What does everyone use on their paint to make it shine?

[yARIC008]

So I've always been a wax person. Almost every time I wax, I use a pre-cleaner, usually mothers gold prewax cleaner, then a wax, typically use collinite fleet wax. I've always had pretty good results and the van still shines up pretty nice. I don't have to do it as much as I used to as it's in the garage most of the time now. I maybe wax it once every one or two years now.

There are SO many new products every time i look. Synthetic sealants, ceramic sealants, nano sealant stuff, spray on waxes, wash and wax, touchless waxes, etc.. I can't keep up with it all...

Most of the new stuff seems to be really geared towards new cars that have a nice fresh clear coat on them and don't need to be pre-cleaned/don't have any oxidation going on.

What does everyone else do? Anyone find something better on our vintage paint that works better than wax?

 

[Selahdoor]

What is this "clean" and "wax" you speak of?

 

[Dirtleg]

Well on my vehicles that have paint on them I do a polish. Use Chemical Guys 36 polishing compound to get out swirl marks, then 38. After that I seal it with Jet Seal. All of this is done with a random orbital polisher. Takes some time but it's only once a year. Once the jet seal is on it is so much easier to clean day to day.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

What is this "clean" and "wax" you speak of?

I do wash mine once in a while, but they get rained on WAY more often.

 

[nelstomlinson]

Paint shines? When did this start?

 

[snicklas]

What is this "clean" and "wax" you speak of?

I think the clean part is something that happens when it rains.........

 

[snicklas]

Paint shines? When did this start?

The paint on my trucks shine........... but they are both silver..... lol

 

[Thewespaul]

When cleaning up paint there’s no blanket product to do the job properly. Depending on if the paint has oxidation, scratches, orange peal or fade, I’ll choose an approach accordingly, if the paint is a softer single stage or has a multi stage brick hard clear coat you will use a different approach. Post some pictures of what you’re working with and I’ll point you in the right direction.

 

[Exhumis]

Paint shines? When did this start?

I'm assuming mine did this when it left the factree.

 

[gandalf]

Wash and wax?? This seems to be a foreign concept to many of us. Will it make our trucks go faster? Will they slide through the air easier, giving us better fuel mileage?

I think some of us use the dirt as a form of camouflage.

 

[Selahdoor]

Wash and wax?? This seems to be a foreign concept to many of us. Will it make our trucks go faster? Will they slide through the air easier, giving us better fuel mileage?

I think some of us use the dirt as a form of camouflage.

Yup. Urban camouflage. Keeps the tweekers from seeing it. What the tweekers don't see, the tweekers don't steal.

 

[yARIC008]

Well you guys are no fun... lol

 

[Thewespaul]

They’re just jealous because they don’t have an inch of clear coat on their trucks, nothing wrong with wanting to clean up a classic diesel truck that you’re proud of

 

[catbird7]

If you're waxing a black vehicle, use a wax specifically designed for "black" paint. Typical car waxes dry "white" and if you don't get it all off, the white shows up easily on black paint job. Oh, if you're using these "black waxes", I suggest also wearing latex gloves cause it makes your hands look like you just did an oil change on an old IDI!

 

[Selahdoor]

Well you guys are no fun... lol

They’re just jealous because they don’t have an inch of clear coat on their trucks, nothing wrong with wanting to clean up a classic diesel truck that you’re proud of