What happens to old wax and should you always dewax your vehicle for a new coat?

G

gregdavidson

New member
Since I normally use cleaner wax this really hasn't been a problem for me. But what happens if somebody wants me to wax their car that was previously waxed about 6 months ago? Will there still be remnants of the old wax job if they washed their car correctly? If so, is it bad to apply new wax over old wax?
 
AIO products work very well on cars which have not been cared for for 6 months,

Always best when properly prepped based upon paint condition and then waxed , but sometimes circumstances don't allow that.
 
Cleaning Fool said:
If someone waxed there car 6 months ago, that wax is long gone. Even if it wasn't, throw another coat on there, not a problem.
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The reason I mentioned 6 months is because some waxes will last that long. What if they waxed their car a month ago but it's no longer beading? Should I dewax the car then?
 
It depends on what u want:



1. Do u want to try a new wax, then yes take off old wax.

2. Do u want to layer wax for winter prep, then dont take off old wax.



I would be more concerned w/the condition of the paint & which polish/AIO to use to clean it up and/or correct swirls/RIDS. Polish & AIO will remove the old wax.
 
wannafbody said:
Wax won't last 6 months unless the car lives in the garage. Zaino lasts 6 months.
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IW 845 lasts longer than 6 months if the vehicle is garaged. at least 6 months if not garaged and cared for properly. that's just my experience. :D
 
Wash it with some dishsoap to strip whatever is left on if your that worried about it.Otherwise listen to the guys above I think they are all on the right page.
 
Just IME, but...



Some waxes do seem to leave "residual artifacts" once they're dead. Souveran and Malm's liquid come to mind. This is seldom a big deal for quite a while; you can just apply new wax over the remnants of the old with no problems but sooner or later things need cleaned off. Other waxes (e.g., #16, Collinite) don't seem bad at all in this regard and you can just add more for a long, long time as needed.



I *would* suggest maybe a light (*very* gentle) claying with something like Sonus Green to get the worst of any [stuff] off before refreshing the wax that way, but I'll admit I don't always do it.



I don't always clean things off before applying a different wax either, but that's just me.



Sooner or later, you really should do *some* kind of real paint cleaning (AIO, paint cleaner, mild polish...something), but it's often possible to put that off for a surprisingly long time. Just depends what the vehicle has been through and how clean it's kept.
 
Don't forget though that with claying you can leave micromarring behind, forcing you to repolish (usually on softer clearcoats, like your g35)
 
Claying aggressively enough to remove wax, but *gently* enough to not mar the paint, can be tricky.



Very gentle/safe clays like Sonus green don't really remove wax effectively and more aggressive clays can sometimes lead to marring.



I'd rather use a paint cleaner/AIO/etc., but that's just me. If you do want to try claying, I'd use Griot's/Mother's/ClayMagic Blue.
 
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