I have a new car coming soon and should I put a coat of wax right after delivery to protect the paint? What about the theory of waiting a couple of months for the paint to cure before apply any wax? Your thoughts.
By the time s the vehicle gets to the dealership, that paint should be cured. I'm sure the factory bakes the paint which is about 75% cured off the bat. I've never heard of new paint falling off because the customer waxed right away after taking delivery of the car. If you are unsure of a particular wax, put a dab of it in between two fingers and swirl the wax around. If you don't feel grit, you should be good to go. I would be wary of hard waxing and would stay away from solvent based waxes too. Hard wax would be wax in a small tub. The solvent based wax are super easy to apply but leave a lot of dust. You can take whatever container it came in and if you shook it, it would sound like water in a can. Wax that is carnuba based and with "thick-lotion" consistency is best. And lastly, use a good, non-abrasive pad. I like to always soak my applicator in hot water, wring it out, then wring out in a towel so that the applicator us moist (not damp). It prevents swirl from even a dry applicator. Get to know clay WELL! Hope this helps!
Over the counter, I'd say Meguires carnuba (I forget the number). I don't have any experience with Zaino that has been talked about in this section but seems to work well. I use a brand called All American Products out of So Cal. It's called Cherry Wet Wax. Very easy to apply...little dust which means the wax stays ON the paint. Their clay is awesome too! It is 150% more clay than say Auto Magic and not quite as expensive (Auto magic is 200 grams, AAP clay is 300grams = fits in hand better and that means more equal pressure. I am actually a smaller distributor of this product. Email me and I can get some out to you. I am the detail vendor for Oracle, Cisco systems and the 49ers and have been for about 6 years. I work on a lot of vehicles/high end cars... mostly in direct sunlight. All American is all I've been using for the 9 years I've been in business and it works well. Not a big name BUT also not watered down and over priced. It just made sense to become a distributor. 3M makes very good wax as well. In fact, their stuff is top notch especially when we are talking polishes and compounds. 3M is probably the only exception to my "over priced/watered down" comment. You get what you pay for with 3M products. The main rule as well is, when you go to a store to buy a nam brand wax, it may be different than what a detail supply store will sell. For example...Blue Coral makes a great wax that I have tried. Lotion type consistency...easy to apply...last 3-6 months. But when I saw their wax at Kragen, it was a cheap solvent-based wax (it's like putting tire dressing on paint-looks good but washes off in two washes). You spent some dough on your car...look at a professional detail supply store to buy you car care products.
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