You should get some wax on there sooner than later. Part of the purpose of waxing is to protect that paint, so you ought to start asap.
Washing: Depends on how dirty you would allow your car to become. I usually wash once it begins to form a noticeable layer of dust. Could be every 1-6 weeks, depending on how much the car is driven and your personal requirements.
Polishing: This is a very broad term. The short answer is when your car needs it. It's very dependant on personal preference and car condition. It also depends if your car gets scratches or swirls put into it over the course of time, by either carelessness or the person washing your car. If your car is washed near perfectly with no swirl marks, I'd say you can polish it maybe once a year. More or less often depending on how often you like to start over and refresh your detail. Some people use extremely light polishes every month.
If your car gets a lot of scratches and swirl marks, it may need polishing more often, and with a stronger polish. In this case you to evaluate why your swirls and scratches are coming back so soon. Defects are removed by using a polish that removes enough paint to get rid of them. Kind of like liquid sanding. So using a stronger polish more often means you are removing clear coat over and over.
Waxing: How often depends on how long your previous wax lasts and the condition of the car. The most durable synthetics last more than six months. You can also use undurable waxes that only last a few weeks. You want to keep a coat of wax on there at all times, so the short answer is 2 weeks to 6 months, in general. If your car sees harsh conditions, you should refresh the wax more often. So for example, if your wax lasts 8 weeks, you may consider polishing and waxing every six weeks. Once the six weeks are over, use a very light polish just to clean the surface up a bit, and then rewax. Or you may just choose to rewax at the 8 week mark. It's all up to you.
There's no such thing as a 5 year super wax, so don't buy into that!
- J
