Choosing Wax

Paste or liquid?
By: Tom Morr/autoMedia.com


The car-care aisle in the average auto-parts store has a mind-boggling array of products. The wax section alone offers products formulated for new paint, old paint, clear-coated paint, scratched paint, oxidized paint—just about everything but roller-applied paint. Many of these products claim to restore routinely maintained paint to its original factory finish (when used as directed). So how do you know which wax is best for your car? We'll attempt to boil it down to the basics.

Synthetic Vs. Natural

Thanks to modern chemistry, car care products are easier to use than ever. In the olden days, rubbing/polishing compounds were used solely for scratch- and swirl-removal. Then paste wax was hand-applied Karate Kid style to protect the finish and bring out its shine.

These days, waxing and polishing can be "engineered" into the same step. Modern polishes eliminate fine scratches in addition to "conditioning" the paint by restoring certain oils. These characteristics combine to improve the overall gloss and protection/toughness of the finished job. (Conventional wisdom for dark-colored cars is to use a non-abrasive polishing product followed by a pure wax to produce superior results as opposed to a one-step polish/wax process). Better yet, liquid waxes can be formulated to withstand the heat generated by orbital buffers; paste waxes tend to melt and burn under high-friction conditions. In other words, superior paint-care results can be achieved in a fraction of the time it used to take.

Liquid Vs. Paste

This debate overlaps the synthetic/natural decision. In general, liquid waxes are synthetic (created in the laboratory) while paste waxes can either be "natural" (as in originating in nature) or a combination of natural wax and synthetic additives such as polishing polymers.

Paste wax is still preferred by many purists (those guys with handlebar moustaches who wear British touring caps). Because most paste waxes should only be applied by hand, the process allows passionate enthusiasts to literally pet their pride-and-joys while making the paint shine.

Pro detailers tend to prefer liquid waxes, which can either be applied by hand or machine. Time is money, and a detailing pro wielding a high-speed buffer can finish multiple vehicles in the time it takes the mustachioed purist to complete his hood, trunk and both fins. On a related note, purists contemplating making the jump to an electric buffer should cut their teeth on a lower-speed model (and ideally on someone else's car).

For the same brand and style of wax, liquid and paste produce comparable results (protection and shine) and offer the same longevity between waxings. Paste waxes generally cost more up front but can be a better value—a tin of paste usually yields more than twice as mnay waxings as a bottle of liquid.

Colored Wax

Infomercials tout the benefits of newfangled colored waxes that are intended to conceal scratches by filling in the offending areas with like-hued wax. But as many of the old-school car-care companies point out, literally thousands of colors of automotive paints are introduced each year, making an exact colored-wax match highly unlikely. Also, most modern cars have clear coats. One well-known manufacturer of car-care products claims that using colored wax over clearcoat is like putting shoe polish on your windshield.

Carnauba

Some waxes tout carnauba as the secret to their success. Carnauba wax is actually a resin produced by the palm tree Copernicia Cerifera (commonly known as the carnauba tree). The hardest natural wax known, it protects the trees' leaves from harsh South American tropical-rainforest conditions.

Pure carnauba is as hard as a brick, so petroleum distillates and mineral spirits are added to soften the wax—above about 30% concentration, carnauba is too stiff to use as an automotive wax. Many name-brand wax manufacturers use only #1 yellow-grade carnauba, which is the highest grade available and also the most expensive. Incredibly durable, carnauba dries to a deep, natural shine (compared to beeswax, paraffin and synthetic waxes, which can become cloudy).

These days, choosing car wax often boils down to convenience. Fans of the by-hand wax on/wax off method can pick between liquid or paste wax. Buffer masters are best served with liquid waxes. Swirls and fine scratches can either be removed in a separate step using a product designed for that purpose or in a single step with a wax that's formulated with its own polishers.

The bottom line is that using name-brand products as directed on the label should produce that wet, glossy look. However, no car-care product can bring dead-and-decomposing paint back to life. If the wax won't buff out (because it's trapped in pits and pores), it's time to re-paint the vehicle.

Waxing or Sealing

Waxing/sealing the paint is one of the most important parts of the detailing process. After spending countless hours polishing your car’s paint, you’ll definitely want to protect it with a wax or sealant. Not only is the LSP a layer of protection for your paint, but it also provides the “lens” through which you see your paint. So, it will affect the look of the paint.

Choosing your LSP like many detailing decisions is a matter of personal preference. Your options for this decision are wax, sealant, or both.

A wax will typically give your paint a very warm appearance. It will also make metal flake in the paint really “pop” and give the paint an extremely wet, deep shine. Waxes also have filling capability. So, using a wax can help to hide paint imperfections. However, depending on climate waxes do not typically last more than 1-3 months.


Most sealants will give your paint an almost lacquered look. Sealants like waxes will give your paint a very wet look and typically leave the paint surface feeling ultra smooth. Another property of sealants is that they make the paint surface ultra-reflective. However, these reflections typically lack depth. Also, most sealants do not fill well. So, some paint imperfections may stand out more after a sealant is applied. Sealants are also much more durable than wax. Many brands of sealant will last up to 5 months or more.

Using a layer of sealant topped by a layer of wax is a common practice and makes for a good compromise between the two LSPs. Using both a wax and a sealant gives the durability of the sealant combined with additional depth of shine from the wax.

What you’ll need . . .

• Shade – Most waxes/sealants are not designed to be used in direct sunlight. Therefore, it is important to find a shady spot to apply your LSP. This can be under a car port, a canopy, or in a garage. It is not recommended that you detail under a tree as sap, leaves, pollen, or other debris could fall on your car during the detail.

• Wax/Sealant – your choice of wax or sealant. There really are quite a few excellent waxes & sealants available either at your local auto parts store or on-line. Just to mention a few there is Meguiar’s #26 Yellow Wax, Detailer’s Pride Max Wax, Pinnacle Souveran, Zyml Concours, Wolfgang Deep Gloss Paint Sealant, and Menzerna Full Molecular Jacket (FMJ).

• Applicator – your choice of applicator. There are many tools which can be used for wax/sealant application. Application can be done using a foam wax applicator, a microfiber applicator, or a folded microfiber towel. Paste wax is typically easiest to apply using a foam applicator and liquids are easiest to apply with the other types of applicator mentioned.

• Microfiber towels – high quality microfiber towels are critical for wax residue removal. After a long day detailing you don’t want to use a cheap towel which will undo all of your hard work by instilling scratches in your paint. To test the “softness” of a microfiber simply rub it gently on a blank CD making sure to use both the center of the towel and the edging. If the towel leaves scratches then it could possibly scratch your paint. Always be sure before testing a new towel or using it on your paint that it is clean and that any tags have been removed. One last item to note is that microfiber towels with a shorter knap will remove wax or sealant residue faster than towels with a deeper knap, but will also clog with residue faster.

How to get it done . . .

1. Make sure the car is completely clean and dry before beginning. Always wash or QD a car immediately before waxing. If the car was washed and then polished there is no need to wash again before waxing. The car cannot be driven in between waxing/sealing and washing.

2. Apply some of the LSP to your applicator. Using the applicator spread the LSP thinly across the paint of one panel or half of a large panel.

3. Consult the product’s directions for how much time the LSP needs to setup. Then allow the LSP to set for the prescribed amount of time.

4. Using a microfiber towel folded in half twice and minimal pressure wipe away the excess LSP from the paint. Any wax that is difficult to remove should be sprayed with QD or distilled water rather than using extra pressure to remove it.

5. If you desire to add more than one layer of LSP wait 12-24 hours before doing so. Follow steps 1-4 to add additional layers. If you are using both a sealant and a wax always be sure to apply the sealant first, then wait 12-24 hours for the sealant to cure, and then apply the wax.

Source : The Detailing Hand Book

How-To Polish Paint

Many people assume that waxing and polishing are synonymous. In fact, they are two different processes. Professional detailers and show-car owners know the secret to an award-winning finish is properly cleaning and polishing the surface prior to waxing.

All paints age from exposure to ultraviolet light, pollution and acid rain. Beautiful finishes gradually become dull and chalky. Waxing over these surfaces will only create a temporary gloss over dull paint. To reveal the paint's true vitality, vibrancy, and depth, it must be polished.




Polishing deep-cleans the paint. It also removes oxidation, old wax, minor swirl marks and water spots. The result is a rejuvenated top paint layer, which is then ready for waxing or sealing. Polishing creates a uniform, high-gloss shine.

EVALUATING YOUR CAR'S PAINT




You can easily evaluate your car's paint every time you wash. To do so, wash and dry your car. With clean hands, run your fingertips across the paint surface. It should feel very smooth, like glass. If it doesn't, you're feeling the contaminants and oxidation on the surface of the paint. This is your indication that it's time to clean and polish your paint using a good polish.

To determine if your paint has enough wax protection, rub a clean, dry detailing towel over the hood or trunk surfaces. If you hear squeaking, it's because the paint is dry and needs polishing and protection. When a car's paint surface has good wax protection, a good buffing towel should glide across the surface.

SELECTING A POLISH

Selecting a polish can be intimidating. There are hundreds from which to choose, each having different abrasive or cut capability. There are polishes for clear coat and non-clear coat finishes. You will also need to choose the correct product for hand application or machine application. In most cases, hand polishing is most appropriate.

Polishing a newer car twice a year will maintain the car's showroom appearance for years to come. Newer cars usually have a clear coat finish, so be sure to select a low abrasive polish that is safe for clear coat finishes. For ultra-safe polishing and paint cleaning, use a polish designed to be a fine pre-wax cleaner on new paint and paint in excellent condition.

If your car's finish is dull, cloudy, or chalky, it may require the use of a light rubbing compound. Use caution when polishing with compounds, as they will quickly remove the top layer of dead paint. Check your work often to make sure you don't rub the paint too thin. Follow compounding with a swirl remover polish formula.

POLISHING TIPS

Once you've selected a polish, here are some tips to make polishing easier:

1. Work in a shaded area, out of direct sunlight.
2. Work on one area at a time covering two to four square feet. Buff off the polish residues as you go. This allows you to discover any problems early before polishing the entire car.
3. For best results, use a foam applicator pad to apply polish. If you need a little more polish or cleaning power, use a terry cloth applicator. When the applicator becomes caked with polish, switch to a fresh applicator.
4. Use a small amount of polish. With most polishes, a 1-inch size dab is enough to polish a two to three square foot area.
5. If the polishing residue does not buff off easily, switch to a clean buffing towel.
6. Apply polishes in a back and forth motion, not circular (polishes should take out swirls, not create them… don't polish in circles). If you are creating swirls, you are using a polish that is too abrasive or you need to replace your polishing pad or towels.

After polishing, your car's paint should be squeaky clean, smooth, and free of streaks and minor swirls. It's now ready for waxing.

SUMMARY

I love to polish my cars. I get a real sense of accomplishment when a car is perfectly polished, and the paint is as smooth as silk. Call me nuts, but I love rubbing the fenders on a shapely sports car until it shines like a mirror. Only polishing can give that result. This chapter is a brief introduction to polishing. If you have a specific paint problem, such as swirl marks, water spots, or paint chips, read those chapters.

By : David Bynon

Claying

Wash your car and look closely at the paint surface. Run your finger across it. If this finish is anything less than pristine, you're going to notice things with your finger. Things on the paint surface that aren't visible but still there, stuck to it, embedded, adhered to the paint in a fashion that keeps these particles from being removed by a typical washing.

What's happened is the sharper, pointier, stickier things in the air have actually jammed themselves into the first layers of paint. This is no longer a surface-only dirt issue that a thorough washing can handle, as a wash mitt or sponge doesn't have the grabbing, grippiness to pull these things out. So, you're left with a clean car that's still covered with the same selection of glass fragments and fibers, rail dust (little metal slivers emitted by the interaction between train wheel and rail), minute chunks of gravel and Earth byproduct. Enter the clay bar.

We can hear you asking what clay has to do with car washing. Imagine this—the act of pulling a soapy sponge across your car's wet surface while washing, with the stiction capacity (just made that up; the degree to which something adheres to and pulls on a surface when interacting with it laterally) amplified to where the pulling and stiction level is great enough to remove minute contaminants embedded in the paint. That's what a clay bar does: cleans the paint surface down to its pure paint self, sucked clean.

Automotive paint clay is a very particular grade of fine clay, not too unlike some clays used in modeling. Used by car care pros for ages and long a back door secret of the car care industry, insiders have brought the clay bar and its usefulness to public attention. Used with a lubricating spray (often a detailing spray) that allows the otherwise super-tacky clay to glide without marring the paint itself, automotive clay can be the tool to step from "just washed" to "ready to polish and wax."

Using clay is remarkably simple. Starting with a freshly cleaned vehicle, wet a section of the vehicle's painted surface with the clay lubricant and rub the clay on the paint in a random fashion. You don't want to use the whole wad of clay—a half or a third of what you're supplied is a good place to begin. As you use the clay, "rotate" it frequently, turning it as it fills with the things it pulls from your paint. You want to have fresh clay touching the paint. Dry off completed portions of paint with a cotton towel. Again, work by sections. Important: listen to the clay. As it slides across the paint on a film of lubricant, you'll hear its contact with the bad things in the paint. As fewer things are left to pick up, the bar will make less noise and you'll feel it slide more easily. You can treat the whole vehicle this way. Run your fingers across the paint after working over a portion of the painted surface and you'll be able to deduce the difference, by touch.

Don't forget to use plenty of lubricant. Too much can be mopped up with the towel. Using too little risks allowing the clay to scratch your paint. Late-model paints have a much softer composition than older enamels, so misuse of a clay bar will show readily, so use plenty of detailer. Clay can also be employed to clean hard plastic surfaces, trim, chrome and water-stained rubber in the same fashion as it does paint. The friction coefficient is not the same as with paint, but properly lubricated, the clay works wonders on these surfaces. Paint overspray can be removed from almost all automotive surfaces with clay, too. Note that clay can strip wax from paint, so be prepared to re-wax the vehicle's surface after using clay on it. Some clays are harder than others and leave less margin for error between effective lubrication and not enough. If the clay lubricant/detailer dries on the paint surface, a further spritz will let you wipe it off.

Clay bar treatment kits are available that provide you with the necessary lubricant and enough clay to do plenty of paint, multiple cars worth. Some kits come with a sample of wax, too, to give you a chance to test one manufacturer's formula of wax.

If you've never clay-barred your ride, take a moment to run your hand across the paint. The little things will be there, stuck to it, waiting for you to take action. C'mon—a little stiction never hurt anyone.

By: M. Justin Fort/autoMedia.com

How To Properly Wash & Dry Your Vehicle

Let us start by addressing some proper procedures to follow prior to actually washing the vehicle. First, find an area to work in with plenty of shade. With the sun beating on hot soapy water, it can cause water etching and spots on your vehicles paint. This will add more time in your routine removing them especially if you are just washing and drying for maintenance and not planning on doing a full routine.

The paint and wheels should be cool to the touch prior to washing. Next step, take a look at your attire, no jeans, no belts, no buttons, no rivets, no zippers, and no jewelry or other potentially hazardous objects. You may ask why, but the reasoning is pretty simple, they all will easily scratch your paints surface even with very minimal pressure. Also at this time ensure that all windows are completely up and doors, hood and trunk are completely closed and remove license plates or other easily removable items from the vehicle.

Prep Stage:

1. Fill up one 5 gallon wash bucket about 3/4 full of water and the remaining 1/4 full of suds.

2. Fill up the second 5 gallon wash bucket about 1/2 full of water.

Washing:

1. Rinse down an area of the vehicle that you plan on washing. Start from the top of the vehicle and work your way down. Also, work in sections such as front fenders and hood, or passenger side and half of the roof.
2. Walk around your vehicle and pre-treat any areas that have a lot of contamination, such as bug splatter, tar, and other road grime that may be difficult to remove, with a paint safe degreaser.
3. Allow degreaser to sit on the contaminated surface for a few minutes (see manufacturers suggestion)
4. Dunk your wash mitt dedicated for heavily contaminated areas in the bucket of suds.
5. Gently glide your wash mitt across the areas that were treated with degreaser and heavily contaminated areas, such as, lower panels, front bumper and rear bumper.
6. Return to the second wash bucket without suds and shake out your wash mitt in the clean water to remove loose contamination in the pile of the mitt. Then place the mitt back into the bucket of suds to continue washing.
7. Rinse off of each panel of the vehicle as it is completed.
8. Continue washing and rinsing the vehicle in the same fashion for all panels heavily contaminated.
9. Empty the two buckets and refill them per instructions in the prep stage listed above.
10. Dunk your second wash mitt into the suds, which should be your cleanest wash mitt, and gently glide your wash mitt across the rest of the vehicle starting top down. Work in a logical pattern and rinse the vehicle every couple of panels.
11. Return to the second wash bucket without suds and shake out your wash mitt in the clean water to remove loose contamination in the pile of the mitt. Then place the mitt back into the bucket of suds to continue washing.
12. Rinse off of each panel of the vehicle as it is completed.
13. Once the entire vehicle has been washed and rinsed, remove the spray nozzle from the hose. Starting from the top of the vehicle sheet free flowing water from the hose off of the vehicle. You should begin to notice less water accumulation on the surface compared to just rinsing off the vehicle. When working down the sides of the vehicle, move the hose from left to right while getting lower and lower, this will ensure the water floods off of the vehicle and will cut your drying time down considerably.

Drying:

Dry any remaining water on the car’s surface with your waffle weave microfiber towel. To reduce the possibility of marring, do not drag the towel over the car’s paint. Instead, blot the water with the towel. This will help to reduce marring caused by the drying process.

After Washing & Drying Your Vehicle...

The next step in the complete detailing process is to use a clay bar on your vehicle. Using a clay bar on your paint will completely remove surface contamination that was not able to be removed from a normal wash. To test to see if your paint could benefit from a clay bar, glide your hand across your paint to feel for rough spots. To amplify the ability to feel for contamination, put your hand in a plastic sandwhich bag as your inspect your paint.

Washing & Drying

Washing and Drying can be the most overlooked step during a detail, however, in reality is one of the most important steps.

You may be asking yourself how washing and drying can be so important. The reason is because many of the imperfections in your paint (scratches, swirl marks, water spots, etc.) are caused due to improper washing and drying techniques.

Our goal is to teach you how to effectively remove contamination while minimizing the possibility of creating more imperfections in your paint.

Recommended Washing & Drying Products:

• 2 - 3x Quality Wash Mitts
• Automotive shampoo
• 2+ Quality Waffle Weave Drying Towels
• 2x 5 Gallon Wash Buckets
• 2x Grit Guard Inserts for each bucket
• Water Supply and Hose
• Bug and Tar Degreaser