New wax coat

[antonini311]

Wanting to do a new coat of wax on my car. It has been three months since it was polished and waxed by a detailer (just after taking delivery of the car). I was it regularly and the paint is always pretty smooth to the touch. And there are minimal marring/swirling (actually no swirls). So my question is, do I need to bother polishing or clay bar before a new wax coat if the paint is in that good of a condition?

I suspect I don't need to polish since scratches are VERY minimal. But even with a smooth-to-touch paint, will waxing without a clay bar cause too much of a chance of introducing scratches?

Thanks

 

[westcoastGT]

Wanting to do a new coat of wax on my car. It has been three months since it was polished and waxed by a detailer (just after taking delivery of the car). I was it regularly and the paint is always pretty smooth to the touch. And there are minimal marring/swirling (actually no swirls). So my question is, do I need to bother polishing or clay bar before a new wax coat if the paint is in that good of a condition?

I suspect I don't need to polish since scratches are VERY minimal. But even with a smooth-to-touch paint, will waxing without a clay bar cause too much of a chance of introducing scratches?

Thanks

I would clay it for sure , its quick and easy to do , wash you car with dish soap to remove all residual wax then you'll be good for new protection !!

 

[Rob M]

A respectfully different opinion.. if the paint is smooth to the touch and looks good it is not necessary to clay for a variety of reasons. One is time. It takes an hour or more to clay the entire vehicle. Two, you remove whatever protection that is already on the paint; in your case whatever wax is left plus the polish the detailer applied. So then you clay, polish, and wax again, 3 different procedures (and requisite time for each), when simply a coat of wax would have produced a desirable result. Third, clay is minimally abrasive. It's not something you need to do everytime you apply wax. Fourth, claying and having to reseal/polish the finish each time is more costly wrt materials. Ultimately, it depends on whether you are already satisfied with the finish look/feel, how much time you want to spend, and whether the modest additional costs are justified when committing to the claying process. I clayed, compounded, polished, and waxed my Stinger right after I took delivery 17 months ago. It gets waxed quarterly and IMO it looks fine despite being a daily driver that has only seen a garage once when it went back to the dealer. I will probably repeat the full process this coming spring.

 

[westcoastGT]

A respectfully different opinion.. if the paint is smooth to the touch and looks good it is not necessary to clay for a variety of reasons. One is time. It takes an hour or more to clay the entire vehicle. Two, you remove whatever protection that is already on the paint; in your case whatever wax is left plus the polish the detailer applied. So then you clay, polish, and wax again, 3 different procedures (and requisite time for each), when simply a coat of wax would have produced a desirable result. Third, clay is minimally abrasive. It's not something you need to do everytime you apply wax. Fourth, claying and having to reseal/polish the finish each time is more costly wrt materials. Ultimately, it depends on whether you are already satisfied with the finish look/feel, how much time you want to spend, and whether the modest additional costs are justified when committing to the claying process. I clayed, compounded, polished, and waxed my Stinger right after I took delivery 17 months ago. It gets waxed quarterly and IMO it looks fine despite being a daily driver that has only seen a garage once when it went back to the dealer. I will probably repeat the full process this coming spring.

drag a micro fiber cloth over your paint , if it "grabs" a bit you need to clay , particles get imbedded in the paint ...........and its always better to wax over a totally clean surface , thus dish detergent to get rid of the old wax which can yellow or haze ...................

 

[eflyguy]

if the paint is smooth to the touch and looks good it is not necessary to clay

Agreed.

You don't clay unless it's needed. You also don't clay the entire vehicle just because you found a few spots that needed it.