I was curious to see how often you clay/wax your car?
Is it true that if you wax it alot, you'll end up damaging the paint.

 

Try to wax it every 3 months. And as long as your doing it right with a quality wax you shouldn't damage the paint. If your using something abrasive like Nu Finish, you could potentially work your way thru the paint over the years. Stick with a product from Mothers, Meguiars, Zano or something along those lines.

 

I wax it once a week compound it once a month and clay it 2 times a year.

 

Man, you go hard huh? Are you using an orbital when you do that?

 

Wax every 4-6 weeks (Meguiars Gold Class), wash every other week (Meguiars Gold Class), and "recharge" wax after each wash with Meguiars Quick Detail and occasionally Meguiras Quik Wax (if I have time... ). Claying....never done it...might try it sometime this month thou! May get into the habit of claying before and after the winter season so twice a year....

 

Wax every 2 months........clay twice a year.

I do think thats overkill on my part, but I enjoy to get out and clean my own car. I detail 3-6 cars a month depending.

You could easily get by waxing every 4 months, if you use a good wax with multiple applications (around 3) and use a product like a quick detail by megs, or zaino z-6 after you wash.

 

I haven't ever waxed mine. I figure the paint will still look decent and it won't hurt my resale by much when I get rid of it. The time I spend not waxing it is more valuable to me than having a pretty car.

I'll probably break down and have someone wax it now that the weather is nicer.

 

wash every other day, wax once a month, clay every 3 months (depending on the dirt I see). im very anal.

 

You being anal is hurting your paint.............

You do realize that clay is an abrasive, right?

 

Iim getting a Porter-Cable, and I am getting a guy to come by and show me how to use it! I wanna be like you when I grow up! Who knows, before long, I may be having a second job as well!

 

http://paintcare-n-detailing.com/video/pc.html

lots of other training videos online

 

clay becomes abrasive... thats why after 5 uses I trash it.... you can use it longer if you'd like but thats when it happens to scratch the paint. They say 20 uses out of it, I dont believe its kosher past 5...especially if youve never clayed b4, I dont use machines either I do it all by hand.

 

I've been told several times this doesn't compare to doing it by orbital.

 

Clay is abrasive out of the package, it does become more abrasive with time (particle build-up). I only use it 3 times before it becomes a window cleaner.

http://www.topoftheline.com/auto-detail-clay.html

Its an argument that clay is not abrasive. Hence you can get different levels of abrasiveness. But many say clay is abrasive to the contaminets on your paint and not to the paint itself. I agree with both sides on different aspects.

Still its not a good idea to cleay more than 2 times a year..........even more than that its not needed and overkill serverly. There is no way no how you need to clay that much. If you feel the need to remove all the wax to reapply, use dawn dish liquid to wash or use a AIO product to remove all surface additives.

 

you're right but id rather not ruin the finish.... im not experienced in detailing cars with compound and an oribital..... Id rather do the compound n then wax if need be. its not like im doing anything wrong... so Im not worried.

 

I like to clay 1-2 times a year. Deswirl at least 2 times a year. I use to wax 2-3 times a year but now I use Zaino and I'll probably wax and clear seal every month or every other month.

 

Clay 2X a year, before winter and in the spring. Wax every 3 months w/UPP and DG AW or UPPS once a month. PB S&G or whatever QD I have in between washes.
Curiosity has gotten the best of me. Why would you use a compound once a month?
Clay is an abrasive to begin with and you should be able to safely get approx 7-10 applications on a 4 oz. (approx 110 gram) bar. To get the most use out of the bar, cut in 3 equal pieces.

 

Wash every week
Quick detail wax once a month, usually at the beginning of the month
Clay twice a year, once in the fall and once in the spring
I use the clay once and throw it away.

Waxing and claying is done in the garage out of the direct sunlight
No Machines, all done by hand.

 

I haven't waxed mine yet either. May do it sometime this summer- so once in 2 years??.
I wash the TL with car soap about every 6 weeks or so, but rinse it off nearly every week. Gotta love silver!

 

You should look into getting it professionally done. LA air quality is horrible and your paint not having wax on it is acting like a sponge for all the smog and air contaminets. If you didn't have a silver car, your coat would look like shit

 

^^It's my birthday tomorrow and friday, friday officially i turn 46. I've already got my weekend booked with the family.

 

Honest... I'll wax it soon...
I live close to the ocean, and the car has covered parking usually, so the wax and clear coat are still in good shape. I prefer to do my own washing to avoid the rails at the car washes that I use for the minivan, and prefer to do my own waxing as I'm more careful and picky than most.

 

yes im aware that its abrasive. but i clay when the paint becomes rough. sometimes its within a 3-month period, sometimes its over 8 months. it depends. if you remove the contaminants and are at least experienced enough to do it, it does more good than harm.

but there was a time when i had to clay every three months for about a year. maybe because back then, on my old job i used to park under a tree. now its a LOT better since i get my own underground parking spot.

 

I clay everytime I wax, and I wax every 8-9 months. and every other time I use PC to take swirls off too using Z-PC.