You won't get the deep shine with a gold or champagne car that you get with a black, red, or dark car but you can still make it look very nice. You get the deep glossy shine in any color from polishing and a perfectly smooth defect free surface not just from the wax/sealant.

Claying is for removing dirt/pollutants/old wax that cannot be removed from just washing and leaves the surface perfectly smooth. You just get a claybar kit, break off some smaller pieces of clay, lube the surface with a lube and run the clay over the surface, replace the pieces of clay when it is dirty or if you drop it. Do the whole car until the surface is smooth and slick and then wash it. Lubing is crucial to claying. You do not need to clay the car every time you wash/clean it. Claying about once a year is fine, you normally clay before you polish the car or start you wax system all over.

You can use a glaze on any color car, a glaze is a very very fine polish that helps smooth out the surface to make it glossier. Some glazes have a sealant in them, some don't. You then use a sealant or wax after you use the glaze but depending on the sealant and glaze you may have to make the surface perfectly clean before the sealant will adhere meaning you must do a alcohol wipedown after a glaze for some sealants to bond properly. You can't top Zaino right after doing a glaze by another product because the Zaino will not bond on a surface with some kind of other product on it, that is why Zaino AIO is pretty much a glaze that you put on first and prepares the surface for other Zaino products, they recommend a perfectly clean surface before AIO to start the Zaino process. Read the instruction for the different products and ask to see what is recommended.

 

Hey Chuck, lets see if I can help answer some questions for you.
First, dark colors (ie: black), will always produce a deeper appearance than a light color (ie: silver). Thats not to say that you cant get a great gloss on light colors, b/c you definitely can. Since youre car hasnt had a full detail yet, I think you can definitely benefit from doing a detail on it.

Heres a clay package to check out: http://www.glimmerglassdetailing.com/20clbarlupa.html

After you wash the car, you'll take the clay lube and spray about a 1x1' section. Run the clay bar over this area in back/forth motion, using medium pressure. The bar will pick up any surface contaminents on the paint. Move around the whole vehicle this way.
I prefer to rewash after claying, just to remove any residue, but you could always just use a quick detailer if you wanted. YOu dont have to clay each time you wash or wax. I recommend 2x a year... usually the spring and fall is sufficient.

Before going w/ a glaze, you might consider a product like P21s paintwork cleanser, to help prep the paint and remove some light imperfections. http://www.glimmerglassdetailing.com/p2pacl.html

If you'd like to do a glaze at this point, you can. For light colors, you would want to go w/ white diamond or ez creme glaze.

You can then go ahead and wax after glazing. You only need to apply a sealant or wax every 6-12 weeks. Sealants last longer, and as a result, do not need to be applied as often. Carnauba waxes tend to only last about 6 weeks though. If you want a sealant, I'd recommend going w/ optiseal, jetseal, or exp
If you prefer a carnauba, I'd suggest Nattys White, p21s, or collinite 845 which is an exception to the rule and lasts as long, if not longer, than some sealants.

 

Thanks for the detailing.

I now know that I do need the claying process.

I'll start it over the holiday weekend and report back.

Chuck