ok this will be my first attempt of doing anything of the sort. I used to take all of my cars straight to the automatic car wash. I heard (and saw results first hand) of how bad it screws up your paint and have been washing the evo by hand. I have never done anything but wash it though. By that I mean water, car wash fluid, lamb wool mit, towel.

Tommorow I want to make it nice. I have

ice car wash

ice clay bar kit

ice polish

waffle weave towell for drying

I have some questions.

1. it is extremely cold outside how should I wash it without frostbiting my hands or something?

2. I am tight on money and don't want to buy much else, but I heard wax and polish are two different stories and I need to wash after the polish for protection. My dad has some old carnuba wax he says I can use because he doesn't wax anymore, but I don't know how to do it or have any applicators or anything. The ice line doesn't even have a wax....

3. Any tips, tricks, or steps I'm missing?

Thanks guys and remember, right now I'm on a tight budget.

In the case of Ice Polish - it is actually a synthetic "wax" and not a "polish".

In the off-the-shelf world of retailing they throw around all sorts of terms and sometimes it is confusing. They just name it so it sounds familiar to people and helps them sell product.

ohh ok good so I'll be straight if I just follow the directions, wash, ice liquid clay, and ice polish?

ohh ok good so I'll be straight if I just follow the directions, wash, ice liquid clay, and ice polish?

Yes, that would be the way to do it.

I am not a big fan of the liquid clay.. the traditional clay bar is much better but if that's what you're using, go for it.

Probably a bad idea to wax if it's cold as hell.

I just clay bar'ed my car on saturday. 8 1/2 hours with the bar and a coat of wax. I will never do it again, I'd much rather pay someone. Good luck.

Probably a bad idea to wax if it's cold as hell.
really does it affect it somehow?

I just clay bar'ed my car on saturday. 8 1/2 hours with the bar and a coat of wax. I will never do it again, I'd much rather pay someone. Good luck.

That's why I got the liquid clay. It has the bar too but I'm going to save that for a nice summer day. I also figured I'd have less a chance of screwing things up.

The liquid is more of a prep for the actual claybar. It doesn't do much other than clean really good.

The liquid is more of a prep for the actual claybar. It doesn't do much other than clean really good.
Well I'm not sure how dirty my evo really is. I mean if I step back and look at it, most of the stuff doesn't look like it's embedded or anything, so would it be ok for me to use the liquid clay bar then the polish (wax) or could I possibly be permanently sealing stuff into my paint?

really does it affect it somehow?

Makes it about 1000 times harder. Not sure about the liquid wax though. I'd like to see how it turns out.