Car detailing basics? Not a deep dive

I've got a relatively basic routine that works when the paint is not too far gone or so scratched up that it's time for proper scratch removers:

• Run the car through the local touchless car wash, let it dry
• Clean up the remaining dirt and the crap I picked up on the way back from the car wash using some Griot's Garage Spray-on Car Wash. That stuff is also good to clean door jambs etc
• Clay bar if necessary
• If necessary, hit it with Autoglym resin polish - it's a mild polish with a lot of filler so it works pretty well on mildly scratched cars. It also applies easily with a d/a polisher
• At this stage, I tend to wax it with a layer or two of Collinite - I use Marque d'elegance (915) at the moment that I picked up pretty cheap, but have used 476 in the past. A double layer of 476 lasts a long time even in adverse conditions.

The clay bar part tends to take the longest as a lot of the other work can be done with a d/a.

In reply to Claff:

If the Megs product is ultimate compound, it should get some shine back. You might have to have a light touch working on the thin paint sections. Then follow up with NuFinish. Says a random guy on the intarweb. ;)

Update: I clay barred my wife's Mazda3 and it looks great. She was even impressed, difficult to do with anything car related.

I just did my first Optimum No Rinse wash. Holy cow this is awesome! Fast, uses minimal water, car looks great, and everything smells nice. I'm a cover for sure. I live in the city and have some friends who street park their fun cars and can't really wash them, I think they'll really appreciate this.

Clay bar FTMFW

Claff wrote: I'm going to piggyback on this. Five years ago we painted a ratty Miata with single-stage enamel in my dad's garage. Then came vinyl stripes, numbers on the door and a lot of stickers. The car was retired from autocross duty a couple years ago and the paint doesn't shine that much. What does shine is the paint under where numbers and decals used to be: I'm tired of the thing looking dull so I've tried scaring a shine back into it. I don't have much serious cleaners on hand: just NuFinish and some clear coat safe Meguires liquid compound. I hit half the car with the NuFinish the other day and got good results, but I fear that it's going to go back to dull after a week or so. A friend suggested wet-sanding, but the paint is kinda thin in spots and I don't want to risk breaking through paint into primer. I'm mostly curious about what kind of compound/cleaner that's recommended to knock off enough of the top layer to get rid of the sticker shadows but not aggressive enough to actually remove paint. If there is such a thing.

I'm in the same basic boat except OEM paint. I just bought a used police car (2013 Charger) that had the decals removed. The decal shadows aren't as pronounced but visible. I was thinking dish soap wash,clay bar, then polishing compound then wax. Does that sound reasonable to get rid of the decal shadows and freshen the finish? I have Nufinish and turtle wax paste wax is there a preference?