My car must've been sitting on the dealer lot for quite a while before I bought it, cuz on the horizontal surfaces (hood, roof, trunk) it doesn't feel as smooth as the vertical painted surfaces. paint surface was probably beat down by the elements. I've done a glaze & wax, and still hasn't 'evened it out' completely. I'm thinking of trying Meguiar's Fine Cut as a next option (clay bar is after, if this doesn't work)...anybody tried it?

 

I would recommend trying the clay bar first. The clay will remove contaminants stuck to the surface of the paint. This is probably what you're feeling. The fact that its on the horizontal surfaces is a clue that it is junk settling on the car and sticking to the paint. The clay bar does a great job of cleaning the surface to give it that slick feeling. And the clay is very gentle to the paint.

If the clay bar doesn't smooth it out, then you might have oxidation or some other problem in, rather than on, the paint. Then the Fine Cut and a rotary buffer, gently used, can restore the smoothness. But the abrasives in the Fine Cut will remove some of your clear coat. Our cars are too new to have serious oxidation problems so I really think its stuff on the surface.

The general rule is to use the least abrasive product that works. The clay is much less abrasive that the Fine Cut so try it first. If it is just surface contamination, the Fine Cut is overkill. It would be like cleaning your hands using sandpaper instead of soap.

Good luck.

 

Thanks Blue. I was not aware that Fine Cut was considered a milder treatment than clay bar. the Meguiar's Medium Cut (and Heavy Cut) must be really hard-core, then...

 

Yes, the "Cut" in the Meguiar's products means you are cutting your clear coat, i.e. abraiding the surface to smooth it out. It's needed for defects like scratches and swirls that are actually cut into the top of the clear coat. The abrasives act like very fine sandpaper. The Medium and Heavy Cut are like coarser sandpaper. If the surface is really bad and you need to remove more clear coat, the coarser abrasives will work faster but the price is that more clear coat is removed.

The clay bar works differently in that it relies on its stickiness rather than an abrasive. As the clay moves over the paint surface, it adheres the gunk stuck on the paint. Since the clay is stickier than the paint, the gunk is stuck harder to the clay than to the paint surface so it releases from the paint. (Sorry for using all these technical terms ) I believe that most clay bars have some abrasive quality but that is only to encourage the release of the gunk.

So in general from most to least abrasive:

Sandpaper
Rubbing Compound
Heavy Cut
Medium Cut
Fine Cut
Cleaner Wax/All-in-one
Glaze
Clay
Wax

So try the clay and let us know if that fixed it.