mbt,

I think that the first step in a thourough 3-step process should be claying your car. It's simple enough that even an amateur can do it. It just takes time, and you certainly have to commit yourself to doing this, if you want to do the 3-step process completely.

Paint cleaning clay should remove surface contaminants and prep your car for step 2 - polishing.

The 3M finish restorer and the meguiars step 2, (and to a lesser extent, the Zymol, although I'm a little skeptical that the zymol can both polish and wax at the same time) are both polishes, so its up to you as to which product to use.

If you decide to skip the paint cleaning clay, you should still be fine if you want to start out with the polish. I know some people who skip the clay and jump directly to the polish. The results are still quite good, especially for daily drivers. Don't forget to top everything off with a good coat of wax! Oh, you'll love how it looks afterwards....

Good luck!