Ludacris

iTrader: (11)

I wash and wax every 2 weeks...some people just wax every month or few months. Are you not supposed to wax everytime you wash?

Frank Fontaine

When you say wax, do you mean apply wax and buff every 2 weeks? You must have one good-looking Max!

If you want, washing every 2 weeks is ok, but I don't think you need to wax it that often. Even if you like to do it alot every 3 months should be more than enough because it seems to me that a good quality wax like Meguiars lasts quite a while. My car is 3 1/2 so I only do it twice a year now. But ain't it nice seeing water bead off your finish?

Ludacris

iTrader: (11)

Hell yeah it looks good, it blinds me when I look at it

So it isn't necessary to wax that often to keep a nice shine? Damn I've been wasting all that energy and time

MaximaRider

iTrader: (3)

It will protect your car a bit and make it shine more than others in the long run but i think once a month is more than sufficient.

theblue

there are a bunch of products that can be used to spray on the car after washing so that you don't have to wax every two weeks... where are the detail experts?

1Phat Max

You dont need to wax your car that often. Wax has some abbresive in it and it might get rid of your clear coat. i would sugget you wax every 3-4 months and when you wash you can you products like maguirs quick detail spray which works really well. hope this helps...

GTRBlkMax97

iTrader: (1)

I was my car about 2 to 3 times a week
Wax, once every two weeks with Zymol Carbon Wax it's the best in my opinion

maxima42

iTrader: (3)

waxing a car not only protects the finish, but it does remove the old dead paint and clear coat from the car. As a general rule, waxing every 3-4 months is sufficient. In the mean time, if you wnat to aply a quick wax, rainx makes a liquid wax in a spray bottle that goes on very easily, and leaves a good shine.

CoOlKidS1979

I wax my car almost everytime I wash it, and as far as I know there is no problem with doing that. Wax is non-abrasive as far as I thought, it polish that might be slightly abrasive, as well as anythign that claims to remove swirls, but if its a strictly wax compound then I dont think it should be abrasive at all.

1MAX2NV

iTrader: (5)

You can wax all you want. It won't hurt the finish. Polish is a different story. Polish is a fine abrasive compound that will remove material. Polish is used to get rid of surface imperfections and swirl marks.

Ludacris

iTrader: (11)

I thought wax and polish were the same...just got 2 different names over the years?

mingo

iTrader: (4)

i used to wash my car every three days, and wax every other week.. now it's when ever i get a chance.. i'm going to claybar my car soon.

1MAX2NV

iTrader: (5)

They are not the same. Because people get lazy over the years, companies start to make your so called one bottle does it all. They usually call it polishing wax. It's like the one bottle shampoo with conditioner for hair. Anyway, polish is abrasive, while wax is just for protection. Check out the following links.

http://www.griotsgarage.com/index.jsp
http://www.meguiars.com/
http://www.zainobros.com/

medic

You may want to consider using a hand glaze on your car too (3M Imperial Hand Glaze is good). You only need to do it twice a year, but it takes some elbow grease and time to do it right. Basiclly this stuff strips the wax and other crap that builds up on your car. You just need to make sure you wax your car after you use this or everything will be hurting your car's finish.

In between waxes/washes, you can use Meguir's Quick Detalier. Stuff gives a nice shine.

1MAX2NV

iTrader: (5)

Glaze strips the wax?? I don't think so.

Cleaner strips the wax. You can strip the wax using dish washing soap too. Glaze is just filler that fills in the swirl marks. Glaze usually won't last more than 10 car washes. The swirl marks will show up again. Polish is a fine abrasive compound that you can use to buff away the swirl marks.

Mustang1999

The wax that is abrasive is the cleaner wax since it takes off hard to remove road grime and such.

PrinzII

iTrader: (2)

Cleaner: Basically, cleaners are designed to remove oxidation and certain stains imbedded in the paint. There are different strengths of cleaners (Meguiar's makes 3 in their professional series (Light cut for light oxidation and some surface stains, Medium cut for more severe oxidation and stains, and heavy cut for "the worst.") Cleaners have abrasives that will remove layers of clear and/or paint if you are not careful.

Cleaner/Wax: This is a combination of a light cut cleaner and a wax. These are usually good for getting light oxidation and stains out of your finish.

Rubbing compound: This product contains a higher amount of abrasives to remove very severe oxidation and/or scratches a cleaner and/or polish cannot remove. Those also come in similar flavors to cleaners (Light, medium, heavy).

Polish: Contains abrasives to remove imperfections (e.g. water spots, bird bomb etchings, swirl marks) in the paint.

Wax: Contains no abrasives whatsoever. Usually adds depth and some level of protection to a finish.

Glaze: Protects the whole thing by coating it with a polymer glaze that makes it resistant to chipping and other maladies.


But bear in mind that the results achieved by any of the aforementioned products vary with paint preparation (e.g. claying) and application materials/technique.

Mustang1999

WOW!! Prinz is the Wax dictionary of the .org!!!
You wanna come put your knowledge to use on my car?? hehehe...

PrinzII

iTrader: (2)

Sure. Just bring the 'stang to Chicago.

SuDZ

Go for like once a month or once every other month. That will look good still or i do it the first weekend of every month.

SuDZ

Maximan190

iTrader: (8)

thats what i use and believe me its a ***** and it takes time (last weekend i started on the car at 8 am didnt finish till like 7:30 PM.....i washed with a dishwasher soap to really dig deep and wipe out all the gunk since i was "starting over" then i went to step 1 paint cleaner then step 2 polish and step 3 wax........the trick is with this is to apply everything by HAND, trust me ive done meguiars with a power bonnet on a drill = SWIRL MARKS ICK; so use with care

PrinzII

iTrader: (2)

a) I would have done that by hand, using a Porter Cable Orbital polisher, or even a Makita (or Milwaukee) rotary buffer. The drill bonnets have too many issues that would cause me never to recommend them for detailing use(e.g. uneven pressure, control). The primary reason you got swirl marks is that the bonnet may have been too aggressive (Most often the drill bonnets are wool). In order to reverse that, you would need to buy a product such as 3M's Finesse-It or 3M's Swirl Mark remover (they have formulations for dark and light cars for the Swirl Mark remover). If you are using an orbital buffer like a Porter-Cable, use a foam pad as opposed to a wool one for application.

b) Did you clay the car before you applied the polish? Chances are, you might have some imbedded contaminants (e.g. rail dust, industrial fallout) in the paint and a cleaner is not going to remove those.

c) If you are using the Deep Crystal System Cleaner, that is a very light cut cleaner which will get some oxidation.

CoolMax

iTrader: (7)

Wax-on, wax-off.

All123Pro

I really don't think you should be washing your car with dishwasher soap being that it will, in the long-run, kill you clearcoat. How about using car wash soap . Another thing, does it really take you that long to do all that? I mean 10+ hours is kind of pushing it dont you think, I consider myself to be real **** and a maniac when it comes to cleaning, polishing, waxing, my car but the most I spend is 4 hrs, 5 at the most.

PrinzII

iTrader: (2)

Actually, if you don't use it that often, you will not harm the clear coat in any way. What a dish detergent does is remove the oils from previous waxings. In fact, I have used Dawn twice on the Maxima since I have owned it.

jerzeeMax

Hey anybody here ever use Prolong waterless wash? At first I thought the idea of washing the car without water was crazy but when I tried it the towel really picked up all the dirt. Just spray and wipe. The wax in it leaves a pretty good shine too... and it has this really good orangy orange smell to it. Leaves the car spic and span but I was kind of afraid that some of the dirt / grit was getting pushed into the finish. If your car isn't completely filthy then thats pobly the fastest way to wash your car, for all the lazy people like me who don't like dealing with all that soap and water.

zgrm100

wat does this quick detail sprayu do? how do u apply it and how does it werk? sorry for all the questions just curios , i was lookin for something to be done quick and give a really good shine.

All123Pro

It is what its called.....it gives you a temporary shine, it does not last that long though unless you have already waxed the car. All you do is spray it, spread it with one rag then wipe it off with another.

Bman

I think this pretty much settles everything in a nutshell I personally wouldn't use rubbing compound for much of anything unless there were hugely deep scratches or severe marks in the paint. I've found polishing compound good for 95% of the things that need polishing out, but almost never use it to remove "dirt" since it does remove paint.

So I guess if you want to use a strictly non-cleaner wax everytime you wash you could and it won't hurt anything... except maybe your elbows