I just washed, dried, and clayed my car. Do I need to polish my car before I apply the wax? I know that polish is used to remove old wax, but in this case there would be no wax to remove. However polish is supposed to add a deeper shine before wax is applied.

 

It depends on the condition of your paint. Polish always provides for a better finish but if your paint is swirl free then it's certainly not necessary. Just give the car another good wash to get all the clay remnants off before applying the wax. You may even be able to get away with a quick detail spray if it's fairly clean but I usually will give it another wash & dry before wax.

 

Polish will remove wax but that's not it's intended purpose. The abrasives are meant to correct/remove paint imperfections like swirl marks, light scratches, holograms, etc. Typically should be done at least once, but probably at least twice a year on a regularly driven car.
But to answer your question, yes, polish BEFORE wax (like most of the pros, correct order would be wash, clay, wash, polish, wash again, sealant (if you choose to do so), then wax.

 

What about cleaner wax then polish then wax?

 

I'm certainly no expert (those are on the detailing forum) but I agree with Bonehead. The purpose of polishing is not to remove wax but to correct flaws in your paint. This would include things like swirls, scratches, damage from bird droppings, etc. Polishing your car's clear coat can be a fairly technical project which should take into account the degree of correction needed and how much effort you want to put into it (i.e. 1 step correction or 2 step). The answers to these questions determines the abrasiveness of the product you should use. So my point is that if you don't know what you're doing you can, at the very least waste your time, or, at the very most, make your car look worse. The sponsors of this forum, like Glistening Perfection and Detailers Domain, can look at photos of your vehicle and make specific recommendations as to how you should proceed. Good luck.

 

Agree with previous posters, you use a polish to improve paint smoothness, not to remove wax to prepare for a new coat. After a good wash and claying...probably not much wax left anyway. You should take a hard look at your paint in bright light and very close to the surface. Does it have swirl marks? Are there tiny scratches? Is there any hazing?

If any of these things exist...you need to correct the paint. The "detailers forum" on this site is a great resource for getting more info on how to correct your paint. I would take a close look at your paint (maybe even take a close up picture under heavy light) and post your results on that page. There are a few posters there that will reply within a day and they are very much on top of the topic.

If your paint is smooth and looking good, just put a coat of wax on it and kick the can down the road a bit...

 

There are several websites regarding paint cleaning and polishing and waxing...
The one I use is Autogeek... but there are several good sites out there.

Sounds like the replies that you've gotten so far should put you on the correct path..

 

Thank you all for the information. I really appreciate it. I washed the car after the clay, as suggested. I started polishing and have completed fenders and roof so far. By "polish" I'm referring to the liquid stuff from the auto store. I'll check out the detailing forum (didn't know there was one), and I'll check out auto geek or some other sites as well.

 

http://www.autopia.org/forum/forum.php

 

I agree with bonehead, too. Not because I know anything, but because I've never said that and I like the way it sounds.