Temperature here in Charlotte have dropped. Morning temperatures are in the 30's and afternoon temps are in the mid-50's. When is it too cold to polish and wax. Thanks,

 

Cold is only really going to effect the sealant drying and curing .. waxes will also dry a little slower.

Polishes that are like Optimum that have a lot of oils in them will be harder to wipe off and your hands will get cold ..

Sealants like 45F and better.

 

Thanks for the reply

 

Last weekend it was 45 in my garage when I tried to do a quick touch up polish on a few scratches. Menzerna SIP and 106FF gummed up badly, and then quickly turned into concrete on the surface.

Just my .02 worth.

 

i would say 60 degrees or better would be in order....

 

I have used DACP , Speed Glaze and the Optimum polishes in the upper 40's with no problems ..

Menzerna is water based .. could have contributed.

 

i guess the 60's is my personal pref...i dont like to be cold...

 

Im the last person qualified to answer that question. Dale, on the other hand knows.........

 

With all my Menzerna Products I keep them close to my heater to get them slightly warm and then use them.

 

I always keep my polishes warm inside the house...it's the surface temperature of the car that's a problem without it sitting in a heated garage for a while prior to working on it.

 

i guess i gotta wax it before i store the car.

i didnt know the temp affects it this much

 

Temp only effects the drying time of the wax / sealant .. takes longer to dry .. where temp can really effect things is in the polish depending on the brand used.

Don't confuse the 2.

 

So if we had a "warm" day, say 50 deg, and I washed my car outside. I could bring it inside, run the heater in the garage, get the car to 65-70 deg then wax it ok? I too keep my products inside. Both my cars need polished and sealed, especially my trunk with this early winter/salt season we have

 

These polishes were designed to work with high speed rotary polisher’s, utilizing friction to break-down the diminishing abrasives, while in the controlled temperature / humidity environment (working temp range 60 – 80.oF (15-26.oC) of a vehicle manufacturer’s paint shop finishing line.

Note that silicone has an adverse effect on the oils used for surface lubrication and can cause the polish to smear, also be aware that working outside you may have issues like excess humidity, heat, cold, etc that will affect there performance especially with the Nano polish (105FF) as it uses wax as a lubricant (colder temps may cause the wax to harden)


For more information see “Menzerna Polish” one of a collection of detailing articles on DetailingWiki; (Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation) a series of informative, knowledge based, unbiased articles dedicated to automotive detailing

 

Theres no reason as to why you couldnt move to a liquid protectant during the more inclement months (assuming your using a paste nuba).

 

I use liquid anyway