Ultimate Wax Job

[western99]

So after having my car for 5 years and never doing a complete wax job, I thought that it was about time to do it. I have a 95 525ia (silver) with 195,000kms on it. Here in Toronto the weather gets quite harsh and this was long over due.

For starters, I went with the MOTHERS wax product line (Clay bar w lubricant, Pre Wax Stripper, Glaze and Sealer and Wax). So I started at 8:30am Sat morning. I washed the car, w/o drying it to get all the surface junk off the car. Then panel by panel I clay barred the car with the lubricant. You can hear the thing working. It almost sounds like a light sanding. It is incredible. By the time that I was finished clay barring the car, the clay bar went from a nice lemon yellow to a dark metal gray colour. It had removed all the contaminants from the paint. This exercise was painfully long. It took me about 2 hours to do by hand. But it is the most important step to do correctly. Or else the rest of the wax job will look shitty.

Next, I taped up all the black mouldings and door handles so that the sealer and wax would not fade them. I now applied the glaze and sealer with an orbital. Panel by panel I applied and removed the sealer.

Finally, once I completed the car with the sealer and glaze, I applied the wax with the orbital. I did 2 light coats with it. I find if you do 1 heavy coat it becomes very hard to remove. Again, I applied and removed the wax panel by panel. You do not want the wax to dry for too long on the car.

The result - The car looks incredible. For a 9 year old paint job the car looks like it just came out of the dealer showroom. I got all the scratches out of the clear coat and paint. Bruno could not believe how the car came out when I saw him this morning. Even better the car felt so smooth when you ran your hand along the fender. It may have took me 9 hours to do the complete job (8:30-5:30), but it was definately worth it. I will post close up pics as soon as I can.

Brian
95 525ia
195,000kms.

[George M]

Detailing is gratifying to be sure. For future reference, I suggest you reconsider your approach. Mothers makes nice products but what you really want to do is polish your paint. Glaze contains silicones and fillers and is more like "make up" to cover the cosmetic imperfections of the clear coat which is fine to a point but doesn't address the root cause of the reflective quality of your paint...you have to polish it. Next time consider instead of camoflaging the imperfections in your clear coat with glaze...level the clear with a couple step polishing process. Starting with a medium polish and finish with a fine polish. Since you own an orbital...this goes pretty quick.
Most glazes are sealers and you really don't need a sealer if you are going to wax. Most top detailers apply wax by hand as all the prep to create the highest reflective surface is done mechanically with the orbital and polish prior to wax. Einszbett polishes are reported to be about the best out there...what I suggest. You don't want to use a cleaner wax after this step...go with a simple high end pure carnuba...like a P21S for example. I have no doubt your car looks great...just FYI for the future.

[Alan_525i]

I agree with George 100% on this one. Claying is a PITA but an essential first step on a car that hasn't seen regular paint care. But your remaing steps are a little funny. Glazes are, as george mentions, essentailly make-up for your car. Worse, they have very little staying power. Chances are most of the glaze's effect was gone because it is "washed" away by the sealer and wax.

My personal regiment (once or twice a year with waxings and "spot" fixes) is this:

--Full wash using dish soap (stronger and strips any old wax)
--Clay bar (every other year typically)
--Re-wash with carwash soap (use many towels to wash and dry so not to transfer new dirt to the clayed surface)
--3M Swirl Mark Remover
--Glaze (if your really want to, its not necessary if you did a good job with the SMR)
--Wax

As far as waxing goes I have used many different ones and switch back and forth between them. I am right now using AutoGlym from the UK. It is called a resin polish but really has almost zero polishing ability. Not like other cleaner waxes here in the US. I really would only recommend it for white cars though as I've used it on others and am not thrilled with it. I have also used 3M Show Car Liquid Wax which while it does a nice job, is somewhat a pain to work with (I do everything by hand). I have also tried Meguiars Gold Class, Mother's and yes, my old car had NuFinish :( . Looked at the polymer waxes like Zaino and Klasse but never really liked the way they looked on white cars. Not as "lively" a finish as carnauba waxes. I also use S100 a lot though (also known as P21S). If I don't really feel like waxing the car I'll either glaze it or S100 it. S100 is a paste wax that you wipe on then wipe off. No significant drying time. Its only a little more work than a quick detailer (which I use a lot, I like mother's, meguiars and griots) but significantly better results. Downside is that S100 even though its a wax, basically only lasts a few weeks on a daily driven car.

Some other products I really like:
Stoner Invisible Glass (LOVE IT!)
Stoner Trim Shine
Ardex Details
Vinylex
Carbona Carpet Cleaner
Mother's Car Wash
Turtle Wax Bug and Tar in the Yellow Aerosol Can
Mother's Back to Black
Rain-X
Eagle One Tire Wet (squirt bottle, flings a bit but easy to clean and a nice even gloss)

[George M]

Allan..I thought you agreed with all my posts...lol. If you get a chance Allan, give Einszbett polishes a try...really blow away 3M SMR not only in easy of application/removal but in reflective quality. They offer 3 ranges of polish to really refine the surface. Also have to give honorable props to P21S GEPC...not technically a glaze but an excellent gloss enhancer applied just prior to wax for that extra wow.
Agree on Stoners Invisible Glass...about the best out there. I personally use 303 for coating all vinyl surfaces...perfect low gloss and excellent UV inhibitor.

[Hector]

lately as my car has a lot of fine scratches that really stand out depending on the angle of incident sun rays. Pretty fugly...

Allan: What did you think about the Mequires Gold? It's about 10 bucks and is supposed to give the paint good UV protection.

George: Where do you get this Einszbett product?

What do you guys think about Nufinish?

[Alan_525i]

Hector: Avoid NuFinish. Its really worthless.

For your scratches, can you feel them witha fingernail? Or are they the type that are visible but can't be felt? If they can't be felt, a swirl mark remover will take them out. If you can feel it, you can lessen its visibility with varying degrees of polish. See if you can take a picture of it and post it here.

Meguiars Gold is probably the best "off the shelf/pepboys" type wax. Pretty good gloss, relativly easy to work, decent staying power.

George: I've tried 303 before and I do like it but I love the smell vinylex has and it leaves a nice even finish. Einszett has always been mentioned but I've never seen it on a car before so I haven't bothered to try.

[George M]

Hector, if you are at all serious about your car's finish and likely will be an enthusiast your entire life, I suggest you purchase a Porter Cable random orbital polisher. There are many good polishes and waxes out there....Einszbett is regarded as about the best with better performance than 3M SMR in the opinon of some professional detailers out there. For a BMW I suggest you use the high end stuff which doesn't cost much if any more...detailing is not very expensive for a couple of polish bottles, a few pads and a tub of wax. It is also gratifying to restore a car's finish. Use up your regular products on the other cars in the fleet or on your patio furniture :-)
This is the best company with the best prices and service on the web for detailing IMHO:
http://www.detailersparadise.com/Splash.asp

They sell everthing including microfiber towels...a wash mitt that won't scratch your car etc. I wouldn't buy the stuff at the local autoparts store which is OK but just not as good. A little know fact is much of the micro scratching that occurs to your car's clearcoat aside from grit in the air at speed is due to washing and mostly drying the car as most towels will scratch the clear coat and is noticeable on a dark car in particular in bright light.
HTH

[Hector]

Yeah, I'm really serious about the cars finish. When I bought the car about 6 yrs 8 mos ago, the car looked liked the previous owner used 220 grit sandpaper and sanded almost 75% of the car down. I can't feel most of these scratches in the clear coat but are obviously there. I need to spend a day, like western99, and do some serious polishing/waxing to see if I can get a noticeable and durable improvement. Didn't think that crappy vanilla custard-like Nufinish was any good. A 1 year polish? Yeah, right!!!

[George M]

the prep is more important than the products you use. You want to polish that clear coat like polishing a crystal on a fine watch. The wax will add a measure of reflectivity but generally it is more of a protectant. If your paint is in rough shape, go on line and get a couple of Einszbett's polishes...get the aggressive stuff first to level your paint and a fine polish to really make it shine. Then simply add the wax of your choice. My choice is P21S...goes on and comes off like nothing to it...pure carnuba...prefer it to the synthetics like Zaino...do it by hand. Of course wax goes on and comes off much better on a dead level, highly polished surface. Don't pay a detailer to do your car...you can buy all the stuff for the price of complete detail job... a PC buffer...about the best there is...virtually impossible to burn the paint with it unlike a rotory polisher. There are a lot of kids working at detailing shops and if you really know what to look for...they typically will burn some edges due to trying to go too fast. Once you hone your skill which isn't hard...you won't have to let anybody touch your car and you will end up doing a better job and save a lot in the short and long term.
Good Luck.

[Hector]

'cause I've been kicking the idea around to have a friend detail the car. This is something that he does 50% of his time on top of his other business and he is pretty good at it, too. Anyway, I've gotten into the habit of not letting other people work on my car unless it is something that is really beyond my control that I can not do. So in the end, I'll probably do the work myself.

Thanks for your great input.