How often?

[RandomKrash]

I own a black car seems like it is never truly clean. I wash it, polish, and wax just about every weekend. Is this too often? It is 3 years old and it was previously owned so it has some scratches and swirls. I used clay a few weeks ago and was amazed at how smooth the surface is now. What a difference! However Im still not sure how often to do the polish and wax. Any advice out there????

Krash

[imported_steveo3002]

what polish do you use weekly? maybe your wash methods need some help

[Accumulator]

Yeah, polishing to remove marring oughta be an infrequent thing `cause you shouldn`t keep marring it up. But then some polishes hide more than they remove and then it seems to "come back" as the wax topper wears down.



How often to do this stuff sorta boils down to "as often as necessary".



You oughta wash it when it`s dirty as light dirt cleans off better than built-up dirt; once a week oughta be plenty (though black looks "dirty" pretty fast). You oughta rewax when you notice an undesirable change in the existing wax (beading goes downhill, surface doesn`t feel slick, looks drop off, etc.). You should only need to polish when the marring gets bad enough to bug you.



Rewaxing once a month oughta be sufficient. Repolishing a few times a year oughta be sufficient.



I`d do some research (searches ;) ) on "foamgun" and work on that wash technique.



Oh, and Welcome to Autopia!

[RandomKrash]

Hey thank you Accumulator, I will definetly do some reaserch.

And Steve, Im a mere amateur so all I use is over the counter stuff. My polish is Maguire`s and so

are all the other products I use.

Over all though, I have been really inspired by this website and have learned a lot from the posts as well as the ebook.

[mblgjr]

If you`re using the Meg`s Deep Crystal polish, then you`re not doing a whole lot or removal by hand.



There are a lot of boutique products available, that cost nearly the same, and work much better.



Good luck and do your research.

[RandomKrash]

Im using Meg`s color X for polishing. What do you recomend/

[Accumulator]

Color-X isn`t bad stuff, it`s like a mildly abrasive cleaner-wax. I wonder how happy you`d be with topping Color-X with a long-lasting wax like Collinite.



Are you happy with how it looks right after you wash/polish/wax? If not, what (specifically) is bugging you? I`m in favor of only fixing stuff that actually bothers you ;)

[jdhutchin]

I have a black car, and dusting daily with a California Car Duster helps it to look cleaner longer. If it doesn`t rain, I can go well over a week before needing a wash.