A good wax job will last you up to 2 months, depending on how you take care of it and how you wash the car. If you look in the previous page you can see my car 3 weeks after a wax job in which I spent 15 mins with a quick detailier to buff up before going out. Wax does not get stripped off in just one wash. The place I go to does not use sponge to wash the car as it is not wax friendly. They use their bare hands to rub the car. Anyway, if you have a lot of wax on the car, there is no need to scrub hard to remove the dirt. Even the rain would clean the dirt off as nothing would stick to the car.

I'd rather leave the professional work to the pros as they would have access to better grades of waxes than those simple commercial products. Meg is good but the ones used by the pros would not be the same as the one you find on the shelves. Just like the Zymol waxes that used by Autospa and the amount of time put into my car, it would be better to let the pros do it. They have the manpower and the hours.

A wax job for me at Autospa takes 4 guys and 2 hours to finish. That is 8 man hours and for me to do it by myself, it is not worth the time.

It takes too long. The issue is not the type of wax but the time it takes. Every time I wax, they of course wash the car, then treat and prep the surface with surface cleaners, apply multiple coats of wax with 4 guys going around the car, wax on and wax off. Rather different procedure than most places where they apply the wax to the whole car and wait. Here they have all 4 guys wax on and wax off a few times overlapping each other's panels. Then comes the final wipe and then finish off with a last spray and wipe.

That's the problem. Cost is RM160 and it's worth every cent to bring on the gloss and protection. The only DIY that I do is the quick detailing (15-20 mins) every 2 weeks to keep the wax as glossy as possible. That would also allow me to stretch the wax to about 2 months.

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Added on October 6, 2008, 4:23 pmIt is achievable with proper maintenance. My car is out in the open 24/7 and the wax would last 2 months provided it gets a good layer of QD every couple of weeks. Also it must only be washed at Autospa weekly. Anywhere else and I can see them strip the wax bare with their strong shampoo and rough sponge.

Unfortunately, for darker cars, synthetic wax or coatings do not bring out the shine. No point having the protection when the car doesn't look like it has been protected at all.

This post has been edited by sleepwalker: Oct 6 2008, 04:23 PM

Glenmarie. www.autospa.com.my

Ah yes, there is also the Tun Razak branch. Umm.. RM160 is only waxing as I have mentioned (although they do more than just wax). It is not polish and it is not detailing. I bought the detailing package for 3 details and that cost me RM1500. Individual detailing will cost more than RM600 without package.

This post has been edited by sleepwalker: Oct 6 2008, 10:25 PM

There is one thing that always intrigued me is the so called guarantee for coatings. How does one measure the coating? How does one warrant against it. How do you measure it when you say "guaranteed to last 1 year". You can't measure the shine and definitely can't use the size of the water beads as measurement for the warranty.

This reminds me of my year 12 Physic teacher in Australia. We were doing some lab experiment and asked him for the current atmospheric pressure. Without looking at the gauge he just took a deep breath to measure the pressure and said.."About 1.02 bar".. ahahaha..

So in this case what do we do? Look at the shine and go? Hmm.. about 7 months of coating left? Umm.. Or touch the panel and say "I've detected slightly more abrasion on the front bonnet than the side panels... "..

This is why I asked how you measure the coating. Based on your answer above, that means the guarantee is worthless as you have no way to measure how much coating is left. Most people that use beading as a measurement would provide the actual size of the beading that is considered as 'effective', eg beading size must not exceed 1-2cm, etc etc.

So does your guarantee also subjected to conditions that the car is subjected to? The reason for your coating is longer lasting but your statement goes against that. 3 months and the front of the MR-S has lost the shine and you re-coated for free out of goodwill. SHouldn't that be re-coated as per 1 year guarantee?

After that you have to give the car a high speed wax every time he comes in for his weekly wash, that means speedwax every week. Now, if I did that to a normal wax job and give it a speed wax every week, it would be the same as your coating right? The shine is not going to disappear with that kind of treatment.

This is the reason why, until today, there is no such thing as coat once and last a long time. The only product I've seen that does that needs to remove a layer of the original clear coat and respray with their own teflon formula clear coat. That is guaranteed for 5 years but still require a quick monthly treatment of their special chemical to maintain the shine. However, this treatment is good only if you have a new car as older cars would have very uneven clearcoat for them to work on.

That is why I never believe that anything you wipe on the car will last up to a year.

That's because ALKT's 'wife' is not her. She's blue and has 4WD...Hahahhahahaa...

Redbox,
It is actually not the enviroment that strips your wax but rather the process of cleaning your car that does it. So many times I've heard of people saying that the wax does not last in our hot weather because it melts away or that their wax only last 1 week and that because they washed their car 1 week after with wax-stripping detergent.

My Gold class wax last about 2-3 months but that is maintained with a quick detailing spray every 2 weeks after washing the car. If you can stand it, try not washing your car for 1 month after waxing. You'd be surprised that the wax is still there and not washed away by the rain or melted by the sun. The process of cleaning the car with cheap shampoo that ends up stripping away the wax.

It's quick detailing, not a water-less car wash. You do not apply it on a dirty or even dusty car. Best to apply right after carwash. If you do it later in the day or the next day, do give the car a quick rinse/wipe and dry it before applying.

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Added on March 9, 2010, 8:50 amTreat the quick detailing as a quick morning exercise. If it takes longer than 20mins, you are not doing it right. Afterall, it is suppose to be a quick detailing and you don't buff one panel like a thousand times. If your quick detailing is difficult to buff off and the cloth is sticking to the panel, that means it is time to re-wax the car.

Another thing about the gold class and nxt. Gold class seems to work better on a dark car as you can see from my results on page 41 or 42. NXT does not work that well on dark cars, even when I got it done at the meguiars center and main distributor in USJ 1.

This post has been edited by sleepwalker: Mar 9 2010, 09:01 AM

You should see the weird reflections I get on my car with Zymol polish, zymol wax, gold glass wax and ultimated detailer all in a span of 3 weeks. It's so weird it's pretty..

So far Ultimate Detailer works best. NXT Speed Detailer is ok too.

You guys must be using some really crappy wax to have it washed out in one rain session. First of all, wax is water-repellent and no rain will wash it off. Usually it is the process of the car wash with bad shampoo that does that.

Secondly, you should not be using quick detailing before the wax. It should the finishing layer and not medium. You want the wax to bond to the paint and finish off with the quick detailing.

Lastly, what kind of carnauba wax are you using? Some really pure carnauba wax takes hours to dry before waxing off. Karate Kid style 'wax on wax off' may not give it enough time to bond to the paint.

This post has been edited by sleepwalker: Mar 25 2010, 09:42 AM

I said finishing layer, not foundation. Finishing as in the last thing you do.

The orange peel effect has nothing to do with your cleaning. It is just poor polishing/finishing by the factory before they delivered the car to you. The orange peel is not caused by the paint but rather the clear coat. All you need now is a good professional polish to bring the showroom shine back out. You can check on page 42 for the pics of my car to know that orange peel does not come from your washing.

KC would most probably tell you to go professional. So would I. To remove orange peel would require some professional work as they have to cut pretty deep without damaging your clearcoat. I would not recommend doing it by hand as the difference in pressure would leave you with different levels of clearcoat. Some would be deeper and some shallow. You'd cry when you see the 'big' patches of orange peel.

We can't put the blame on the solvents. All clear coats that come straight out of the factory feels so rough that you think the car was sandblasted instead of being painted. They are they polished to showroom finish before delivering to their customers. Why do you think that BMW and Merc do not have this problem? They are given a good polish before it is delivered to their customers. I know of this as the carwash I go to is also where Auto Bavaria in Glenmarie sends their brand new cars to be polished before delivery to their customers. Comes out without any orange peel effect.

So where do you think our local car makers would send it for polishing before delivery?

This post has been edited by sleepwalker: Apr 1 2010, 12:04 PM

Yes, environmentally friendly solvents contribute to orange peel but that is not the main cause of it. It is not something that cannot be removed. Most importantly is that it should be done before the car gets to the customer, so that the customer does not have to go through the anguish of removing it. Our local car dealers have made this orange peel effect so common that people think it is paint damage. It is not paint damage. It is Public Relations damage for the car dealer.

I can accept the fact that freshly REPAINTED cars have the orange peel effect as the clear coat cannot be polished so quickly since the car wasn't oven baked at temperatures as high as those fresh from the factory. Those we will have to wait a couple of months before doing a good sanding job.

As far as I can remember, practically from day that our local car manufacturers offered metallic paint, I have seen the orange peel effect on brand new cars.