>
> I am in a dilemma about whether to wax my roadster. The pro side
> says that wax protects the paint and looks good. On the other hand,
> I had a body man tell me one time that you should never use wax on
> a car, since the silicones make it impossible to repaint in the future
> without fisheyes and such. In other words, once you've got silicone
> on there, you've got silicone forever.
I've read this, but every body man that I've talked to has said that they
can sand it off easily, that its not an issue. Nevertheless, I don't like
to take chances, so I have exclusively used waxes that do not contain
silicone. They don't last as long, but I think the results are excellent,
and it keeps my peace of mind.
I've used three brands, 2 that are of the hand rubbed type, the third being
of the "miracle" type. The hand rubbed were Menguar's and Simoniz (both of
these companies also have legions of waxes that contain silicone, read the
label carefully). Both are based on Carnuba wax, both work well, but as with
all hand rubbed wax, its real work to apply. The third that I used is some
German wax that I picked up at a car show. It's based on some kind of
acrylic, and its superb. It's applied as a liquid, is very easy to use, and
the results are as good as the hand rubbed wax. If there's interest I can
look at the bottle and write down the name, although I'm not sure if its
widely available or not.
Interestingly enough, the last body guy that I talked to recommended not waxing
the car not because of the silicone in the wax, but because wax traps dirt
against the paint. You are then forced to strip the wax with a detergent when
you clean the car, which taxes the paint. The paint then needs the wax to be
really shiny. He said that if you never wax a car, and never clean it with
a detergent, that it will basically stay shiny forever (assuming the paint
isn't lacquer). I don't think I agree with the not waxing part, but he
probably is right about the importance of choosing a gentle soap to wash
your car with.
Joe
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