Get deep shiny paint?

[ryan's camaro]

Hi, after seeing some awesome looking cars around my neighborhood with deep, slick, wet looking paint, I've been wondering how they achieve that flawless look. I've had my Camaro for less than 6 months and I haven't even broke it in yet and I want to give it a deep wet paint look (black color). I've found this flowchart from autogeek that seems to make a lot of sense, but I have a few questions. What is the purpose of glaze and sealants? Are they applied by hand or machine? Do they wear the clear coat down? Are these two substances the answer to shiny looking paint? Is Meguiars Glaze good? Is carnauba wax essential after applying cleaner wax?

I haven't used any of them before, so I wouldn't know. I just wash and wax my car.

[CamaroDreams07]

Originally Posted by ryan's camaro

Hi, after seeing some awesome looking cars around my neighborhood with deep, slick, wet looking paint, I've been wondering how they achieve that flawless look. I've had my Camaro for less than 6 months and I haven't even broke it in yet and I want to give it a deep wet paint look (black color). I've found this flowchart from autogeek that seems to make a lot of sense, but I have a few questions. What is the purpose of glaze and sealants? Are they applied by hand or machine? Do they wear the clear coat down? Are these two substances the answer to shiny looking paint? Is Meguiars Glaze good? Is carnauba wax essential after applying cleaner wax?

I haven't used any of them before, so I wouldn't know. I just wash and wax my car.

Glazes will temporarily fill light swirls and add a shine element to your paint temporarily. They're like a band aid but don't really fix anything.

Sealants protect your paint from the elements. They don't add much in terms of look, but offer excellent protection.

Glazes and sealants are usually applied by hand, but there are some exceptions. Check the packaging for instructions.

Neither of these wear down clear coat.

Shine comes from the polishing step. You need a machine polisher and a few good polishes. Mostly you need great technique.

Never tried megs glaze. probably not the best, but might be pretty good

Cleaner waxes are completely unnecessary, I don't care what auto geek says. They're trying to sell.

Carnuaba waxes protect your paint, but don't last as long as a sealant. Carnuabas typically produce a warmer, deeper look instead of the wet look usually associated with a sealant. However many carnuabas can be used in conjunction with sealants to achieve new looks and additional protection.

Sorry for the short replies but I'm on my phone. That should at least get you started. Any more questions feel free to ask.

[ryan's camaro]

Thanks!

Originally Posted by CamaroDreams07

Glazes will temporarily fill light swirls and add a shine element to your paint temporarily. They're like a band aid but don't really fix anything.

Sealants protect your paint from the elements. They don't add much in terms of look, but offer excellent protection.

Glazes and sealants are usually applied by hand, but there are some exceptions. Check the packaging for instructions.

Neither of these wear down clear coat.

Shine comes from the polishing step. You need a machine polisher and a few good polishes. Mostly you need great technique.

Never tried megs glaze. probably not the best, but might be pretty good

Cleaner waxes are completely unnecessary, I don't care what auto geek says. They're trying to sell.

Carnuaba waxes protect your paint, but don't last as long as a sealant. Carnuabas typically produce a warmer, deeper look instead of the wet look usually associated with a sealant. However many carnuabas can be used in conjunction with sealants to achieve new looks and additional protection.

Sorry for the short replies but I'm on my phone. That should at least get you started. Any more questions feel free to ask.

[whitehorse]

I use Zaino. It is awesome on dark colored cars.

[The Stig]

Wait for Dylan from Adam's to find this thread.

[SinisterEcho]

Originally Posted by stieger

Wait for Dylan from Adam's to find this thread.

+1 Him or Junkman....

[Adam's Polishes]

Originally Posted by ryan's camaro

What is the purpose of glaze and sealants?

Glazes are products used to temporarily hide or mask very minor imperfections. Dealerships often use them irresponsibly to hide the condition of the paint on a new or used car, a few washes later the glaze is gone and the ugly truth is revealed. When used responsibly they can help enhance the look of paint a lot. They do not, however, do anything for protection. Glazes are purely a beauty product so they're always going to be used in conjunction with either sealant and/or wax.

Sealant are typically a synthetic polymer. Think of them as 'man made wax'. Due to their generally higher melting points and detergent resistance they will (on average) offer you better protection/durability when compared to natural (carnuba) waxes. The drawback is the shine they leaves tends to lack depth... usually sealants are characterized by a more bright/reflective look. These are both points that are highly subjective so its a thing that many people may not even notice if they're not real "shine junkies"

Originally Posted by ryan's camaro

Are they applied by hand or machine?

Depends entirely on the product. For example we offer 2 sealant products. 1 (Machine Super Sealant) is strictly for machine application, the other (Quick Sealant) is a hand applied product. Glazes typically can be applied either way without much change in how they perform.

Originally Posted by ryan's camaro

Do they wear the clear coat down?

No... neither a sealant or a glaze will "wear the clear coat down". They are coatings laid down on the paint, no material is removed with either. Compounds and polishes (abrasives) are what will remove material from the paint.

Originally Posted by ryan's camaro

Are these two substances the answer to shiny looking paint?

Short answer - NO.

Long answer - they are a part of a solid routine to get you to deep, shiny, paint. There are a number of steps involved in achieving the perfect shine, sealants, glazes, and waxes actually play a very small role in this... the majority of your shine will be determined in the prep steps including clay to decontaminate and the use of polishes to remove imperfections.

Theres a lengthy discussion to be had here as well about the ability of polishes to be used effectively by hand - to sum it up I'll say: If you want perfect paint, be prepared to buy a machine. There isn't a product on the market that is going to allow you to perfect your paint or maximize your shine by hand. You simply lack the speed and consistency to make any meaningful change to your clear coat.

Originally Posted by ryan's camaro

Is Meguiars Glaze good?

I personally can't comment on any of their newest stuff, haven't used it. We offer Brilliant Glaze if you're at all interested in checking our line out.

Originally Posted by ryan's camaro

Is carnauba wax essential after applying cleaner wax?

No. Wax is another option for protection... if you're already using a sealant then wax is not required, it can be used to further enhance the looks and add another layer of protection, but its in no way required. It can also be used in place of sealant if you're just interested in using one product for protection. A lot of this decision will be based on how the car is used (daily driver vs. toy) where its kept (garage vs. outdoors) and other factors. For a car that sees a lot of outdoor exposure a sealant is going to be the better choice, for something thats a little more of a toy waxes are the way to go due to their overall deeper/wetter look. If you feel motivated a combination of the 2 is ideal as you get the protection of both and the aesthetics as well.

Detailing can seem really complicated, but at its core its really just a few key things to understand, and once you begin to follow what different products do and how they play off of each-other/work in tandem to achieve the goal its really not all that hard.

Long post short - if you're looking for the ultimate shine its not sealants waxes or glazes you need to be concerning yourself with first... you need to be looking at polishes and paint correction. Then and only then do you start to worry about the LSP's (last step products) If I hand you a tub of the worlds most amazing wax ever and you spread it over poorly prepped paint the results are going to be pretty mediocre. 90% of the end result is in the prep stages... not the wax.

[WiSSDiver]

Well said Dylan.

I would also add, it's like learning or in my case, re-learning the right way to do all of the steps in the entire detailing process.

Once you research and apply some of those early techniques and see the results for yourself, you start to realize it's all a sum of the part of the whole and once you get that point, keep beating it into your head by watching videos, reading posts from multiple sources and practicing so your technique develops, but it does take practice and in some cases a lot of patience to get it "perfect."

In the end you’ll have one heck of deep shine

Good luck

[The Stig]

Also, and this is just from my personal experiences with it. But Brilliant Glaze is worth it's weight in anti-matter (I think the going rate is like 2 billion per gram)

[Dr Jkel]

Correct the paint issues you have , then properly maintain it and you should have a shine that you will like.

I use Adam's Products and use NOTHING else.

[2010abmss]

2 words: Adams polishes!!! By far the best products for our cars, very easy to understand and use. Also you will get the absolute best customer service period!! I'm a very happy and proud owner of Adams polishes. Hope this will help you out.

[KBsSS]

[jdenotter]

Dylan said it best. I too use Adam's Polishes and nothing else.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk

[BAD DAB]

Can't beat that Adams Shine...................or there customer service.