How to wax your car, and why
With warmer weather comes the urge to haul out some fairweather rides for another season of touring.
They don’t have to be classics or antiques to be go-to sunny rides, but for any number of reasons they seldom see rain and almost never experience snow or salty roads.
If you want to start a lively discussion, debate, or risk an out-and-out brawl at a car collector meet, just ask what’s the best type of auto wax and stand back.
Any auto supply store worth their weight will have a finish treatment section that’s the largest display in the store. Why all the fuss and bother? It’s a market worth $1.2 billion annually in Canada, with steady growth rate. But the fuss and bother question of the day is, ‘why expend effort and resources to protect the finish on a vehicle that’s seldom exposed to negative environments?’
So, what, if any, benefits are all those Saturday-morning driveway detailers getting in exchange for their elbow grease and sweat? Let’s take a look.
EXTENDING THE LIFE OF YOUR PAINTJOB
Carmakers do their best to keep consumer expectations in mind when formulating and applying finishes — after all, their products become rolling billboards. Modern multi-stage painting processes provide much more protection from the factory than the old onecoat shots of the past.
If a summer ride doesn’t see snow, salt, rain or extended road time, the main negative to worry about is exposure to the sun and its ability to fade colours over time. While we sometimes see warmer weather, our vehicles aren’t usually exposed to the sun bakes of places like Arizona or California.
However, a good wax coating can offer real protection against things like tree sap, bird
waste and insect secretions, all risks which remain present on the best of weather days.
KEEPING BODYWORK EASY TO CLEAN
This is an area where some regular waxing helps. With age and exposure, the surface of the paint loses some of its smoothness, making it easier for road grit and grime to stick. The glossy finish of a suitable wax or ceramic coating can make cleaning a waterless, feather-duster affair (a task you’ll see many collector owners completing after arriving at a show and shine event). You just have to determine how much effort you expend in waxing, versus how much you save in clean-ups in between, and if it’s worth it.
PROTECTING VALUE
This one’s full of subjective factors, along with market uncertainty. Some wax converts consider how much value a potential purchaser will recognize when looking at a 10-year-old vehicle with showroom-condition paint.
PRIDE
This last one is the main reason for those wax-on types to continue to try to outshine everyone else. For some, it’s not about showroom condition, but how it can be improved with gloss and stand out in a crowd.
This is what drives those $1.2B in sales.
Interestingly enough, Consumer Reports found that even the best-rated wax/coating products didn’t do much to improve gloss, compared to factory finishes, and, no matter how expensive the product, their effects start to diminish within a few weeks of application.