30 years of wax build up

S

swan

New member
25th anniversary vette and this car has been waxed twice that the owner can recall and I am detailing this car to be put up for sale and he wants me to take as long as needed on it to get it right. It has sat covered much of its life and the last time it seen sun was 1995 so it beaded up today when washed.



My problem lies with the two wax jobs that have been done that we know of. The wax is in every crevice and emblem. I am talking 1/8 inch thick in some areas. I spent a few hours today getting a lot of it off but my fingers were almost numb by the time I quit for the day. I used a combo of brushes, mf's and apc's.

Tomorrow I am going to go at the tight spots and maybe use some toothpicks.

Any other suggestions? One layer is most likely turtle wax paste from the 80's and the other is Zymol by the color left behind.
 
This is the tool I use to clean out crevices and tight places. I think I picked it up at Walmart for $3. It has the pointed rubber tip at one end and a cleaning brush at the other end, you can slide the sleeve down and make the bristles more firm.

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I should have stated the toothpicks are going to be just for inside the emblems. I don't see any other choice for those. The flag crevices on the emblem are small.

And yeah I have that tool as well. Just 30 years of wax sitting there is like concrete.
 
rcrobbins said:
This is the tool I use to clean out crevices and tight places. I think I picked it up at Walmart for $3. It has the pointed rubber tip at one end and a cleaning brush at the other end, you can slide the sleeve down and make the bristles more firm.
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Yep that's the tool I was talking about!
 
What about some sort of body solvent or prep wash? After dwelling time it should loosen the wax up for easy removal. One of my favorite tar and hardened wax removers is actually a alcohol based brake wash, it's completely safe to use on the paint (just don't spray and let sit for hours) and cuts through some of the worst grime possible with ease. Mine is made by Wruth but I'm sure there are many others out there that would work.
 
StadiumDetail said:
What about some sort of body solvent or prep wash? ...I'm sure there are many others out there that would work.
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Yeah, I'd just wash the car with the alkaline step of a decon system and use TOL's PrepWash before drying. That'd at least get most of it off without any tedious inch-by-inch work.
 
Also remember that like removes like. Having worked on a LOT of body shop cars that were cut with some nasty compound left in cracks to harden into concrete, I've found that using a mild polish helps to remove a lot of the dried hardened wax, polish and compound in cracks. Obviously this only works in areas that are accessible.
 
Success! I ended up using apc just to loosen things up while I used one of those plastic tooth pick doohickies. LOL Also various brushes as well.

I tossed that tool to the side that is pictured above as that would not touch what I was working with.

Here is one of the emblems. Wax was built up thick in every part of both of these plus the two side ones as well as every other crevice on the car. Took about 3 hours to clean them all.

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Edit: Yeah Rasky some polish was used as well and that helped with the accessible areas nicely.
 
ALAN81 said:
Can we see a picture of the car?
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Once I get the pictures off the camera I'll post them. Possibly tomorrow. :)



I see you are from AK. Actually the owner has a summer home in Homer I think it is? He has a 2003 vette for sale up there now. He says he gets some strange looks from people when driving it up there.
 
Here's a few pics. I accidentally deleted some before and after shots so I guess when I am up at his shop next week I'll snap some more.

This is what every emblem looked like. I think this pic was taken after one round of brushing.

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I noticed the wax still in the corners after this pic. I did get it out though.



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29K original miles.

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swan- Ah, that looks much better :D



That car's actually very well preserved, huh? The paint on those was kinda fragile to begin with but that one still looks OK.
 
Accumulator said:
swan- Ah, that looks much better :D



That car's actually very well preserved, huh? The paint on those was kinda fragile to begin with but that one still looks OK.
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Always covered in a heated garage. Last time it hit the street was 1995. Has 29K on it. All original. Fiberglass was in good shape except for minor swirls and the excess of wax build up everywhere. Body gaps are all the same which you know on a car like this would shrink being outside.



I didn't mention before but they paid another guy to wet sand and polish those wheels. He spent the whole day on them. I even helped on one just so if he ran into problems I could tell him what to do.

I did mine in well under an hour. He did 3 in 6 hours.
 
swan said:
Always covered in a heated garage..
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Yeah, I kinda figured. You're right, you can really tell the pampered ones from the norm.



I didn't mention before but they paid another guy to wet sand and polish those wheels... I did mine in well under an hour. He did 3 in 6 hours.
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Heh heh, that, as they say, is a clue ;) At least he apparently didn't mess anything up.
 
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