5. After letting the softened paint sit for a couple of hours to dry and harden, wax over it to protect it. Mothers says it may take a couple of tries to learn how to wipe with finesse, but as you can see, it works!
Tire Care
Much has been written about tire dressings and the potential for them to crack and damage tire rubber. We don't want to open that can of worms, except to say that you shouldn't think that all tire dressings are bad for your tires. Generally, a premium brand will be formulated to protect, not damage, tire rubber. Dressings come in two types: Solvent- or petroleum-distillate-based dressings give tires a high gloss, while water-based dressings give tires a more "natural" wet look. To properly apply a tire dressing, don't just spray it out of the bottle onto the tire, or you'll get dressing overspray all over the paint you just worked so hard to clean and protect. Instead, spray the dressing on a foam applicator and then wipe the applicator on the tire.
Non-Painted Surfaces
Like your paint, your car's various metallic components need care too. But no single product works best on all types of metal. Under the hood of Mothers' RX-7 drag car, we found chrome-plated metal, stainless steel, and aluminum parts. Mothers Mag & Aluminum polish works fine on the aluminum and stainless parts, but the chrome needed its own polish. That's because when you're polishing chrome you're basically just cleaning the metal, but when you're polishing aluminum or stainless, you're actually removing microscopic amounts of nickel from the metal. That's why the polish rag turns black when you polish aluminum. A tip from Craig Burnett: "Always polish metal in straight lines, not the circular motion you'd use on paint, as the circles would create visible lines in the metal."