RE: too much washing?

["Dan Sinclair" <sinclair@prospro.com>]

Question posed was how often to wax:

Every 3-4 months should be sufficient, but again, that's going to vary based
on how often you wash the car, what kind of detergent you use, and how much
time the car spends exposed to sun, water, snow, etc.  Best rule is the one
you already noted - when it stops beading up when you wash it, it's time for
a wax job.

As for brands.  I don't have personal experience with Zymoil, although I
know of a few Audi folks on A4.org that love it.  Personally, I don't think
the wax formulations differ enough to really warrant spending $20 per bottle
on one vs. $4 per bottle on another.  As a detailer, we used Eagle One,
Visual Perfection, Meguires, 3M, NuFinish, Lustroglaze, and others.
Honestly, they'll all hold up for about 3 to 4 months plus or minus, and as
long as the wax still beads, it's still there and it's still doing what it's
supposed to do.  I personally use Meguires Cleaner Wax and NuFinish (or
Meguires High Tech Yellow Wax) every other time.  Meguires Cleaner Wax takes
off the oxidation and cleans off road tar, sap etc. quite well, but it takes
off quite a bit of paint too.  I use the NuFinish or Yellow to seal things
up every other waxing - keeps things slick and slows the oxidation.

The rule for removing scratches and blemishes is to go with as light an
abrasive as you can get away with and still make a difference.  That
probably doesn't help much.  All compounds take out scratches by removing
surrounding paint and thus leveling the paint around the scratch.  There's a
tiny amount that gets in the scratch, but this GS27 stuff you see on TV is a
hoax.  Nothing can get in a scratch and make it disappear.  So, you want to
level the paint around the scratch, but you don't want to use something so
abrasive that it leaves a bunch of fine abrasive scratches all around the
area.  Meguires might be a good option here.   They number code their line
of Professional Series waxes and compounds and give good descriptions as to
what level of cleaning/polishing they're designed to achieve.  You might
have to search a bit to find them.  Auto parts stores usually carry some of
the Professional Series - they're in beige bottles rather than the red
bottles (although those are good too, just a little more general in
application).  Get the least abrasive compound of the series and use it on
the scratched areas, then work it over with a cleaner wax.

Several folks, including yourself have buzzed in with questions.  I guess I
should get off my duff and put up a web page!  I'll work on it.  Hope this
is helpful.

Dan Sinclair
1988 Audi 90, 67K mi.
Picture and details online at:
http://131.107.68.28/a4.org/registry/details.asp?car=761



> -----Original Message-----
> From: Art4@aol.com [mailto:Art4@aol.com]
> Sent: Friday, February 05, 1999 9:19 PM
> To: sinclair@prospro.com
> Subject: too much washing?
>
>
> 	Just curious, how often do you recommending waxing a car.
> I have heard 3
> times a year is sufficient. I will do it more often if I notice
> that water no
> longer beads on the paint, it seems to fall close to the 4 month interval.
> Also just curious is there a wax yo reccomend, I have enjoyed
> using meguires
> and eagle one, but I am thinking of switch to zymoil, any unbiased
> recommendations.
> 	I am almost finished, I usually washt the car with a sponge
> first and then
> touch up stubbon spot witha rag, any harm in the rag(terrycloth),
> idea.  One
> last question, I have been using meguires wax, but am not
> considering Zymoil,
> any ideas which might be better for waxing and also which makesa better
> compund for removing little scratches and blemishes.
> thanks in advance
>