If you have an older vehicle you should know your mpg for fuel consumption BEFORE you do this.
Because once you bring your car up to this level - The extra gas mileage will be very noticeable.
You can “feel it”. Now learn how to measure it.
One or two coats of wax is not going to do anything for your ride.
This is about spending 1/2 hour. 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes at night EVERY DAY.
It is going to take 3 months.!
There are NO SHORTCUTS…none! I’ve been doing this since 1966. I still do this to every car I use. Habits are hard to break, good habits or bad habits…This is a good habit, it keeps me out of trouble.!
Lets start with your vehicle: if it is new - you still have to clean (the paint)
If it’s older or used, it doesn’t matter…step 1 clean the paint…
Don’t waste your time with soap and water.
wet towel or T-shirt or Micro techno “rag”? What ever.
Wipe the dirt, scum, salt, what ever off a small area 2x 3 foot
How bad is the paint ? Usually you can get away with just using Polishing compound.
I like using T-shirt pads 3 x 3 inches. rub polishing compound on any area and keep rubbing until it is all gone. Add more and keep doing this until you see a shine. Examine that area for nicks, swirls, scratches, if it is bad, then you need rubbing compound until you see blemish free paint.
Damp wet rags, and keep rubbing. Once you have a blemish free area, move to a different spot.
Move around the vehicle fixing the paint only, (Chrome & Trim ) is later.
Yes this time consuming work, usually I was able to do this on weekends…
Once the paint is CLEAN & shiny blemish free…Now the wax…which wax ? It doesn’t matter.
The only thing is it must be HARD Carnuba, Simonize, Mothers, or any other Carnuba type wax.
Wet T-shirt pads soaking wet, Circular motion with Rag inside of can of wax. (Water is also added to can). Get that rag (saturated with wax) Two foot by Three foot sized areas…apply the wax in circles, then north & south & then east and west and then circles. Keep rubbing until ALL that wax is gone. This is very difficult to do for the first ten coats of wax. You won’t be able to work all the wax into the paint. Metal is porus just as leather is but not to the same degree.
The Military term was “spit shine” Lots of hours, lots of wax, lots of water. You can turn any material into liquid wet looking glass. Metal or Leather or Plastic or WOOD.
We work with “Ivory & Baleen” (Arts & Crafts) It is the “shine” that sells !!
Back to the Waxing process. After you have 10 / 15 coats of wax, you are going to notice something different… No matter how much wax you put on your wet rag…when you apply it, it is going to get absorbed quickly and you are going to witness very shinny areas, Keep rubbing and it will all disappear…and you are left with an incredible wet looking shine. NOW WIPE IT…with aa soaking wet rag and rub and rub and rub hard…now polish with dry t-shirts…
You are getting very close… Soon that shine will POP and when it does YOU WILL NOTICE IT IMMEDIATELY . Keep building up those layers of wax and keep count. You have arrived when you notice how “wet” the shine looks…People always touch my car when they walk by, They touch it and look at their finger.
My Whole life; I’ve worked on dirty, dusty, muddy industrial construction sites as an IBEW Electrician. My ride is covered in dirt, dust and mud at the end of every day. 15 minutes with wet T-shirt is all I need… NO CAR WASH… (brushes will scratch, swirl, your paint).
This “Wet” look will last… … “forever” if you spend 15 minutes every day twice a day.
You will “feel” the difference when your car is “slick”. When it has dirt on it and drags, YOU WILL notice THAT ALSO.
People will always notice and make comments. Have phun !! Post images
You have now added a ton of small scratches you will need to polish out.
The polish will wear away the paint removing those scratches you just put it by wiping the car dry.
Wear away some more paint.
Life is far too short for that.
No, you’ve done that very effectively by dry rubbing the paint in step one.
But paint, like everything else, has changed drastically in that time.
I’ll give you an alternate first steps to avoid scratching the heck out of the paint.
Hand wash the car with lots of water and some car-wash soap, not dish soap, car wash soap. Use a soft sponge to wash. Squeegee the standing water with a silicone blade. Dry with a microfiber towel. Clay bar the entire car. Wipe with a microfiber. Evaluate scratches. Polish the car, if needed, with the finest liquid polish you find. Meguires is a good one and they have relative harshness levels on the bottle. Pick the least harsh designed for a machine polish. Polish with hand or machine with a foam pad. This will be FAR easier than if you scratched the heck out of the paint to start.
Then wax the car as you see fit. If you want the 10-15 coats of paste wax, go for it. If not, I’d suggest modern liquid carnuba wax.
I suspect that there might be a small increase in gas mileage. Measurable? I don’t know. Back in the 50’s during the early days of stock car racing, one team found they could get 1 to 2 MPH out of their car by waxing it. The didn’t go to the “wet shine”, just a smooth coat of wax. They told everyone it was for appearance reasons and no one questioned it for awhile. I don’t know if that extra speed translated to wins or not.
Is this your opinion or you have the math to back up your claim ??
show me exactly how you arrived at that result.
Show me the mathematical formula you used PLEASE!
I want to learn how to be SMART ![quote=“VOLVO_V70, post:3, topic:164681, full:true”]
Nonsense …………………
[/quote]
One word is not proof of your claim of nonsense.
I was born at night but it wasn’t last night.
FACT: A Clean Car = Better MPG
When it comes to aerodynamics, a waxed or clean car will allow air to move freely across the surface (less resistance). … They discovered that the average gas mileage for the dirty car was 24 miles per gallon while the clean car performed better at 26 miles per gallon.
That was based upon One Coat of wax. Now add 40 more coats of wax.
I get 5 miles more per gallon. Based upon 60 years of keeping track of my mileage.
I suggest you inform the airlines they are wasting millions of dollars per year.
The Word Nonsense is not proof of anything
A Witness speaks: Years ago I worked on the grounds of the Harlingen Texas airport, an all but closed airport which was also the Fedex station. Every day a differant tail number for Fedex landed at about 6 am and spent the entire day getting washed and waxed by a crew of about 15 workers. It was quite a sight. I seem to remember clearly that they were waxed and a few of our professional pilots talking about the dramatic savings in fuel efficiency.
Sorry Volvo - I just don’t believe you because; you have no proof.
Does that include everyone ON THIS THREAD that washes and waxes their vehicle MikeinNH ?
Does include ALL the people that enter their “shiny vehicles” in auto shows ??
How many hours do I have to work out to meet your approval ???
You would never make it through one day up here. We have to “work out” -side @ 50 below zero for 16 hours every day for one full month with Pick & Axe to create a Road that is smooth ten miles long.
No one receives any pay for this work. The only “perk” is you get to eat!!
Sleep outside with no tents for two months in sub zero conditions- you would not last one night!
I hate doing this to someone over the internet but here goes. NO ONE waxes an aircraft, well not with the same wax you would use on a vehicle and at least not on the wings. The Navy tried this once and it proved to be a disaster as the slick coating prevented the wing from getting a “bite” on the airflow. Lift was dramatically reduced. I suppose you could wax the fuselage as it doesn’t need “bite” unless it is a lifting fuselage, which commercial airliners don’t have.
It turned out to be a big issue on the F-14 when they decided to paint the leading edge of the wings. They had bare metal leading edges that got a better bite, but when they painted them to make the plane less visible head on during dogfights, the pilots complained about a loss of manuverability. It wasn’t so much a loss of ultimate turning but the slight delay before the plane responded to the stick. It built up as many G’s, but with a slight delay.
In dogfight trials, the slight loss in response was less important than gain in lower visibility, so they learned to live with it.
BTW, the Navy planes actually have a sort of rough finish paint that is used, mainly because it doesn’t reflect as much light making them harder to see. Shiny airplanes make good targets.
Please come back to earth and make some sense will you?
Your entire retort was SPAM
It has nothing to do with the discussion at hand.
The two things you based your reply on was “Military” and Jets.
SMH !! duh…
The Point is all airlines wax their Jets using “LIQUID” WAX…
They actually spend Millions of dollars every year to increase FUEL EFFICIENCY.
This can only be accomplished at extremely high altitudes where the air is extremely THIN.
This is where this fuel efficiency happens. In thick air…NOTHING happens.
This is all based upon “SIMPLE” areo-dynamics
This can easily be demonstrated in any 3D program Using “surface properties”
