I feel I've always taken good care of my vehicles, but I finally decided to take my detailing up a notch. Always washed, clay often, tried various waxes (like Meguiars 3 step cleaner/polish/wax) but I've never tried a sealant. For 10 years I've wanted to give Zaino a shot but when it finally came time to pull the trigger, I decided to test the waters with Adams.

Question is: their shampoo is PH balanced, so it shouldn't remove any crap I have on the vehicle currently. Should I use something like dawn to remove what's currently on the vehicle before starting my new products? The plan is to wash, clay (lube with detail spray), liquid paint sealant, wax. I bought H2O guard and gloss for touch ups between washes. Thoughts?

 

Many owners insist on Dawn as "step 1".

I think you'll really like the sealant. There are many different brands but they're all doing basically the same thing.

 

I was thinking that because I want to strip what's on there currently. Now I feel like it's a dumb question lol. Excited to give it a shot

 

No dumb questions, only dumb answers. (And I give most of those!)

 

Yes you need to use something like dawn to strip it first. I am a detailer. I detail my truck and many others. One product I would recommend before the sealant would be Chemical Guys Gloss Works. This has a self leveling agent in it and some fillers. It will give you a very rich color and fills in most swirls and scratches. Then I would recommend a sealant on top of it and finally a quality wax. The wax as you know last about a month or two with normal washing. The sealant will hold in the rich shine and depth of the paint from the Gloss Works. I think you will be pleasantly surprised at how well this combo does together. If you order chemical guys I would recommend getting their jet seal and butter wet wax. Thats the combo I use on my truck along with the glaze.






Here's my truck. Ill let the pictures do the talking lol. This was after paint correction with my buffer though. Without a buffer the combo I mentioned still works wonders. If you have any more questions let me know.

 

Ended up doing my wife's car today. Happy with how it turned out

 

Claying the vehicle will remove old wax/sealants. No need to use Dawn and though it removes everything well, it removes EVERYTHING well. You don't want to hurt the plastics and rubber on your vehicle.

Use a ferrous soap like Iron X Snow Soap

 

Agree with above, Dawn doesnt come near my truck. Clay will strip everything off.

 

Wash it, use a decontamination spray like iron-x, clay it, wipe it down with an IPA or carpro eraser, then apply a sealant. Dawn has some stuff in it that isn't great for your paint.

 

It was suggested to me to use dawn on the wife's PT Cruiser after a local refinery had a problem and a cloud of something dropped on vehicles. Dawn and other dish washing soaps cut everything and dries out the paint. It ruined the PT's paint. The guy from the refinery suggested I use it because that's what they use on ducks, etc. from oil spills. Years ago before dedicated car wash soaps that's all we used, and of course we were waxing our cars/trucks every weekend. Paints are different now. The bad thing about me using Dawn was that I was actually teaching Detailing at the time.