Waxing

Claff wrote: Another vote for Meguires NXT, using a (ahem) inexpensive buffer. Hand-waxing is for the birds. NXT lasts forever on my garage queen, and even seems to last a decent amount of time (rain water beads five or six months down the road) on the outside cars. Do they still make NXT or am I going to have to eventually make the switch to NXT 2.0?

Don't worry about switching to the 2.0--it works fantastic. Follow it up with a pass of a quick detailer and it is a great shine.

I'm more on the autopia end of things though. Paint cleaner, clay, polish, "wax", quick detailer.

Here's my resurrection of my daily driver ("waxed" with the much-hated Nu Finish--the stuff is cheap and it beads forever--great for un-garaged daily drivers)

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/edd-china-attacks-a-civic-with-t-cut-and-a-mop/21841/page1/

I like to use Liquid Glass, it goes on easy and seems to last for a long time. With that being said, with three kids now I do not get to detail my cars very often anymore, like once a year if i am lucky.

I am on the "quickie" end of the spectrum and use Eagle One wax as you dry. My car is a darker color and in Florida wax cooks off pretty quick. With this spray I can hit the car every time I wash it and it takes very little extra time. Beading seems to last about a month.

Junkyard_Dog wrote:

motomoron wrote: For what it's worth the first pass was cutting color everywhere - were miatas not clear coated in '89?...

No. Not for at least another 5 years and only on certain colors iirc. Keith?

Correct. I used to know this stuff much better, but generally the non-metallics weren't clearcoated except for (I think) black. Red got a clearcoat starting in mid-1999.

I have a tin of Mothers carnauba wax that I picked up in 1996. It's maybe half gone. Waxing cars just doesn't seem to be a priority for me.

1st Brand (i think) used to sell a wipe on wash off wax called ??? Can't remember it was back in 92 i found it. Green bottle. You wiped it on ity hazed and you hosed it off. last about two months before you could feel it needed it again i loved it but it vanished from the shelves.

I know they got in trouble over the bottle shape and color.

Malco Flash Wax.

The stuff is quick to use, and leaves an AMAZING finish.

http://www.flashwax.com/polishwax.html

any "wax" or protective coating will work...

Do you just wax, or do you polish first???

Keith wrote:

Junkyard_Dog wrote:

motomoron wrote: For what it's worth the first pass was cutting color everywhere - were miatas not clear coated in '89?...

No. Not for at least another 5 years and only on certain colors iirc. Keith?

Correct. I used to know this stuff much better, but generally the non-metallics weren't clearcoated except for (I think) black. Red got a clearcoat starting in mid-1999.

I have a black 1996 and I'm pretty sure that it's not clearcoated. For some reason, I thought that black was the only color not clearcoated in 96, but I haven't even thought about this for ten years.

Waxed cars are ever so much faster. Used to use Lemon pledge on motorcycles, they only had to look good for a bit.