So this weekend i gave the car a good wash, after i washed and dried it i noticed hella swirl marks. I'm not a waxing pro i don't have the slightest idea when you guys speak about compounds, buffing, mixing, porter cables, so i made up my own proceedur i guess.. I purchased some mcguires caruba carnuba arruba (something like that) wax, it says yellow something #26 and some eagle 1 nano wax. I applied 1 coat of the mcguires, let it dry, removed it with microfiber mcguires towel, and repeated that again, then i applied a layer of eagle 1, let it dry, and removed it as well. then i sprayed some quick detail made by mcguires and wiped it down. it actually removed a majority of the swirl marks. this was all done without any machines, all by hand, anything wrong with any of these steps i've done?

 

there's nothing wrong with what you did. If you want more results, i'd suggest the Meguires clay bar and 3 step.

1: wash the car
2: clay with meguires clay kit
3: wash the car
4: meguires cleaner wax
3: meguires polish wax
4: meguires wax (you can use whichever one you prefer, i personally use NXT tech, but gold class will work just as good.

-GP-

 

You do this all by hand right? I can't afford the fancy machines

 

those products don't contain any abrasives, so they are really just filling the swirls, they'll be back in a few washes.

 

Yea' i figured they would. once i have a lil extra spending dough, i'll hire you to do what you do

 

If you are happy with the results, just keep waxing every couple of weeks and it'll keep hiding the swirls, thats what I used to do with my prelude and it worked fine for 2-3years. Just figured it was about time to step things up to the next level and get a real polisher

 

Don't you need an air compressor for the polisher? or do they have electric ones?

 

its electric

 

wash
claybar
ScratchX by hand if you don't have a random orbital
Wax, let it cure for at least 35-45min even up to 1hr.
remove wax and buff (if necessary)

by hand it would take 4-5hrs. 3hrs for the polishing.

 

+1. Do it once a month and your paint will look great. Washes in between the 3-step are cake because the dirt just glides off the car

 

if u have the money to get a "professional detail"
I suggest u don't use it to hire a detailer but to get the supplies u need to do it urself.
Ihv spent well oever 500 last year to get my car detail and i swear to god some of them seem like they just put a coat of wax on and thats it.
Save up ur money, in the mean time, look up the proceedures to doing a complete detail urself.
Its not hard, just finding and understanding the proceedure might be challenging.

heres a really helpful video if u decide to take my advice.
http://www.autogeek.net/auto-detailing-live-help.html

select the pinnicle detailing video on the right side.

 

When I applied the carnuba wax, i let it dry for about an hour each time, it felt a bit difficult to buff it out with the microfiber towel, but i got it going with a few drops of water on the towel. was that a good move? or should i have buffed it out with a completely dry microfiber?

 

an hour is probably too long to wait, I usually can start removing it as soon as I get all the way around the car. Best way to check if its ready for removal is to do the "swipe test", using your finger, wipe some of the hazed wax, and if it comes off clean, its ready for removal. If its slightly difficult to remove on a panel, use a quick detailer to mist the panel to aid in removal

 

you should try p21s or some type of pure brazillian carnuba wax..you put it on and you wipe it off immediately.

 

I just made a thread about detailing my car in this thread.

i would go with the dish soap wash, followed by clay, then necessary polishing, then sealent and some p21s ontop of the sealent if necessary.

the porter cable is an excellent investment for $100-120 imo. itll save you a lot of time and work, it also results in very even results from my experience.

good luck with your future car cleaning!!! post some pics too!!!