I wax my car at least once a month, usually twice though. A friend told me I am doing it to often. Is this true, am I damaging the paint in any way?

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'86 IROC
T-TOPS, TINTED WINDOWS, BRAKE LIGHT BLACKOUTS
GM GOODWRENCH 350
EDELBROCK TES HEADERS
FLOWMASTER, NO CAT
EDELBROCK 600CFM CARB.
KN AIRFILTER
ACCEL HEI DISTRIBUTOR
160* Stat
2:73 GEARS
Rebuilt 700R4, with manual valve body
B&M Megashifter, 5" Autometer Tach w/shift lite
Soon to be installed
3:73 Richmond Gears and 3" Hooker Aero Chamber
Corvette Servo & .500 boost valve
15.61@ 95.2mph G-Teched, 1-2 shift slippage, and just replaced a burnt plug wire
"There is nothing more addicting than speed"

 

yeah I wouldn't do it more than once every 3 months. Your probably getting alot of wax biuld up on your paint. Most waxes are good for at least 6 months. You can by a spray on wipe off stuff that makes your car look like it was just waxed. I usually do that after each wash. You can buy it at k-mart, wal-mart or wherever. Theres several brands.

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1992 Camaro Z-28 5.7L auto t-tops arctic white

1967 Pontiac Catalina 2 door fastback 400 v-8 auto cameo white dark red interior

 

actually wax DOESNT build up, it just replaces the old with the new, as Sal from Zaino said.

i wetsand and buff cars for a living, and waxing too much is not bad, wax is a protectant, and when you protect something you want it WELL protected.

i am ok with your once a month but twice is a little bit of wasting your time and wax, and also look into buying a buffer. much easier to apply and you can remove all the hair line scratches.
just an idea.

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Jarrad
1990 IROC-Z L98 350 TPI
TH-700R4
G92- 9 Bolt Borg-Warner 3.27gears
Dupont Flame Red Hardtop/ Grey Interior

Working at Carl Cleve & Sons Auto Body Repair as the wetsander/buffer.

1991 GREY S10 2.5L/5SPD -FOR SALE.

 

I have to side with Rare-RocZ.

I wax my car about every 1 to 2 months. I hardly let it go longer than that.
After you wash and dry your car do the towel test.
Take a dry towel and throw it lightly across the hood. If it sails right across you probably don't need wax. If it sticks anywhere then it's time for some wax.

Also,
After a wash and dry. Lightly run your fingers on the car. If you feel anything other than a smooth as glass feeling then it's time to polish and wax.

Most waxes on the market today are designed to protect and are not going to build up.
This may not be true on cheapy type waxes though.

As for a wax product....
Well, everyone likes their own brand of wax and think they are simply the best to use.
All I can say is spend the same amount of money on the wax as you would pay for the time invested into waxing the car.
By that I simply mean.....
Why spend blood sweat and tears applying a $2.00 wax that will give you crappy results.

As for the buffer idea.
I think it's a good investment for anyone who waxes their cars. I'm planning on buying one in the near future myself to help cut down the time it takes to wax the car, plus I'll get better results.
But I'd like to add...
When buying a buffer go ahead and spend a little extra and get a good buffer. Those $30 buffers I really don't think are worth the money.
Also if you are new to a buffer get one with variable speeds so that you won't burn the paint. High speed buffers kill a paint job if the person using it does not know what they are doing.

I should know I burnt the paint on my car 10 years ago when I first took the buffer challenge.

Just some points to ponder.

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91 Mystic Teal RS Convertible. 305 TBI, Auto, stock.
125,000 miles and still going strong.
Only minor mods planned for the near future.
Like headers, flowmaster exhaust, some ignition mods, K&N airfilter, Perhaps a chip if needed.
Waiting for the motor to blow up so I can install a ZZ4 crate motor. Let's just hope it don't blow up too soon.

 

I think the only way wax actually lasts several months is if the car never leaves the garage....most waxes will be gone the first time the car is driven in a bad storm and on my black car I believe the sun just melts most of my wax off on hot days

 

Just like TwicK91 said, That's because we live in some of the harshest conditions around-if the heat isn't on , the a/c is on. Detailing a car in our neck of the woods doesn't last more than a drive ( unless you do keep it in the garage- preferably heated garage). The sun does tend to tear up our paint, though

 

I've waxed mine about 3 times in 10 years, the paint still looks new almost everywhere, it faded a little on the rear spoiler and I took it off and had it repainted. I know I should have waxed it more but I'm a little lazy sometimes , but it does still look very good for a 10 year old car.

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92 Camaro RS 5.0 5-Speed
L98 Alu. Heads
SLP coated headers
Dynomax cat-back
14" open air cleaner

1998 Dodge Ram SS/T

 

Just wondering where all the old wax goes, when you wax every month.?? I dont understand how it replaces it if its still there. Let me in on the secret.

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1992 Camaro Z-28 5.7L auto t-tops arctic white

1967 Pontiac Catalina 2 door fastback 400 v-8 auto cameo white dark red interior

 

I probably wax mine about 3 times a year. But I often use Meguires Detailer. In fact more often than I wash it.

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90 RS Convertible
Owner: Top-Down Solutions
http://www.sc3gfb.org/members/lonsal.html
http://www.taskerinc.com/gs3/profiles/Lon_profile.htm

 

every other day cause my friends like to turn on they're sprinklers at 4 in the afternoon when my car is parked with the windows rolled down and so i have to get rid of the water spots.

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88' GTA 350 MODS---> air foil, K&N, Shift Kit, 180* therm, TB bypass

 

once a month like clockwork, the car is ALWAYS clean I keep my shammy IN the car lol. I also work at a car wash

 

once every two or three months, you can kinda tell when the wax starts to fade a bit but usually i do a real good job waxing once and then just wash it regularly with car soap as often as i feel like.

Also just to mention some people like to clean their car with dish soap. The point (and i would still prefer to use the car products that are intended to do this) is to strip all of the old wax away which dish soap does. So never was with dish soap unless you plan to wax right after

 

hey a quick question is it bad to wash your car with dish soap i heard it scratches the clear coat. not sure it if its true but yea im not willing to take the risk

 

dish soap's no good, it dries out the paint surface and strips wax protection.

 

i dont wax my car.... I just polish it with WIZARDS.. great stuff, also wash my car with Mr. Clean AUTO dry and then use a electric leaf blower to dry the rest of it.. .

 

Werd, Mr. Clean auto dry is the shizzle! lol

also, Nu finish (its says once a year) works great! i used it in december, and it still shine wondefully

 

I have a garage queen, thank ***, black is a pain to keep up. Almost never have to wash, just wax/polish every so often (Maybe around once every 3-4 months)

 

good lord! imagine my surprise to see I had a post on the 1st page, lol. Talk about an old post.

when I wax my car, I like to use dish soap to strip the old wax off and go from there.

though the car's been sittin for a few months now.

 

talk about a dead post, i know my waxing job looks better then marks

but then again, i know he is to busy wax'n one out looking on some other types of "websites" to take time and post on here, gosh mark! get a life come back to TGO,
TGO is your friend!

 

so what's the proper wax/polish procedure....wax first then use polish?....one or the other? bahhhhhhh help!....my paint is still virgin to any products