I did my car this past week. Coming from a detailer, can I offer some suggestions to your processes. Not sure what your using, but here is a typical day on the P-car for me!
First off, I never reccomend the use of SMR or a PC without first clay bar'ing. Your paint, regardless of miles, year, or condition will have embedded particles and other 'crap' in it. The PC will easily pick this up and while many of the larger swirls are gone, there will always be small ones...can be seen in the acid test under direct sunlight.
Second, I am not sure what polish you are using, but typically that is my last step before applying a sealant or wax. You want to start with your roughest material, often a hard grade SMR or Fine Cut. This will remove 99% of your swirls, but typically leaves a haze. What degrades from paint depth and shine are the flaws and swirls. You want those gone, as best as they can. If your fingernail doesn't get caught, we can get it out. So start with your roughest material. Then work your way down to your fine polish, either a cleaner polish or a pure polish.
I use Poorboys, Meguiars, and Pinnacle. Nothing than anyone can't buy offline. I only use premium grade microfiber for drying and sealant/polish removal. It never takes much of a product to work the paint, and you should never sweat detailing a car. If you are your working to hard (of course unless its 110 outside with 100% relative humidity...but in that case you shouldn't be detailing anyways <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/smile.gif" class="smilie" alt="" /> ). I start most cars with Poorboys SSR2.5 (Super Swirl Remover 2.5). I use 3 if the car is in rough shape, or Fine Cut if its in a aweful shape. I then work down to SSR1 which is more of a filler/cleaner than anything. Next I do a pure polish, most likely Mequiars number 7 pure show car polish. I then go next to Vanilla Moose polish...talk about depth...this brings out any paint. I follow with a sealant...new synthetics have benefits far greater than standard carnuba waxes ( I only use Carnubas for shine now). Sealants also multiply the depth of the paint to unbelievable portions. If you are feeling lucky (and rich) I highly reccomend finishing with Pinnacle Souveran paste wax, hand applied on dark colors. At $60 for a tub though, you need to be careful and relaxed on your application. There are far higher grade waxes, but nothing for street cars in my honest opinion. If $60 is to much, Poorboys Blue paste wax and P21S are great altrenatives.
So a recap -
Wash/Careful dry
Clay Bar (Off the shelf Mothers works great)
Poorboys SSR2.5 (or 3 if nessacary)
Poorboys SSR1
Poorboys Pure Polish or Meguiars 7 Pure Polish
Vanilla Moose (Don't worry about taping up rubber...this stuff is magic)
Poorboys EX-P or Meguiars Synthetic Sealant
Wait 24hrs
Pinnacle Souveran Hand Applied
I am uploading some pictures in a minute of my works. I promise you will never regret spending 4-6hrs on your car after this process!
Wes
