removing old wax..

[Car Potential]

Is there a reason to remove 'old' wax if I'm not doing any paint correction? I know that claying removes wax but say I apply M07 glaze & M26 wax four times in a year without claying. Would it be better to remove the old wax once in a while? Also, I think wax gets naturally removed/thinned anyway throughout time. thanks

[Murr1525]

Re: removing old wax..

I wouldnt worry so much about old wax. More about if there is dirt on the paint that washing didnt remove.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: removing old wax..

Also, I think wax gets naturally removed/thinned anyway throughout time. thanks

Bingo!


If it's been 3 or 4 months since you last applied a carnauba wax to a daily driver, there most likely isn't going to be a lot of it left. The more rain and snow, the more extreme sunshine, the less there will be left on the surface. Just as you surmised, waxes tend to break down naturally over time, and the more extreme the exposure the quicker they break down. What little is left will easily be removed by claying and/or use of a paint cleaner.

Now, if you've just applied a durable synthetic sealant in the past few days and then, for some weird reason, you decide to go back and remove swirls and other below surface defects, the freshly bonded polymers can impede the correction process for a bit at first. But it's a rare case where someone waxes on Saturday and then decides to remove swirls on Sunday!

[Wilhelm]

Re: removing old wax..

Now, if you've just applied a durable synthetic sealant in the past few days and then, for some weird reason, you decide to go back and remove swirls and other below surface defects, the freshly bonded polymers can impede the correction process for a bit at first. But it's a rare case where someone waxes on Saturday and then decides to remove swirls on Sunday!

I encountered a similar problem way back two days ago, in a Saturday class at the Mother Ship. Sensei noticed a wax coat someone had applied to a practice panel was impeding wet sanding with an air powered DA. so he halted the process, grabbed a bottle of alcohol/water solution and wiped off the wax before returning to the wet sanding. He said it was a 1:1 dilution, regular water and isopropyl alcohol.