Six hours to apply just the wax?!? WTF were you doing?

You need a thin layer, apply it with a foam pad (takes a couple of minutes per section), leave to haze and buff off. If it's a synthetic wax, you can apply more layers immediately otherwise best to leave a minimum of 24 hours to prevent gassing. Buffing shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes per panel.

It was a long time ago. Product was very waxy. I did wash the thing too.

So what is this synthetic wax of which you speak?

Dear god how much did that cost!

Take it to a good valet company and pay them a few quid

That sounds like a plan.

I tend to use AutoGlym products, though it's been a while since I did a proper wash and polish...

1. Wash with warm water and a dash of standard car shampoo (Tesco or Adsa own-brand are very good)
2. Polish with AutoGlym Super Resin Polish
3. Immediately afterwards, a coat of Autoglym Extra Gloss Protection - a liquid that seals the finish superbly. Only need to do this once a year, maybe every 6 months to be on the safe side. The dirt and water just runs off after using this product.

I've been using this combination for years and never had a spot of rust on any of my cars.

Do you wash the chassis then, Steve?

Autoglym, like most products at halfrauds, aren't particularly strong or effective. Since they're designed for the consumer, they have to be "safe" - to the car, the environment and the person using the product.

Things like EGP do no last twelve months. The longest I've seen anything last is about four months and that was collinite 476s, a hard, synthetic wax with two coats. If you've just applied wax to a car, spray it with water and look atthe effect. The water will form small droplets - detailers call this beading. The tighter the beading (the smaller the droplets), the better the (perceived) quality of the wax.

A wax will improve the finish by only a small margin. 90% of the finish is in the preparation of the paintwork.

Oh fudge it. After typing that last post on my iphone, instead of having a nap, I was riled enough to fire up the laptop and explain this all to you properly.

99% of you won't give a damn about how you wash your car. Maybe one or two of you will be interested enough or care about your car enough to at least read the below.

Washing
Your car is covered in dirt. This can be dust, grit, mud etc. Washing your car with a sponge means you get to drag these particles across your paintwork. Ever see that spiderweb effect on cars (especially in the sunlight)? That's damage caused by washing.
clicky for DW guide

Use a microfibre wash mitt and two buckets (one to rinse the mitt in the 'dirty' bucket and one to load the mitt with 'clean' shampoo water. Use a pH-neutral shampoo.

Drying
Again, most people will use a chamois leather and use it ineffectively. If the car is perfectly clean (it won't be), you go over the car once, wring the chammy and go over again, to continue until dry. If your car isn't clean, you'll continue to drag any unremoved particles across the surface. Water blades inflict damage that needs machine polishing to correct and hence should be avoided.

Better to use a proper drying towel. Instead of scrubbing it across the paintwork, lay it flat and then 'pat' the towel to absorb the water. This minimises the risk of inflicting damage.

Claying
Some crap that is adhered to the car won't come off the paintwork even after washing. Instead you clay the car. This removes any bonded contaminants. The first time you do this to a car, the clay bar will be filthy. Only once you have done this step would I advise you to start polishing the car. Otherwise you're scrubbing dirt into the car!
clicky for DW guide

Polishing
Remember those spider web effects I was talking about? You remove them through polishing.


^^^ a 50-50 (ie comparison) shot of paintwork correction (shamelessly stolen from another website). Using a machine polish will give you the best correction but most can be reduced by hand polishing. Autoglym Super Resin Polish has both abrasives and fillers. The abrasive particles will break down into ever finer particles whilst also polishing the paintwork. Fillers will help hide some of the swirls. SRP was the best hand polish on DW. The paintwork is built up of layers - primer, base coat, colour coat and clear coat. The clear coat is where the swirls are. It is about 140 microns or so thick (varies from car to car). Polishing will remove 1-2 microns of clear coat, so doing it too often will mean you risk removing the clear coat completely (called clear coat failure). This will require a respray to correct.
clicky for SRP FAQ
clicky for machine polishing guide

Glaze
This basically contains oils to partly fill in any remaining swirls but largely serves to enhance to glossiness of the paintwork, bringing out the colour. Most people don't bother with this stage but it means you don't need to resort to polishing everytime you want to get rid of light swirls. Personally, have found it to bring out the metallic flake on my metallic black car.

Sealant
Can be a bit confusing with waxes. Sealants seal in the finish, allowing it to be protected for longer. But sealants tend not to leave a glossy look and hence a wax is applied afterwards. Jetseal 109 not only seals paintwork but also provides gloss. Collinite wax does a similar thing and tends to sit on the wax-sealant fence, fulfulling both purposes. I use it in the winter to provide long-acting protection.

Wax
This provides a wet-look shine to the car. Waxes tend to come in a variety - synthetic/natural, carnauba content, colour-charge (very slight tint).

Also don't forget the following:
Windows - you can clay the windows and then clean using something like Autoglym fastglass (or vinegar and newspaper)
Rubber trim - many products including Black Wow and Autoglym Bumper Care
Exhaust - Autosol metal polish or Meguairs next-gen metal polish. Use 00-grade wirewool to remove any rust and degreaser to remove soot.
Wheels - these can be clayed and polished like paintwork. Use a wheel sealant and then next time the dirt will just wash off.
Tyres - tyre gel can leave that wet-look that you get in showroom cars. Doesn't last long (2-3 weeks). Meguairs Endurance Tyre Gel comes highly recommended.

Finally, a list of products that I use and their halfrauds equivalents (so next time they have 1/2 price or 3 for 2).

Shampoo - Dodo juice Born to be Mild - Meguiars Gold Class
Washmitt - Dodo juice Wookie's Fist - n/a
Clay kit - Sonus green clay and Dodo juice Born Slippy clay lubricant - Meguiars Smooth Surface clay kit
Drying - Chemical Guy's Miracle Dryer -
Meguiars Supreme Shine Microfibre
Polish - Menzerna polishes (machine) - AG Super Resin Polish (hand)
Glaze - Dodo juice Lime Prime Lite - n/a
Sealant - Collinite 476s (instead of wax) - n/a
Wax - Dodo Juice Supernatural or Collinite 476s - Best is Autoglym HD wax. Meguiars Gold Class or Turtlewax Ice wax have given good results too
Windows - AG Fast Glass - AG Fast Glass
Trim - AG Bumper Care - AG Bumper Care
Metal trim - Autosol metal polish - Meg's Next Gen Metal Polish OR Autosol metal polish
Tyres - Meg's Endurance Tyre Gel - Meg's Endurance Tyre Gel
Alloy cleaner - Bilberry wheel cleaner - Meg's Hot Rims wheel cleaner (for the love of god, dilute before use and don't leave on for too long


I've probably missed something. But at least I can relax enough to go have a nap.

The other weekend, I took my car to the Picnic In The Part which is organized by the PT Cruisers club - Crossfire and other MOPAR cars are being welcomed along now too.

I was asked if I could loan my car to a company which has started to sell Adams Polishes - and they took an afternoon polishing my car with the stuff. It really did make a huge difference. I have never seen my car that shiny before.

You can get the polishes from http://www.autojoy.co.uk - they are the only importers of the polishes at the moment.

Edit : Link fixed - Mark

I have a black car and the GF has a white convertible

My black car gets polished every month or so to keep the paint smooth so the dust does build up on it so quickly, as black is a nightmare for that if you leave it untreated.

The GF’s white convertible I have to go over it with white spirit every 6 months and then polish it to keep it looking bright white.

The polish I use is Meguiars Nxt Generation Tech Car Wax

My preferred routine at the moment is:

Rinse with hose
Wash with Chemical Guys Wash n Gloss in a foamer bottle, microfibre mitt.
Rinse
Dry with Microfibre towel
If needed, clay. (Although the first time I did this, although I felt the difference, the clay wasn't really noticeably dirty.)
Chemical Guys Wet Mirror finish
Chemical Guys Pete's 53 (although I think I prefer the XXX Hardcore Wax, seems to last longer)

Thanks cloaked_wolf, I found that a really interesting read.

As stated above, you shouldn't need to polish the car more than twice a year, otherwise you risk clearcoat failure.

If you detail the car properly (at the very least wash, clay, polish and seal/wax), then so long as you wash regularly eg every 1-2 weeks, you shouldn't need to re-polish. Top up the wax on a monthly basis to maximise protection and you're sorted.