How to Wax Your Car: The Basics..

So, you’ve put in the hours of hard work, pre-washing, washing, claying, removing fallout, cleaning and polishing…..finally it’s time for wax! Waxing your car will give the paint a deep gloss shine and will protect all the hard work you put into the preparation and polishing stages.

If you apply wax over swirled, scratched and poorly prepared surfaces you’re still going to see the imperfections in the finished product, you’re never going to get the best results – the wax might mask any underlying issues slightly but it’s all about the prep!

Waxing your car is the final step and waxes such as Carnauba set rock hard, so it always goes on last.

Natural or synthetic wax?

Waxes can be synthetic, or natural. Carnauba is a natural wax (also known as palm wax or Brazil wax. It comes from the leaves of a palm tree only found in the north eastern states of Brazil)

Synthetic waxes are made from polymers that bond with the paint and can offer great long lasting protection but struggle to offer the deep shine that you get with natural Carnauba.

The detailing world has grown immensely over the past 10 years or so, and there are a huge amount of car wax products out on the market but we can break them down into a few types to help understand their individual pro’s and con’s

Types of wax

Paste Wax, such as Poorboys Nattys, Dodo Juice Wax, Autoglym Ultra High Definition wax and ValetPro Beading Marvellous

Liquid Wax, such as Bilt Hamber Hydra Wax, Collinite 845 Insulator Wax, or Race Glaze Crème Perfection

Spray Wax, such as Mothers Brazilian Carnauba and Mothers California Gold Spray Wax.

What is the best car wax?

Really, there is no ‘best’ and in many cases it’s down to personal preference, however, there are different waxes that are better for certain situations.

As a rule of thumb, the harder the wax, the more difficult it is to apply but the longer it will last. If you want the ultimate shine, no expense spared then go for a high quality paste wax such as Collinite 915 Marque d’elegance.

If you want a shine that’s as good as a paste wax but faster and easier to apply, go for a liquid wax but be aware that it probably won’t last as long as a paste wax. Collinite 845 Insulator wax is our no’1 best seller in this category.

Spray waxes and quick detailers are ideal for quick application at a car show for example, but they will not last very long at all by comparison. Spray waxes can also be used to ‘top up’ a harder wax.

Coloured waxes

Waxes are often available for light or dark coloured cars, and its best to try stick to shade types. It can be quite difficult to remove a white paste wax from a black car! Dodo Juice have a superb range of waxes in different shades, and in soft and hard wax form.

How to apply car wax

We’ll get into a much more detail about waxing your car in a future article – for now we’re just covering the basics. Be sure to check the manufacturer’s instructions as methods can vary from product to product.

Waxing should be done in the shade, it will make life much easier for you. Your paintwork should be clean, polished and preferably run over with a prewax cleanser, such as Bilt-Hamber Cleanser Fluid. Mask off any areas of the car you don’t want to get the wax on, as it can be difficult to remove afterwards.

You can apply liquid wax or paste wax by hand or machine. Using a machine will obviously speed the job up and could potentially give you a better, longer lasting result, but excellent results can be achieved waxing by hand. If waxing by hand using an applicator pad, do one section at a time and work from the top down. Apply the wax, and after a short while it will turn to a haze. When this happens, remove with a soft polishing cloth and ensure you have plenty of clean cloths to hand.