Waxing, Polishing...and your cladding

[Whelan]

Since a lot of Vibers have the cladding, and I do as well with the front grille, I figured I would put this little bit out there for your own FYI.Personally I use Meguiar's #40Others may use another shine product, but make sure that it is a cleaner/polisher/conditioner. Otherwise all you are doing is putting a top oily coat on there that will run and leave streaks if it gets wet and dries fairly fast.Now, be sure to do your trim last. When detailing a car with cladding. At least do it after you detail the paint. You will want to tape (blue tape) around the cladding, headlights, tails, window trim, etc. so as to keep the wax off and prevent the whitening effect and make cleanup of the other areas easier. Here is a few pictures of what I did with my fience's Jeep and my Trix when detailed: So yes you use a lot of tape, but it pays off. Now you are ready to do the trim, but wait, you just finished polishing your car. Simple, you can now tape the freshly detailed part with either electrical or blue tape. But if you choose not to that is fine as well. Just be sure to apply the product lightly to a rag and not spray directly onto the surface. These trim cleaners tend to leave a nice oily streak on paint that is a pain to rub off. Once on the rag, use just one or two fingers behind the rag to wipe the area nearest the paint slowly, Don't just wipe it as if it was a water puddle next to your sink. You need to somewhat work it into the cladding, letting the oils and such penetrate. It also helps in preventing excess runoff and dripping. You will be very pleased with your results, if you have any other questions, let me know guys n gals!

[moongdss]

Wow! You do love your detailing I was thinking of putting the Meguiars Trim Detail Coating on before I wax, as the can says it protects from wax drips... but frankly I was going to be lazy and just do the cladding this weekend and MAYBE wax next weekend. Since I hand wax, I like to put it off as long as possible (or until i break down and send her off to the detailers!)Thanks for the tips W!

[Whelan]

Just make sure you use a Foam applicator pad for the wax, they work the best. You can notice the first picture of the Jeep. The reflection on her car is after the final coat was put on that side. The reflection is of my mom's 03 Grand Cherokee, lol

[moongdss]

Well that Meguiar's Plastic Detailer stuff goes on easy and looks fantastic! Any that got on the paint easily wiped off.You can see there's a little shine ont he fender in direct light, but otherwise it just darkened the cladding a little.I also used the Back to Black (mother's) on the door handles... they were streaking a bit from the touchless carwash.

[kevera]

Looks shiny My cladding still looks new on my Vibe.I have been worried about using these products,as they may actually dull them with repeated use.