Paint Care
Only wax the paint you want to keep.
I must have been blessed when I was growing up. There were so many guys in my neighborhood that loved cars. They hovered over cars, cared for them, restored them. The single guys spent Saturday morning detailing their cars. The unwritten rule, always take a girl on a date in a fully detailed car.
The steps always began with the interior. One of the guy's name was Ronnie. He was a real neat. Everything was in order. He always started with the interior so he would not track in any water into his car.
The first step was to carefully remove the floor mats without spilling and dirt on the carpet. The mat was vacuumed and cleaned and allowed to dry while the rest of the car was in his care. Ronnie always followed by cleaning interior windows and dash. Next the seats were cleaned and finally the carpets were vacuumed.
Now the car is ready to wash. The car is in the shade and the paint is cool. Ronnie never used dish soap on his cars. He explained that dish soap stripped the wax off the paint. I do remember he always used a generous amount of car wash product. He would explain, the suds to do the work and not so much the mitt or sponge. He would wash the car twice. He always said that no matter how careful you were you will always miss a spot. You can't see it but it always shows up when the car dries. So when he washed twice the missed spot was found by the second washing.
Here is something every guy needs to know about car paint. Washing is the best strategy for removing the stuff that lands on paint ranging from bird droppings and bugs to tree sap, and airborne pollutants. If this pooh is left unattended, this stuff will chemically etch the paint, causing a permanent scar. A quality wax can help keep this nasty stuff from bonding, but the best strategy is to wash the grime off before it can adhere.
Ronnie always dried his car with a cotton terry cloth towel. Drying your vehicle after washing is necessary to prevent water spots - those pesky mineral deposits that etch the outline of a drop of water into car paint. The pros advise using 100% cotton detailing cloths or sheepskin chamois to dry a car.
If the water from a rinsing your car does not bead, then your paint needs wax. I like to use Mothers or Meguiars products.
Even though clear-coat finishes are resistant to UV rays, they're still as susceptible to the same stuff as the paint of the past. A clear coat is still just another layer of paint, and is subject to the same deterioration as paint with pigment. Therefore, periodic waxing is a must for maximum protection. Always use a non-abrasive formula labeled safe for clear coats. I have seen people wax the clear coat right off a car by using the wrong product.
Contributors: Indiucky