I'm OCD when it comes to cleaning my cars. My wife hates when i don't feel like washing her car, because i sit back and criticize her method. Takes me about 3-4 hours to fully wash and wax my car. Griots products are top notch too.

I really do love cleaning up a dirty car. Something very satisfying perfecting something to your level of expectation. If detailing cars paid as well as my current job, I'd quit and do that. I relate it similarly to people who take the time to route wires and hoses in an engine bay in a clean manner; yes you can cut the corner and not detail your car, or not hide those wires in nicely wrapped looms, but people respect a clean buff just as much as a tidy engine bay. Attention to detail.

 

No. Those tires are on a beat up 1998 civic that's been backed into by SUVs more than once.

 

Personally I'd be terrified to touch my car with a buffer. We have one, but considering a fresh microfiber turns red when I wax my car...I'd rather just stick to hand waxing every month or two and plain wash it every couple few weeks. A paint job will come in a couple years and I'll see what I can do with a buffer.

 

As long as the paint hasn't been entirely neglected, you have a lot of flexibility with single stage paint. My car has been repainted by POs, but it still passes the 10 foot rule. I'm running extremely rich, so the bumper was covered in soot. It looks a lot better and this was only a single pass with Meg's UC, I didn't want to spend that much time on it because it sees track duty and the paint is already kind of a mess:

 

I like to polish then apply a couple layers klasse high gloss sealant. I find that it is more durable and lasts longer than wax. Then when I wash the car I use a quick detail wax over the sealant. When it comes time to polish again just polish down to the sealant and then apply another couple layers of sealant. I also have a grit guard in the bottom of my car wash bucket to separate dirt and sand out of the soapy water.