To wax or not to wax?

[Golden3ye]

I am new to having a nice car and want to keep it looking mint as long as possible.

My car is brand new, 150 miles on it, and le mans blue.

I have been reading a lot at different places about how to protect your paint and make it shine but am not entirely clear on the best practice.

I honestly am brand new to the world of detailing. I always just washed my car with a Mr Clean autodry car wash system and waxed it once a year. Never heard of sealers and clay bar ect...

Now I live in an apartment for the time being, so i dont have access to a hose. I take my car to the car wash and blast it with the power wash wand, then dry it with some microfiber cloths and drive it home.

Should I get a wax and just wash my car and wax it. Or is that what sealers are for? Do I even need to wax if I use a sealer?

I want to get this done before summer because here in Missouri it really heats up and I know you are not supposed to put most of this stuff on your car if it is hot.

So any advice would be great, I want some protection with a bit of simplicity. Preferably not having to buy 4 different products and spending the entire weekend applying and buffing off. But i am committed to keeping my car looking new so if that is what it comes to, then so be it

[Red Bread]

Sealant is a synthetic wax. Wax is made up of carnauba and oils and other things to make it soft and can have some synthetics in it too. Wax tends to melt at lower temps, and offers a shorter amount of protection than sealants.

Sealants are very easy to apply by hand, just use a foam, cotton or microfiber applicator. Menzerna Power Lock and Blackfire Wet Diamond are both great products that our forum sponsors carry.

As for washing, you might want to consider a product like Optimum No Rinse, it's great if you don't have a hose nearby and is a better solution than using the high pressure hose at the car wash.

[Golden3ye]

Originally Posted by Red Bread

Sealant is a synthetic wax. Wax is made up of carnauba and oils and other things to make it soft and can have some synthetics in it too. Wax tends to melt at lower temps, and offers a shorter amount of protection than sealants.

Sealants are very easy to apply by hand, just use a foam, cotton or microfiber applicator. Menzerna Power Lock and Blackfire Wet Diamond are both great products that our forum sponsors carry.

As for washing, you might want to consider a product like Optimum No Rinse, it's great if you don't have a hose nearby and is a better solution than using the high pressure hose at the car wash.

Thanks red bread, that is basically what I wanted to hear. I was reading earlier some reviews on the Wet Diamond and it had a review from the pros where he recomended waxing over the wet diamond.

So you think the high pressure hose is bad for your paint? How does a Optimum no rinse work? I am a little concerned about "washing" my car without a hose and just grinding in the road dirt in the paint without a hose or pressure hose to remove the dirt.

[Red Bread]

You can wax over a sealant, it provides a deeper finish, and also makes it a little more resistant to bird bombs. I use Wet Diamond (smells awful) followed by Dodo Blue Velvet wax on a black car, it looks great and really doesn't take long to do the whole thing.

No rinse is one of those things you have to try to believe. I live in a townhome and don't have a lot of shared driveway space, so I wash the car in my garage. My wife's car is Jet Black, so it shows swirls from any marring, and ONR has been great with it. I use a microfiber wash cloth, two buckets and a wheel brush and really couldn't be happier with it, it works as well or better than the traditional method with Chemical Guys or similar wash medium. There are you tube videos that are worth a watch before you try it your self.

[716]

I use Croftgate waterless products.

They are incredible. To the point that you'd think they pay me I am so in love with them.

If your car is quite dirty, it is not a great idea to use, because as you said, you are not hosing the car at all.

All you need are some quality microfiber clothes and an hour, and your car is gorgeous. Zero water, and little elbow grease.

I use the Aquanil-X to clean, and Quick and Slick to polish. The wheel/tire cleaner is excellent as well.

I have used them since new for 2+ years and my paint has no signs of deterioration. Worth noting that I live in NYC so my car sees a lot of environmental abuse year round.

[JohnL135I]

I would suggest BlackFire wet diamond.. (2 coats) and I think you will be very happy with the results. I've topped wet diamond with dodo Juice orange crush but the wax does not last near as long as the base sealant.

[TOGWT]

“New Vehicle Care” - http://www.autopia.org/forum/guide-d...ml#post1453380

[P1]

So you go from blasting the car with a high pressure hose to drying it off? Since you skip the washing step, you're probably grinding the dirt particles into the paint and your paint likely needs to be polished already. When you stand in the Wal*Mart carpark at night and look at your paint under the sodium lights, what does the finish look like?

What I would do is take a bucket with nice soap and a sponge with you to the carwash. Fill the bucket with water there and wash your car, rinse it off and then dry it. If you go early in the morning, no one is there to bother you and the sun will probably not be so hot that you cannot seal or wax it.

If you like sealants, look into Menzerna Power Lock.

[Golden3ye]

well my car isn't even a week old and hasn't even been dirty yet, checked out last night and thankfully the paint is still pristine.

I like the idea of taking some buckets though, gonna have to put that into action.

[mdputnam]

One option you might consider is taking your new car to a good detailer. They can typically make your car's new factory finish really shine while protecting it from any damage. I thought my last new car looked great. Like you, a week after getting it I was thinking I should get the finish all "sealed up". The Detailer worked on it all day correcting all the paint blemishes (check out some of the posts around here to see all the work involved in doing it right). When I got my car back I couldn't believe how the finish now looked like it had a glass coating. Totally blew away the original "new" factory finish.