Newbie-How often to wax?

[Northern Willy]

I have been using basic Meguiar's products for over ten years just to protect and generally maintain the finish to good results. Basically just a spring/fall wax on family vehicles.

What I have never really known is how often do you have to/should you wax? How do you tell?

I finally have a little sports car and want to keep it more pristine.

I started out with NXT tech wax. How often should I use the booster wax and then start over?

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Newbie-How often to wax?

Hi Northern Willy,

Seeing this is your first post, Welcome to Meguiar's Online!

Originally posted by Northern Willy
I have been using basic Meguiar's products for over ten years just to protect and generally maintain the finish to good results. Basically just a spring/fall wax on family vehicles.

What I have never really known is how often do you have to/should you wax? How do you tell?

I finally have a little sports car and want to keep it more pristine.

I started out with NXT tech wax. How often should I use the booster wax and then start over?

Hang on a second...

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Newbie-How often to wax?

Originally posted by Northern Willy
What I have never really known is how often do you have to/should you wax? How do you tell?

Sorry for the delay... had to finish a how-to article real quick...

The Squeak Test - How to test for the presence of wax

This article can be found in the Meguiar's How-To Articles forum

~~~~~~~~~~~


An accurate indicator of whether there is a protective wax coating on the surface of your car's paint or not is a test Meguiar's has been teaching for probably close to 50 years if not longer. We teach this at all of our detailing classes here at Meguiar's on Saturdays' also, it's called the Squeak Test.

Note: It's vitally important that you first wash your car before performing the squeak test, the paint needs to be clean and free from any dirt or dust. Wiping with a quick detailer may give you a false reading as most quick detailers add gloss and slickness, thus adulterating the test

Here's how you do it, you get a clean, soft 100% cotton terry cloth towel. In this case, I'm using Meguiar's new Ultra Plush Super Terry polishing towel.



Lay the towel out flat,



Then fold it in such a way as to ball it up, in my case, I fold each corner into the middle, and then repeat that a second time.



This gives you a ball of terry cloth toweling that provides a flat surface against your finish, plenty of cushion between your hand and the paint, and something for your hand to grasp onto.



Now, twist the towel firmly against your car's finish in a circular back and forth motion and listen...

If there is silence, and the towel glides and slips on the paint, then there is wax present.

If you hear a squeaking sound, (as in squeaking clean), then there is no wax present, (or very little) and it's time to apply more wax.

Here's how this works,

Your coating of wax acts as a dry lubricant, it creates slip and decrease friction, if there is wax present on the finish, your towel will slip instead of grab and you wont' here any noise, in other words, you won't hear any friction.


If thee is no wax on the surface, then the circular twisting motion will create friction and you will hear a squeaking noise.

Like Meguiar's Swipe Test, is a more accurate indicator of whether a wax has fully dried and is ready to remove, Meguiar's Squeak Test is a more accurate indicator of whether or not their is wax on the surface.

By the word wax, we mean anything that is intended to protect the finish, whether it's labeled polish, or paint protectant, or sealant, or whatever...

If it's a product designed to be applied to the paint to protect it, it can generically be placed into the wax category, or the 4th step of Meguiar's 5-Step Paint Care Cycle.

Meguiar's 5-Step Paint Care Cycle

Step 1 Wash

Step 2 Clean

Step 3 Polish

Step 4 Protect
(The wax step, anything that is intended to protect the finish, whether it's labeled polish, or paint protectant, or sealant, or whatever... )

Step 5 Maintain

I finally have a little sports car and want to keep it more pristine.

I started out with NXT tech wax. How often should I use the booster wax and then start over?

Meguiar's recommends applying a wax every 3-4 months for protection, if however you want your finish to always look like it was just waxed... then wax often.

How long a wax will last is dependent upon a number of different factors such as how you store or park the car, (inside or outside), how you wash the car, (by hand with a quality car wash versus an automatic wash with strong chemicals etc.)

For an example, I wash our Pilot 1-3 times a week. In between regular washings, I keep the Pilot waxed with NXT Tech Wax and after washing I'll apply a quick application of NXT Spray Wax. This keeps our Pilot looking better than the day we purchased it.

As far as claying goes, you need to feel the horizontal surfaces with the palm of your clean hand after washing and inspect for above surface bonded contaminants as these kind of contaminants can accumulate quickly or slowly, depending on what's floating around in the air where you live, drive and park your car. If discovered, then simply remove using Meguiar's Quik Clay System.

Hope this helps...

[Northern Willy]

Thanks for the quick response. I looked in that other forum and totally missed the squeak test.

Is there a point where you should/need to remove the wax and just start again and how should you do it? The hand wash cleaners look like they are all designed to not affect the coatings.

Maybe this is my Navy background from stripping wax daily speaking....hehe.

[Mike Phillips]

Originally posted by Northern Willy
Thanks for the quick response. I looked in that other forum and totally missed the squeak test.

That's because I wrote and finished as I was replying to you.

Is there a point where you should/need to remove the wax and just start again and how should you do it? The hand wash cleaners look like they are all designed to not affect the coatings.

Maybe this is my Navy background from stripping wax daily speaking....hehe.

If you're car is a daily driver, chances are good any polish and wax you've applied is wearing off soon enough that build-up of product isn't a problem. If the car is a daily driver and parked outside often, then chances are good the paint is getting dirty and contaminants are bonding to the finish, if this is the case then using a clay bar and a paint cleaner like either ScratchX or Deep Crystal Paint Cleaner by hand, followed by polishing and waxing a couple of times a year would be a good regimen.

Meguiar's always teaches people to Evaluate the finish after washing the car in two kinds of light if possible. This will help you to determine the defects in your car's finish and thus the appropriate products to correct any problems.

A surface evaluation before working on the finish is always better than just going by a certain number of days before the next detailing session.