Just finished waxing and its raining heavily... now what?

[mb12345]

Hello,

This was my very first attempt at claying/waxing my '97 Lexus ES300 which I had recently purchased. I have never done waxing a car before so I am a complete newbie at this. I live in a high rise building in a downtown area, so the parking lot of an automatic car wash was the only place available to me to do the work.

After the car wash, I used Clay Magic to clean the surface. Then applied 2 coatings on Meguiar's Cleaner wax, with a one hour break in between (I did the interior in that time). I know a lot of you would prefer the more professional method of using a paint cleaner, polish and pure wax, but given the fact that I had to do this in a car wash's parking lot, I couldn't have done that. Morever, since this was my first attempt, I didn't want to mess it up.

So after I finished the complete process, which took me 5 hours at a stretch, I returned home and it started raining heavily. Rain was not predicted in the forecast, else I wouldn't have done this today. Since it is raining barely less than one hour after applying the wax , will it completely ruin everything that I did? Does the wax take any time to "settle in" ? I would hate to see my effort go completely waste. What should I do after it stops raining? Would I have to redo the whole process again.?

Please advice. I had not factored the rain in my calculations

Thanks in advance.

[a.k.a. Patrick]

MB, although it rained after you were finished, consider yourself a step ahead. At least you had it clayed and protected, prior to the rain, its not a total loss. Megs cleaner/wax (#6), is a bargain basement product, for folks like yourself, who appreciate decent results with minimal effort, even though you spent 5 hrs.
Naturally, by the time you got home, you probably had a slight dirt film that was sticking to the side, if you havent noticed it, it will be there by morning after you car is dried. If rain isnt forecast (Im assuming they realized there errors and have updated the next day) go ahead and give a quick maintenance to it. Now this depends on how much filth is resting in those raindrops and and how much you have tracked up, and how much the guy in front of you has forcast on your pristine hood and roof. You may be able to simply take a bucket down with some warm water, and a couple microfibers and give a quick gentle wash and dry, then use a quick detailer afterwards to provide additional gloss and protection. OR, you may have to run it back down to the coin op, and start over. At any rate, the wax in the #6 is still there, but dont expect it to last too long, its just not that kind of product.
Welcome to Autopia also....

[BlkTac05]

Welcome MB!! I feel your pain. Although it's nice to know that stuff like this doesn't just happen to me. ( he he ) Are you using any other products other than the cleaner wax? If so, I'd wash your car after the rain & put a coat of "non cleaner" wax on. The cleaner wax you used has more "cleaning" properties than "waxing" properties. Good luck!

[mb12345]

Originally posted by BlkTac05
Welcome MB!! I feel your pain. Although it's nice to know that stuff like this doesn't just happen to me. ( he he ) Are you using any other products other than the cleaner wax? If so, I'd wash your car after the rain & put a coat of "non cleaner" wax on. The cleaner wax you used has more "cleaning" properties than "waxing" properties. Good luck!

This was my very first attempt and I haven't used anything else before. But I had in my mind to use Meguiars Gold Class or NXT Tech in a day or two to provide additional gloss. Should I use one of these 2 products?

I know one can't avoid rain and dirt accumulating over the car. But my biggest concern is whether the rain, within one hour of applying wax, did any more damage than say a rain would have 2 days later?

[wannafbody]

you can use either the NXT or the Gold Class or Megs #26-all give good results and are locally available

[Jinba ittai]

Originally posted by mb12345

So after I finished the complete process, which took me 5 hours at a stretch, I returned home and it started raining heavily.

Consider yourself lucky. At least it started raining after you were done. Last weekend I still had wax on my car and it started raining! Fortunately I have a garage and was able to get the remaining wax off but it was irritating to say the least.

Now it's rained again twice and the car is dirty so I'm going to wash, clay and reapply a new coat.

[Accumulator]

Originally posted by mb12345
But my biggest concern is whether the rain, within one hour of applying wax, did any more damage than say a rain would have 2 days later?

I'd say "yeah, *but*..." The "but" being that it's all relative and any decrease in durability will really be pretty insignificant. It's not like the wax gets washed off or otherwise *severely* compromised. Not the best situation, but not a big deal either.

And yeah, give it a wash and try one of the other products- see if you like how they look.

And Welcome to Autopia!

[mb12345]

Thanks to everyone for responding and providing valuable suggestions.

After it stopped raining, I thoroughly wiped off the car and sprayed some Meguiars Gold Class detailer and wiped it off again. It made a difference and brought back the shine. I think I may have panicked more than really needed, when I saw it rain within minutes of my finishing the wax job

[magictouch24]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't it unnecessary for him to apply two coats of the cleaner wax, since the second application probably removed the first (with the cleaners and all)?

[vdog0531]

Originally posted by mb12345
Thanks to everyone for responding and providing valuable suggestions.

After it stopped raining, I thoroughly wiped off the car and sprayed some Meguiars Gold Class detailer and wiped it off again. It made a difference and brought back the shine. I think I may have panicked more than really needed, when I saw it rain within minutes of my finishing the wax job

did you wipe the car down with a towel and nothnig else?

[Casebrius]

Micro Fiber is your friend