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Who waxes their cars?


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  • 5 months later...
On 3/14/2022 at 8:21 PM, GT69 said:

Aside from the price if you get it done by a professional, I'd say no.

Removal will be a bit of a pain, so be sure to do or get it done right.

 

One of the reasons that GM is now (actually the last couple of years), in their owners manuals, advising against DIY waxing.  Then they contradict themselves. Example right here:

 

Quote

Application of aftermarket clearcoat sealant/ wax materials is not recommended. If painted surfaces are damaged, see your dealer to have the damage assessed and repaired. Foreign materials such as calcium chloride and other salts, ice melting agents, road oil and tar, tree sap, bird droppings, chemicals from industrial chimneys, etc., can damage the vehicle's finish if they remain on painted surfaces. Wash the vehicle as soon as possible. If necessary, use non-abrasive cleaners that are marked safe for painted surfaces to remove foreign matter.

 

Occasional hand waxing or mild polishing should be done to remove residue from the paint finish. See your dealer for approved cleaning products.

 

That last sentence is a bit of self serving nonsense. If you go to any GM brand website and "build" a vehicle, you'll find that in the dealer accessories section at the end, GM is peddling products from Adam's Polishes, including both DIY ceramics and full wax/sealant kits with an orbital polisher.

 

One of my cousins used to be the paint line manager for one of GM's assembly plants. A big reason for their push away from DIY waxing, sealants and coatings is that misapplication often results in a DIYer using an abrasive polish to take off a layer of fully cured ceramic DIT coating, and occasionally taking off a paint sealant that way. Eventually, these "geniuses" cut through the clearcoat, then rush to the dealer screaming about clearcoat failure and warranty work. 

 

I'm not a pro, but I'm 63 and have been detailing cars since I was 15. My advise - if you want coatings, ceramic, graphene  or otherwise, go to a professional and pay for it. If you're going to wax yourself, Meguiar's Mirror Glaze M21 Synthetic Sealant is good. Griot's sealants are pretty good. Collinite No. 845 Insulator Wax can be a bit of work, but lasts a long time.

Edited by Len_A
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  • 1 month later...
On 8/18/2022 at 12:52 PM, Len_A said:

That last sentence is a bit of self serving nonsense. If you go to any GM brand website and "build" a vehicle, you'll find that in the dealer accessories section at the end, GM is peddling products from Adam's Polishes, including both DIY ceramics and full wax/sealant kits with an orbital polisher.

 

One of my cousins used to be the paint line manager for one of GM's assembly plants. A big reason for their push away from DIY waxing, sealants and coatings is that misapplication often results in a DIYer using an abrasive polish to take off a layer of fully cured ceramic DIT coating, and occasionally taking off a paint sealant that way. Eventually, these "geniuses" cut through the clearcoat, then rush to the dealer screaming about clearcoat failure and warranty work. 

 

I've been using Adams Products since 2014 or so on my SHO and I like them.

 

In the grand scheme of things it is REALLY hard to damage clear coat with consumer grade polishes. I damaged a spot on my SHOs hood trying to remove a self inflicted scratch (opened my hood up to do an oil change and bumped my kayak with it when I jacked it up), but I was a dumb ass using a slightly dirty pad on a power drill (not a orbital polisher) to do so. It wasn't bad, just a mar on the finish because of the tricoat color on the car. 

 

I've dipped my toe into the ceramic/graphene protection products that Adams has.

 

I'll say this-applying the spray on products are a no brainer and offer good protection to the paint. Not sure how the longevity of them are going to be, but I'll find out. I did a completely half ass application with their graphene spray on product with my wife's Escape-I didn't do any paint correction prior to it and it hasn't been washed in months and still looks good and is far cleaner looking then it has been over the past few years when it didn't have graphene on it.

 

I went the full Graphene protection route using a small applicator pad and a $100+ bottle of graphene protection on my Bronco-when they detailed it, they used some sort of protection product on it that I had to get off-so I had to do a paint correction on it, which was just using orbital polisher on it with a very light polish to remove the coating on it. Very time consuming but hopefully just have to maintain it instead of doing it every year. 

 

I find that graphene/ceramics don't give the same pop as a wax does to paint (also might be Cactus grey vs my old Ruby Red too), but they protect the paint far better. I'm amazed at how well water is beading on it and when I drive it just comes right off with a minimum of  water spots. My wife's car used to have black streaks (it can go months between washes, much to my disappointment) on it but barely has any now since it has graphene protection on it. 

 

I've done a couple application goofs with my Bronco-I'm not a fan of how the plastic looks after the graphene application, but it was spray only so it won't last as long as if I did it with the applicator pad and concentrated bottle of graphene protectant. Also if you get the application errors where you can see where they stopped and didn't blend it properly, Adams Brilliant Glaze takes care of that issue and you'll never see it again. 

 

So TLDR-if you don't want to invest a lot of money into detailing your car, the spray Ceramic/graphene products should work perfectly fine if you apply them once a year or so. If you want to go the full protection route, it might be better to invest in a professional doing it, unless you want to spend the money yourself to invest in the gear and materials needed to do it. I do it as a hobby, so I did it myself. 

 

 

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I used a clay bar on my new Navigator and applied the Turtle Wax Hybrid Ceramic from the previous page. Easy on and off, and the deep gloss was impressive. The beading of water is impressive. However, for me so far, I still get the bits of tree sap on the paint that require elbow grease during subsequent washes. maybe from all the posts here and elsewhere of practically spraying the vehicle with a hose and it coming out clean gave me false expectations. 

 

Thinking I just need to break down and get a professional coat of ceramic applied. 

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