Hi all,
I just recently purchased an 09 Black G37s Sedan. Loving the car so far and have been doing lots of reading on this forum and detailed image's website, both great sites BTW. Since my paint is in decent shape I have decided not to polish at this time.
I plan to clay after washing, but do I really need to dry my car and then come back to clay? I will be using ONR for the wash and also will be mixing a bottle to use as my clay lube. Can I not just wash each panel and then lube/clay right after without going through the drying process?
After clay I understand that I will need to re-wash before applying sealant, I am going with PB EX sealant as that seems to be a good choice for black. Let that cure for however long it suggests and then come back with some natty's blue wax. Do I need to re-wash between sealant and wax? If I choose to do 2 coats of the sealant or wax, which is recommended? And finally, if I re-wax every month, will that keep me from having to do the sealant as often?

Here are the products I'm planning on using:
wash - Optimum No-Rinse (will also be using separate bottles as clay lube and QD)
clay - Clear Kote fine grade
sealant - Poorboy's EX
wax - Poorboy's Natty's Blue
protectant/interior - 303 aerospace
leather - lexol
probably also be picking up some Meguiar's APC

I'm trying to minimize the amount of different products, but if you have any suggestions I would apprciate it. Sorry for the long post, thanks for all your help!!!

 

that sounds pretty good...as far as washing/claying goes, personally I wash the whole car, dry it, then clay. But I don't think there would be any harm in washing/claying 1 area at a time

b/w sealant and wax, just make sure to give it time to cure. and I would do 1 coat sealant, 2 coats wax

yes, if you wax 1x/month then you should only have to seal 2x/year unless something really messes with the paint

 

Hispeed's pretty much dead on. I'd probably just wash the whole thing then clay too. For the sealant one coat should be fine. I just did the exact same combo last weekend except with natty's red instead of blue. Do the sealant in the evening then let it cure over night. That should give it plenty of time to cure and be able to apply the wax. Same goes for the wax, let it cure for a good 12 hours or just over night before the second coat. This is what i've always done and it works great for me.

 

If you are out of direct sunlight where you won't get water spots from leaving the car wet, no you don't have to dry it before using the clay. Wash the whole car and then clay it. Be sure to use plenty of lube and be gentle with your pressure when claying the black surface. Take it from me, it's very easy to get marring just by sliding the clay across the clear coat.

Wash again afterwards and dry it before applying the sealant. I've used tge same PBW combo you are using on black before. It'll look great. I did 2 costs of EX topped by 2 coats of Natty's Blue and it looked great. Let each coat of both product cure at least 12 hours before adding the next one. Don't eat the Natty's. It doesn't taste nearly as good as it smells. Dint ask how I know...

 

I've always wondered about this.

 

Smells like delicious bubble gum. Tastes like car wax.


So I've heard...

 

Thanks guys. Are there any issues with getting clay, sealant or wax on the chrome trim? How about the windows?

 

No issues. Many waxes will leave black trim looking chalky and waxy, Natty's Blue doesn't. I actually clay and wax the glass. You might be amazed how slick it feels and how rain just jumps off of the glass after doing it.

 

Hahaha, my 3 year old daughter always tries to eat that stuff. Nothing like the smell of bubble gum I guess.

Btw, it's great to see a number of experienced and enthusiastic detailers here. Gotta love the detailing community.

 

You probably don't want any of this stuff on your windows, but other parts of the car should be fine in my experience.

 

For initial wash, I would use the Citrus Wash: Chemical Guys Citrus Wash & Gloss - 16 oz | Detailed Image

What is good about it is that it strips any and all protection (old layers of wax and sealants), road grime, etc.. After you wash and try, clay it, then wash with some regular shampoo.

I put two layers of sealant and then two layers of wax on mine, and ideally you should allow each layer of sealant or wax to cure for about 12 hrs or so.