruss]

I understand that depending on the wax/sealant you use, you should wax/seal every 3-6 months. According to the forum you should also "clean the paint" before you wax.

Assuming the finish is good, i.e. no scratches, cleaning involves washing, claying to remove bonded contaminants, and using a pre-wax cleaner with no abrasives.

 

[omarabdullah022]

Clean paint as in- you should remove old layers of wax and do a sandwich baggy test and remove above surface bonded contaminants if present.

 

[FUNX650]

I understand that depending on the wax/sealant you use, you should wax/seal every 3-6 months.

According to the forum you should also "clean the paint" before you wax.

Does Meguiar's Ultimate Polish count as a paint cleaner?

And if it does, do I really need to use it before every wax? From my understanding it has abrasives in it, and if I wax on the more frequent end of the spectrum won't that take off too much paint? Any paint cleaner recommendations?

Meguiar's often uses the terminology "paint cleaner"
to describe their polishes.

Meguiar's Ultimate Polish, according to its type-of-abrasives:
is a very light/mild polish. IMO:
Using it every 3-6 months to "clean" the paint before a
Waxing-session, will not remove an excessive amount of paint.


In addition (the way things seems to work best for me:
Once my vehicles have undergone the initial complete detailing processes,
which includes---but is not limited to:
-Wash/Dry
-Decontamination with an IronX-type product
-Clay [per: "The Baggie Test"<<<(MP)]
-Paint condition evaluated (per: "swirl-finder"/inspection light)
-Paint correction that meets my satisfaction
-Application of LSP of my choosing
-And incorporating regularly scheduled maintenance washes...

Then the need for such future intense detailing sessions
can be of a more limited nature.


Bob