Detailing Trinity: Claying, Polishing, and Waxing your way to a proper finish
 

In religion, Trinity refers to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. In culinary terms, Trinity refers to the base of Celery, Onions, and Bell Peppers for Creole dishes such as Gumbo. And now, in the detailing world, Trinity refers to the three steps that are the foundation of a properly exterior detailed vehicle. The three steps are Clay, Polish, and Wax.

A few years ago during a tech session, I was asked what is the single most important concept to remember for a DIY detailer? I gave it some thought and responded that there was no single concept that was important, rather a few steps to a proper exterior finish. After watching countless hours of cooking shows on FoodTV, one of my passions next to detailing is cooking, I stumbled on an episode of Emeril Live and he was talking about Trinity as it relates to making gumbo. I then realized, why not relate to Trinity in detailing as the foundation of a proper exterior detail. Because no matter what brand of products you use, as long as the PROCESS is followed, the DIY detailer is in excellent shape.

So what exactly is Trinity? In simple terms, it’s the proper technique of cleaning, conditioning, and protecting the exterior finish. Trinity is the process that follows a good wash. It’s usually the missing link for many DIY detailers. So here’s the process in detail.

Step 1:

Claying - Up until the early 90s, most consumers, and some detailers, hadn’t even heard of a little bar of putty-like material called clay. In its simplest explanation, clay is quartz crystals suspended in a plasticizer. How clay works is pretty simple in concept but ingenious in theory. Imagine particles on the paint surface that cannot be removed just by washing alone;embedded contaminants such as brake dust, acid rain deposit, tree sap, tar, etc. These particles cannot be washed off. Using a lubricant spray, you form the clay into a pancake. You then spray the paint surface with the clay lubricant and then begin rubbing the paint in a side-to-side motion with the actual clay. As you’re rubbing the paint, the clay is beginning to sheer off the particles on the paint, and in the pores of the paint, with every swipe. You can tell the clay is working by hearing and feeling the paint. Once the paint becomes smooth and quiet, you know the job is done and you move on to the rest of the car. You can clay paint, glass, chrome, etc. Just remember that there are different grades of clay and their aggressiveness varies. Try to use the most gentle clay to get the job done. The more aggressive clays contain quartz crystals that are like a ball with spikes. The more gentle clays have stop-sign shaped crystals that basically don’t CUT like the sharp ball crystals. Once you’ve clayed, you’ve got the texture part of the proper detail complete.

Step 2:

Polishing – This step can arguably be the most important step of all since this is where all the magic happens. A lot is happening during this process. If you’ve ever looked at your paint in direct sunlight and saw light scratches, what may look like a spider web, haziness, etching from bird droppings, you see imperfections that can all be helped with polishing. To fully understand what a polish does, we must understand what polishes are trying to fix. On a perfect paint surface, light should reflect back. According to Wikipedia, Specular reflection is the perfect, mirror-like reflection of light (or sometimes other kinds of wave) from a surface, in which light from a single incoming direction (a ray) is reflected into a single outgoing direction. Such behavior is described by the law of reflection, which states that the direction of incoming light (the incident ray), and the direction of outgoing light reflected (the reflected ray) make the same angle with respect to the surface normal, thus the angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection; this is commonly stated as θi = θr.

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This is in contrast to diffuse reflection, where incoming light is reflected in a broad range of directions. The most familiar example of the distinction between specular and diffuse reflection would be glossy and matte paints. While both exhibit a combination of specular and diffuse reflection, matte paints have a higher proportion of diffuse reflection and glossy paints have a greater proportion of specular reflection. Very highly polished surfaces, such as high quality mirrors, can exhibit almost perfect specular reflection.

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So basically, if the surface is perfectly flat, light can reflect back properly giving you a mirror image of the subject. But if there are imperfections such as swirls, spider-webbing, orange peel, or oxidation as it relates to paint, light is refracted and the subject is distorted. Next time, compare anything that is being reflected on the glass of your car to the same subject on the paint of your car. The results are remarkable and you can see the difference between reflection and refraction.

There are many different grades of polish and quality will vary as well. There are polishes that legitimately correct the imperfection, this means it removes and not hides, and other polishes fill the imperfections. Neither one is best in every scenario. Let’s assume you have a 1930 Bugatti and it’s your job to restore the paint back to the best it can look without repainting. Well, in my opinion, you want to keep as much of the original paint as possible, while bringing out the brilliance in the lacquer. Each detailer will vary in his/her polishing process, but in my opinion, using a mild polish to remove light oxidation and rejuvenating the paint with essential oils is more important than removing precious paint to get rid of imperfections. We’re looking for the natural patina in the paint, nothing artificial. An almost 80 year-old automotive jewel shouldn’t look like it rolled out of the paint booth yesterday. In contrast, say you have a 1960s Hot Rod that is restored and painted by Chip Foose, Pete Santini, or Junior Conway. These amazing works of art on wheels can have multiple layers of paint and clear coat. So imperfections can be sanded and polished to a mirror-like state unmatched by most production paint jobs. After wetsanding the paint, these cars will require a more aggressive polish, even compounding, to get rid of the sand marks to bring out the true beauty of the painter’s skilled hands. The polishes used here are those that will legitimately remove imperfections and not hide them.

Step 3:

Waxing – This step protects and adds another dimension to the paint. The oldest form of wax, dating back to Egypt, is Carnauba. This is the waxy layer that is on the leaves of a tree that is further processed and purified for applications in pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and automotive industries to name a few.

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Carnauba can come in many forms such as wax or sap. The newer form of wax that utilizes modern technology is a polymer-based product. These new waxes are easier to use, less expensive, and last longer than some traditional carnauba waxes. The difference between the two waxes is primarily in the “look”. Synthetic waxes have a more sterile look but have tremendous shine and gloss. Natural carnauba waxes have much greater depth and clarity while having gloss and shine, just not as much as the synthetics. Neither one is better than the other, it all comes down to which “look” you prefer. The best advice I can give you is find a “look” you like and ask whomever detailed that car what he/she used. Then follow his/her steps on how they achieved that “look”.

I hope this sheds some light on what I think is the most important concept in exterior paint detailing. Please feel free to comment and ask any questions you have.

Could You Give Us Some Examples Of Different Clays, Polishes And Waxes And What Their Properties Are? For Instance In Regard To Polishes, Which Correct Vs. Fill, Etc.

Thank you very much for that great write up!

For the collector cars I normally use the 3M machine glaze and hand glaze but I have always wondered what to use on my daily. I have a SL55 daily driver w no paint-work, just very hazy from everyday driving.

What would you recommend as a in-expensive, easy efficient solution to bring the paint back?

If you want something very simple and cost effective, a simple cleaner wax like Zymol or einszett would do just the trick. I'd lean more towards the einszett because then you can also use their Perls Car Shampoo and their Detail Spray. You'll be under $40 for all three. The other thing I'd is is clay, of course. So for about $85, you can have your clay, polish/wax, and soap/detail spray combo. Excellent value and quick and easy application.

Clay:

Clay Magic Red: Aggressive
Clay Magic Blue: Medium
Meguiar's Clay: Medium
Mother's Clay: Medium
Zymol Clay: Medium
Sonus Extra Fine: Gentle

My clay of choice is Zymol Lehm Klay 3

Polish:

Menzerna SIP: Medium (corrects)
Menzerna 106ff: Fine (corrects, fills a bit if weather is too cold)
Meguiar's 105: Medium-Light Cut (not sure..only tried it a few times)
Meguiar's 83: Medium (fills a bit, stopped using it a few years ago)
Zymol HD-Cleanse: Fine (basically a paint cleanser. does fill some of the deeper imperfections)
einszett Paint Polish: Medium-Fine (haven't used it too much)

My polish of choice for correction is Menzerna SIP and 106ff. For polishing prior to a carnauba like zymol, you MUST use Hd-Cleanse.

Wax:

Synthetic:

einszett Glanz (easy to use and it does hide some of the imperfections if you hand polish and don't remove all the imperfecitons. User-friendly)
Autoglym Radiant Wax (great wax and last about 4-6 weeks. Dusts like crazy though)
Zaino (not sure which Z it is, but I know it's a good product)
RejEx (lasts for a few months and gives a lot of gloss and shine)

My synthetic of choice based on quality, price, and ease of use is einszett Glanz.

Natural:

Zymol Titanium (should last about 3 months. Easy to use and will be a good starter was to familiar yourself to the true zymol line of estate glazes)
Zymol Concours (should last 3-6 months with proper care. Best value zymol has)
Zymol Destiny (one of my favorite. Easily lasts 6 months with proper care and provides greater depth than previous levels of zymol waxes. $525 is a hefty price, but the 8 oz jar will do 50 applications)
Zymol Vintage (Lifetime refillable, crystal container, easy to use, the most amazing depth and clarity in my opinion. The $2000 price tag can be justified since the wax is refillable for life and you arguabally have one of the best waxes on the planet)
P21S 100% (suppose to last longer than P21S Carnauba and the look has greater depth)
Pinnacle Souvern (I've never used it but a lot of my professional detailer colleagues say great things about it's ease of use)

My wax of choice for a DIY detailer is Zymol Concours and my best choice if $$ wasn't an issue is Zymol Vintage.

I figured I'd add a little bit of a story to the polishing part that others might find interesting.

As you know from our previous phone conversation, the dealership decided to take a old, dirty diamond-studded chamois that was run through the mud to my mother's black Aviator (this is after the diamond-mitt w/ steel wool "assistance" was used to wash it with sandblasting sand mixed in a bit of water) before it was picked up.

Needless to say, this resulted in quite a few scratches, countless swirls, and far too much marring. Ooops.

Today I started working on correcting it with SIP (to be followed up with 106ff/Nano tomorrow). I'll post photographs, but needless to say, I had to make a decision like you talked about.

Do I go all-out with a purple wool LC pad (the only way I'll be able to get it out without working on it for three-and-half years; it's that bad) to remove the defects completely but at the cost of clear coat integrity, or do I step back and realize that it's a battle not worth fighting, and just do my best to minimize the marks and leave them to be filled in before I apply Concours?

Needless to say, since it's a daily driver (and my mother's... which plays a role here :lol:), I decided the best option was to retain as much of the clear coat as possible. I just wish I wasn't so damned obsessive about these things; it's tough to move onto a new panel when the other one still has imperfections.

Great choice of action. Not every car is a the right candidate for paint correction. You just need to always weight the pros and cons.

Great write up Moe.

These are the kinds of threads people need to know about.

Josh

+1

Very rarely are detailing sections on most car forums anything more than a "post & brag" type setup. It's great to see details, and they often make you think, but stuff like this is what really helps members learn.

Too true.