First timer.. waxing, polishing, etc

MacCool

Junkman rules the world of paint care and correction. You can also look at the video series put out by Adam's Polishes. They show pretty much the same concepts, but with maybe a little less charisma. Very much worth the time invested.

The polishing technique that they show, using a high quality random orbital polisher, is necessary to have your car "shine like a diamond". The swirls and micro-marring in the clear coat, even if you fill them with wax, will refract light waves randomly thereby decreasing reflection, thereby limiting the "depth" of shine that you need to get it to really pop. There really is no shortcut, and there's no way you're going to achieve good results by hauling your junk to the local coin-operated car wash. My first 370Z was Black Cherry. It was potentially beautiful, but the paint of a dark car like that looks pretty mediocre after you swirl it up by scrubbing it with your old folded up tee-shirt or (gasp) the car-wash brush that you bought at Autozone.

I confess that my second 370Z is Pearl White. The Black Cherry was beautiful but was a lot of work for anyone with any degree of obsessive/compulsive disorder.