A wax question...

[anthony_VWJET]

If unbuffed wax is left on the car, will it cause any damage or distortion to the paint?

Wax used: Meguires Wax.... the one in the red tin...

Wasnt intending on doing this for any reason, just more so for the fact i couldnt finish what i started and can finish it off in the next day or two....

Thanks for the help!

p.s. to the detailers that ive spoken to asking for a detail... im still keen, just broke at the moment!

[gregozedobe]

If unbuffed wax is left on the car, will it cause any damage or distortion to the paint?

I can't see any way it could possibly harm or change the paint. It is still the same stuff, regardless of whether you buff it or not.

If you leave it unbuffed for a while it may be harder to buff to a smooth finish when you do finally get around to it (depending on if it sets harder over time or not).

[G-rig]

Why wouldn't you just do a panel at a time, then do the other sections the next day if you run out of time? I don't like the idea of leaving it on, but may not hurt. Either way you could get dust on the car so i like to apply the wax asap after washing and good quality stuff buffs off very easily.

[gavs]

It just becomes really hard to get off!! I did it with some pure carnuba wax on a hot day, I figured it would help "bake" it on, I'm still removing patches of it and I did this 6 months ago!!

[anthony_VWJET]

It just becomes really hard to get off!! I did it with some pure carnuba wax on a hot day, I figured it would help "bake" it on, I'm still removing patches of it and I did this 6 months ago!!

Hopefully it wont be that bad..... the cars parked in the garage and with the cool weather, hopefully it wont be that hard...

I usually do one panel at a time, but it started raining and I got a bit carried away...

[KWICKS]

Waxing the car takes about 30 minutes tops, and that's 10 minutes to apply, 10 minutes to let it set/bond/go off a little (depends on your wax used I suppose so could be a little longer), and 10 minutes to buff off. While I'm waiting I dress tires, black trim or windows. I might then wait another 30 minutes with the car in the sun to let the moisture in the wax sweat out before giving it another quick buff. All by hand. Why wouldn't you finish the job?

As others have said if you leave the wax on overnight it will go hard, dry to a white powdery finish, and be really diffcult to remove.

[anthony_VWJET]

Waxing the car takes about 30 minutes tops, and that's 10 minutes to apply, 10 minutes to let it set/bond/go off a little (depends on your wax used I suppose so could be a little longer), and 10 minutes to buff off. While I'm waiting I dress tires, black trim or windows. I might then wait another 30 minutes with the car in the sun to let the moisture in the wax sweat out before giving it another quick buff. All by hand. Why wouldn't you finish the job?

As others have said if you leave the wax on overnight it will go hard, dry to a white powdery finish, and be really diffcult to remove.

30 min? I usually take around an hr or 2...

[seangti]

30 min? I usually take around an hr or 2...

yup me too, may be 10mins to do the roof. It's either a different product or the smallest car in the world

Some waxes are notoriously difficult to get off if they dry. e.g. Zymol cleaner wax.

[dazag]

I have another wax question - what is the difference between a Soft wax & a hard wax - if they are both a high quality carnauba waxes, I assume the Hard wax dries to a harder protective coating, but may not give the full warmth of a softer wax??
Just trying to figure out my "plan of attack" for detailing my new car to protect it from relatively new condition.

[gavs]

I beleive it has to do more with the consistancy. Hard wax comes in a tub or tin and is in the form of a paste whereas soft wax is runny, like tomato suace and generally comes in a bottle. I find I waste more of the soft wax over the hard stuff....

[jasn78]

sorry gavas, daz is pretty much spot on, on the difference between soft and hard waxes in my case i use a sealant for protection then top with a soft wax to try and give it some warmth

[KWICKS]

I beleive it has to do more with the consistancy. Hard wax comes in a tub or tin and is in the form of a paste whereas soft wax is runny, like tomato suace and generally comes in a bottle. I find I waste more of the soft wax over the hard stuff....

Agree, hard and soft waxes are both available as pastes, the runny wax you refer to might be better referred to as a liquid wax. HArder wax is harder to apply and buff (marginally) but durability of protection is longer. I haven't used a hard wax yet.

And to above, I use either a liquid (Chemical Guys Butter Wet Wax) or paste (Dodo Juice Purple Haze) wax on my car (alternate and sometimes layering) and either is done in 30 mins no problem. FI has vids of OCW (spray on) being applied and buffed in under 10 mins...

[gavs]

Ahh, ok cool. That is my learned thing for the day today

No I just have to find out what the stuff I have is.....

[jasn78]

gavs there is also a liquid paste wax i think but never used it or never read any reviews

[carcareproducts]

Hi Guys,

Just a few points to add.

There is not too much difference between Hard and Soft waxes in terms of looks or durability, it just comes down to personal preference and method of application - you can put soft on 'by hand' (actually just using your hands and no applicator) but hard needs an applicator.

By hard or soft here I am talking about quality paste waxes like Dodo Juice or Swissvax. Then you have Liquid waxes which are a liquid, cream like consistency, these have next to no carnauba content and will probably be more synthetic than anything else, so they will not give you that glow, depth or warmth that the paste waxes (in a tub) do. They will offer protection, but if anything says 'liquid carnauba' - don't bother, the percentage is too low.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Mike

PS as far as the original post goes, it depends on what wax it was, as one of the other guys mentioned above Cleaner/Waxes are hard to get off if left on - they are best used panel by panel (put on, work in and buff off before moving on) The other factor is you do not really want to leave them on for days for dust to gather on top because you do not want to be buffing dust into your wax and paint when taking it off.