Topic started by T (@ cache-1.lnh.md.webcache.rcn.net) on Tue May 1 23:51:39 .
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

How do you car wax? How do you buff? How do you avoid the wax affecting the windshield, rubber parts and jambs?

Responses:

• From: Madurai Veeran (@ 53.san-francisco-41-42rs.ca.dial-access.att.net) on: Wed May 2 00:54:28
  
  Read the instructions on the bottle.
  
  Avoid waxes that leave a white residue. Buy yourself a buffing machine. If you like growing your biceps and triceps, there is no better exercise than buffing the wax off your car.
  
  It is very difficult apply wax without getting some on the rubber linings. Don't have to worry about getting them on windshield, it easily comes off.
  
  If the paint on your car is very discolored and heavily oxidized, you have to choose the right kind of wax.
  
  Try once - you may like it. Try a second time,
  you will grow tired of it. You may never try a third time. It is a pain the ass.
  
  One good reason to buy a new car. The girl next door is the other good reason.
  
  
  
• From: ramya (@ 203.197.160.102) on: Wed May 2 01:27:02
  
  Madurai Veeran is a realist! LOL
  
  
• From: Tamil (@ gladiator1.ey.com) on: Wed May 2 17:03:24
  
  Hi Madurai Veeran,
  
  Thanks for reply. I plan to hand buff. I have heard the buffing machines scratch the surface if you don't know how to use it. I do not know how to use it. If you think I am wrong, let me know the buffing machine you used.
  
  MV, I am not interested in a deep gloss on my car. All I want to achieve is a protective layer to protect my investment. I will worry of the shine when I am ready to sell the car or if my wife leaves me. So the question I have is how much of vigourous buffing I have to do on a 2ft by 2 ft area.
  
  Also, after wax application how long I have to wait to start buffing.
  
  
  
• From: ravi sundaram (@ pa-bethelpark2a-530.pit.adelphia.net) on: Wed May 2 21:04:26
  
  tamil,
  First car? understandable. The way you look at life in general will be completely different
  when you own your fifth car. I hope you when you buy your fifth car, you look back and
  remember the silly things you did to pamper your first car. All of us have done that.
  
  A car is not an investment. It is a consumer durable. It depreciates in value from the moment you buy it. All you can do is to reduce the rate of depreciation.
  
  If you want to stretch and get maximum out of your car, handle it gently, be diligent about
  changing oil, filter, hoses etc. Never eat food in the car. Keep it clean. Wash the car. For the
  amount of time and energy it takes, waxing does not pay off.
  
  
• From: Tamil (@ 66-44-55-6.s260.tnt1.lnhva.md.dialup.rcn.com) on: Wed May 2 21:27:54
  
  Dear Ravi Sundaram,
  
  I would suggest you to read your car manual. You have read about engine maintenance. Read also about exterior maintenance. Exterior also has to be maintained. Waxing is not a cosmetic thing. It is an essential maintenance activity. A 2 hour effort once in 9 months is all it takes.
  
  
  
  
• From: Madurai Veeran (@ 190.san-francisco-21-22rs.ca.dial-access.att.net) on: Thu May 3 01:16:45
  
  Tamil,
  
  If you maintain your car, how will the auto manufacturers sell you the next new car? Do you really believe all the stuff written the owner manual? Just kidding.
  
  A thing of beauty is a joy for ever. Let me correct that - it is a joy as long as it looks beautiful. May be that is why wives become nags with time. Let me make it absolutely clear, I am not a male chauvnist boar. Neither do I have wives - just one is good enough! Or should it be bad enough? Some times I wish I was a muslim. But then, does a muslim really have four times as much fun as I do? [Oh, NO. Is it Sugrutha or Sujata? I can feel the vibes and they don't look good.]
  
  As Ravi Sundaram wisely says, "The way you look at life in general will be completely different when you own your fifth car". By the time you own your fifth car, you realize any amount of waxing, polishing or buffing is going to attract the girl next door, because you are condemned man, with a noose around your neck. I would suggest, don't miss the opportunity to wax, polish and buff the car - right now.
  
  Any way, let me come to your questions.
  
  If the paint is not oxidized, you could look for some polymeric compounds that you simply apply after thoroughly washing the car. Those polymeric compounds come as liquids and do not need any buffing after application. There are even car wash detergents that claim to include compounds that restore the gloss of your car's paint.
  
  If the paint is oxidized, you need to apply the waxy stuff like turtle-wax. You apply the wax after washing the car with a detergent. Some thing like Dove dishwashing liquid will do the job. Don't have to go for any special car wash detergent. The milder the detergent the better - both for the car and your hands. You apply the wax after the car is dry. After applying the wax, leave it for about 15-30 minutes so that the wax stuff dries. Once the wax dries out, it would look as if you applied 'chunnambu'. These waxes contain fine particulate abrasives.
  
  Now comes the fun part. First time you should try manual buffing. Make sure it is a sunny day and you have a stash of ice-cold beer.
  
  Hope you have not thrown away all those undershirts with those holes, which you were not willing to throw away but finally had to, because your colleagues began collecting some fund to buy you new undershirts. Those 'holy' undershirts come very handy for buffing. You can also buy chamois leather to buff, but why?
  
  Now rub off the chalky stuff left by your favorite wax using your 'holy' undershirts.
  Apply good amount of pressure on the cloth and buff the thing off using circular motion. You are actually removing the dead (oxidized) paint, by grinding a thin layer of paint off your car. Keep doing this till your hands get tired - very tired. Now go to the beer cooler and help your self with the beer. Keep buffing the car till your run out of beer.
  
  By the time all the six pack is finished, you would have restored all the gloss in the paint. Six beers inside of you would do the trick.
  
  Next day when you go to work, your friends may ask you why you are walking funny?
  Don't tell them you waxed and polished your car.
  
  Madurai Veeran
  
  
• From: Tamil (@ 66-44-56-98.s98.tnt2.lnhva.md.dialup.rcn.com) on: Thu May 3 03:00:38
  
  Hi MV
  
  Thanks for all the info. I am researching all about exterior care. The topic is vast. There are many pros and cons. A little knowledge in this field can prove very dangerous to your car's exterior.
  
  For example, I learnt this just a while ago:
  
  For new cars:
  Use a non-abrasive wax that is safe for newer paints.
  
  Do not polish.
  
  Do not use dish washing soap because it removes the grease and the wax.
  
  
  
  
  
• From: ravi sundaram (@ 192.149.1.187) on: Thu May 3 07:46:05
  
  Tamil,
  
  Read the manual? No body reads the manual. Nobody reads any manuals, except when the lawyers of the car company force the defendant to read it in the witness stand.
  
  Extract from the transcript of
  
  G. Reedy Vs Ford Motor Company
  
  G Reedy: "This car paint looks like absolutely c*rappy in just six months. The car company should pay me 10000 million dollars for emotional damage."
  
  Ford lawyer S. Hyster: "would the defendant please
  read tha marked paragraph page 1824-A, volume 3 of the user manual"
  
  G. Reedy: "For the best exterior care the owner should wax and buff and polish the car for 18 hours every week. If the owner is unable to do this routine maintenance all the warranty on all the cars he owned and he is going to own are null and void. Ford dealerships will provide the service at the rate of 123$ per hour + materials.
  
  But it is impossible"
  
  Judge: "Please do not volunteer information or reach conclusions as you are not qualified as an expert.
  The jury is instructed to disregard the emotional out burst."
  
  S. Hyster: "Did you do the mandatory routine exterior care maintenance as specified in the manual Sir"
  
  G. Reedy: "How can I? ..."
  S. Hyster: "Please answer yes or no".
  G. Reedy: "No, but how ...."
  S. Hyster: "Thank you, I move to dismiss the case
  your honor".
  ------------------------------
  
  Tamil, just note it down. I wish you well. Before you know what is happening you will be on to your fifth car. You will sit in the back porch of your home, bought five years earlier, with a beer in hand and be having "malarum ninaivukaL" about all the silly things you did when you were young. Among them would be all the time and energy you wasted waxing the car. Your wife would be less pretty than when you married her and you would be loving a lot more than when you married her. You too will be much less handsome and much more loved. She will be nagging you to fix the leak in the upstairs wash basin. You will ignore her and play Donkey Kong in Nintindo 1024 with your pretty daughter. You will have absolutely
  no urge to wax cars.
  
  Been there. Done that.
  
  
• From: The Barbarian (@ ip16.79.blca.blazenet.net) on: Thu May 3 08:30:50
  
  Silly people - Ravi Sundaram is right =)
  
  If you want to wax that bad, you have many options:
  
  1. Neglect your s/o and wax car by hand.
  2. Neglect your s/o, find a bikini car wash/wax place.
  3. Keep your s/o fuming beside you as you stop every week in the wal-Mart parking lot for the feckless boy scouts who do a crappy car wash for a donation.
  
  My choice:
  
  4. Go to a car wash place. The wand has a wax option. Wash your car well, and then spray on wax.
  
  Of all the things you can be attached to, the ertorior of your car is a rather silly choice. If you don't believe me tell me where you live, I'll come over and key it.
  
  
  
• From: Madurai Veeran (@ 84.san-francisco-35-40rs.ca.dial-access.att.net) on: Thu May 3 09:51:51
  
  "Do not use dish washing soap because it removes the grease and the wax."
  
  What kind of detergent did they suggest?
  
  
  
  
  
• From: Karthik (@ 131.252.244.121) on: Thu May 3 10:01:40
  
  How do u guys wash under the hood parts ? My car has lots of dust and grease accumulated over a period of 10 yrs under the hood. Don't have a clue as to how to clean it.