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Information » Detailing » Waxing Tips
The clear coat layer on your car protects the color coat beneath while enhancing its depth and brilliance. However, as soon as you take your car on the road, environmental forces begin to attack the clarity and reflective gloss of your pristine finish. The result is oxidation, swirl marks, fine scratches and other blemishes, not to mention the bonded contaminants that regular washing can't remove. Day after day, the harsh road environment degrades the surface of your car’s clear coat until it's no longer as smooth as glass. Without special attention to remove these environmental contaminates, even the finest wax can't restore your car’s finish to its original reflective gloss.
There are two ways you can determine the condition of your car’s paint surface. Visually, you will notice specs of dirt, blemishes and dull areas. With your hand (after washing), you will feel contaminates. These are all indicators that it is time to deep clean your paint and apply one or more coats of wax.
In general, there are two kinds of pre-wax cleaners. The first is a polish, which is a cleaner with a mild abrasive (compound). The compound in polish helps to remove dead paint (caused by oxidation), tar specs, water and acid rain spots, bug remains, and other contaminates. Polish also smoothes the paint surface, improving gloss. Used properly, a good polish will also remove swirl marks and other minor paint blemishes. Most good polishes contain natural oils to moisturize the paint, which further adds to the gloss.
The second type of pre-wax cleaner is a true cleaner, not an abrasive. These products use citric acids to deep clean the paint and remove wax. Like a quality polish, pre-wax cleaners add oils to your paint to feed an enhance gloss. These products can be pricey due to the pure oils, including Apricot Kernel Oil, Montan Oil, Coconut Oil, Lemon Seed Oil, and others. You can think of these products as a body lotion for your car.
If you have a convertible, after you wash is a good time to protect your canvas top. The pre-wax cleaner will remove the top protectant over-spray. However, you should take steps to prevent as much overspray as possible.
To properly apply a pre-wax cleaner (or polish), first thoroughly wash and dry your car as usual. Using a terrycloth applicator, apply your pre-wax cleaner to one body panel at a time. The best method is to pour a quarter size dab on your applicator, rubbing it into your paint in a strait line (front to back) with medium to heavy pressure. When the surface becomes slightly tacky, gently buff the panel to a high-gloss with a clean terrycloth towel. Rub your hand across the clean surface to determine if it needs a second cleaning. The paint should feel silky smooth. If you feel small bumps, you need to clean again. You’ll know it’s clean when a clean terrycloth towel “squeaks” when rubbing the paint. When your applicator pad gets gummed up, rinse it out and squeeze out the excess water. Remember, the pre-wax cleaner is removing dead paint and contaminates, so rinse your pad.
Most pre-wax cleaners and polishes dry to a light film. It should buff off with minimum effort. If the film does not buff off easily, you may be using too much cleaner/polish, you may be letting it dry too long, or your buffing towel may be dirty. Don’t let the cleaner/polish sit for more than 1-2 minutes before buffing off. If you get streaks, re-apply a smaller amount of your cleaner/polish and re-buff with a clean, dry terrycloth towel.
Once cleaned, its time to wax your car. If you want the “Ultimate Concourse Winning Shine,” you’ll be applying two coats of wax. If not, a single coat will suffice.
For the concourse shine, start with a coat of cream wax. Most cream waxes are designed to go on easily and buff off with little effort. If you have an exceptional glaze, such as Pinnacle Souveran or Zymol Concourse, apply two lite coats of your high quality wax.
Apply and buff the first coat of wax, as normal, and allow it to cure for 12-48 hours. Follow with a second coat. Note that the first coat of wax must have time to cure. If the wax does not cure (harden), the second coat will not improve your car’s appearance or protection. Properly applied, you will see a noticeable improvement in depth, richness of color, and gloss with the second coat of wax. Additional layers are far more subjective to most people, although many concourse winners use many layers to produce the desired depth.
What do you do if, after all this work, you still have streaks and areas that don’t want to polish up? There are several tricks, but the easiest is to park your car in the sun after waxing for 10-15 minutes. Let it get warm, but not hot, then take it back inside the garage. Next, using a good spray bottle and distilled water, schpritz a small area and buff with a clean terrycloth towel. The warmth of the car softens the wax, allowing it to polish to a clear, high gloss. If you don't have distilled water, use a detailing spray, such as Meguiar's Final Inspection.
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