Got my Fathers day gift :)

[Lil bastard]

I sorta agree with PL about polishing too much... where we disagree is about frequency.

If you're planning on keeping the car, polishing seasonally is waaay too much.

Polish is an abrasive and each time you use it, you dig a few microns into the paint.

Don't obsess about a little build-up of fine scratches on a car you drive frequently. Use only the proper method and cloths for cleaning and you'll minimize any scratches to begin with.

I'd say 'Clay' once a year to clean the paint, wax a couple times/yr., but polish maybe only once every other year - once you have a build-up of noticable scratches.

That way, your car will never get 'too' bad, and you maximize your time, materials and the paint.

If anything, use their #4 first and then proceed cautiously through the numbers in order to be as mild on the paint as possible.

[Perfectlap]

Yeah seasonal might be too much for a garage queen. But for a daily driver, particulary in bad air and acid rain I'm not so sure if its good to have that diggin into the paint. Claying won't really remove those contaminants because that stuff burrows into the swirl chanels just below where claying will get to it. So removing swirls isn't just a cosmetic its a sort of cancer prevention for the paint.
But agreed some people by a three step of Mothers or Meguiars at Pepboys and go through it in a year or less on a single car!

As far as claying I'll definitely have to part company on a once a year interval. Again depending on where you live. These modern paints nowadays are really impressive. A simply claying and follow up with an acrylic detail spray will produce nearly the same end result as four hours of detailing on older paints Porsche used to use. Claying is the thing that like tooth flossing I really don't do enough and provides the best long term benefits. Put it this way if I had a new CaymanS or Cayenne all I would need is clay bars, my FK 425 spray wax and maybe...a once a year with an over the counter acrylic paste wax. All thes companies putting out 30 different products is really not necessary for modern paints. If anything most of these products are sold to undo damage from bad washing and waxing practices.