Waxing A New Car

[Daedalus]

Do I need to wax my brand new 2004 Camry when I pick it up later this week? I heard that the paint on new cars needs to set 6-12 months before waxing, but by the time a car is manufactured, shipped to a dealer and the time it spends sitting on a lot, sufficient time has passed to make it safe to wax it after buying it. Any thoughts?

[starletsr]

WOw a brand new car, must have the shine on it with fresh paint. Hmmm.. dont think you have to wax/polish it straight away

[Al J]

Bet you any money it would be washed and waxed by the dealers before you pick it up anyway.

Some cars have a protective white wax on them during shipping. Now that stuff is awful to get off! Yours should be shiny when you pick it up or I'd refuse to take the keys until they did it.

[pinkpanther]

when i picked up my nu yaris i wasnt told i cudnt wax it but after the first week i couldnt resist - no harm done - still shines like new 2 years on

[cokg2]

i worked at BMW in the valet bay whilst doing my A-levels, and no one really gave a toss about the waxing. Obviously we had to do it for the PDI, but it was a quick one, just to get the grease off that is but on for transit

Id always give a new car a good wash and a buff. Imagine how many new cars a churned out by toyota etc. Even at BMW where the turnover was low, priority was placed on other jobs, rather than a proper good clean

[jerry phipps]

Hi Daedalus

Personally i wouldn't bother with waxing a brand new car until at least a couple of months as they would have polished the car for you already and as long as the car is still beading water still then that means that theres plenty of wax still on the paint work Dont bover just go out and enjoy your car

jerry!!

[Matthew_McNally]

hate to contradict you Jerry, but I would exactly the opposite.

Daedalus, you do not know how long your car has been in storage, or where - it could have been sat covered in all sorts of crap for ages.

You also do not know how well the dealer cleaned it up.

As it is a new car, if you do it right from the outset, you could keep your car in showroom condition for a long time.

First of all - check the paint surface?

Is it smooth, and silky?

If it is not silky smooth, then you should consider claying it to get any ingrained bits of debris out of the paint.

Useful Links for clay.

Howto Clean Your Car with Clay

Loads of Car Clay products

Special Offer Clay Kit - £4.20

Any swirl marks, scratches etc?

There really shouldn't be - but check anyway. In a bit we are going to talk about sealing in your paint finish - and we don't want to seal in any swirls.

If there is, then use a product like Meguiars Scratch X to remove them.

Obviously, you will want to wash your car. There are a bunch of really good quality wash products (see here, some examples being

Meguiars Gold Class Shampoo

Meguiars NXT Generation Wash

A good polish is vital - you want the car to gleam right?

An excellent selection of polishes can be found here..

Because I am going to recommend using Klasse Sealant Glaze in a bit - I would say go for the Klasse All In One. Another advantge of this is that it will remove any old wax that the dealer may have applied.

Having got your paintwork looking good, we now want to seal that paintwork away. A sealant will protect your paintwork from bird bombs, tree sap, road tar - a decent layer of sealant can even protect your paint from swirls and (light) scratches.

To match the polish - I would get Klasse Sealant Glaze. This product can be layered (ie - you can apply more than one coat on top of the next).

Leave about 8-12 hours between layers, to allow it set - between 3-5 layers would give you a nice level of protection - as well as a really deep shine.

To top it all off - a good waxing. As I have suggested Klasse polish and sealant - the best wax is probably P21S Carnuba Wax - this product has been designed to layer of Klasse All In One / Sealant Glaze, and on a dark car will your car shimmering like a reflection in a pool of water.

There are also other products - many people swear by Meguiars (but thats because they haven't used Klasse / P21S etc :P ).

If you fancy trying Meguiars, then their new NXT Generation products are probably the best.

Meguiars NXT Generation Car Wash

Meguiars NXT Generation Tech Wax

Meguiars NXT Generation Spray Wax

Meguiars NXT Generation Tech Protectant

You may be interested to know that TOC offers a free car detailing e-book, which members can download.

Click here to download free car detailing e-book

:D :D

[Daedalus]

Thanks for the tips, Matthew. Someone at work also suggested Meguiares products. I've read that Mothers is also good stuff. I think I'll worry about waxing it shortly before winter (Oct/Nov).

Can anyone suggest a good cleanser for my alloy wheels and the tires? Also, I would like something good to clean my dash and the interior (I think the dash is some kind of rubber or soft plastic). I read that Armor All foam should be avoided for cleaning tires. I'm going shopping tomorrow so I think I'll start with either the Mothers or Meguiares car wash shampoo, a wash mitt and a chamois.

[Boro Sera]

If you're after something available relatively locally, Autoglym do a full range of stuff and most of the big motor shops stock it. It's excellent stuff.

Rich