Page 2 - BMW CCA Mountain State Chapter June 2015 Newsletter

Club News

Wax On – Wax Off – By: Billy Blake

Admittedly, I am not one who likes to wax or polish or anything of the sort with my cars. Yes, I realize that
a good wash/wax enhances the cars beauty and preserves the paint finish, but its typically so labor
intensive that if I do it once a year that’s an accomplishment. Since purchasing my M3, I've changed my
position on that, and after my recent experience with some Mothers and Meguire's products I think I'll be a
bit more diligent.

First off, I by no means have in-depth knowledge or foresight into properly detailing a car. That said I
scoured several BMW forums for some tips on the hows and whys, what types of products to use for
which purpose, and proper tools of the trade. I won't go into that in great detail here because everyone’s
application and purpose will be different. Suffice it to say there are waxes, polishes, clay bars, cleaners,
swirl removers, etc, etc, etc. My head was swimming! So, I settled on simple to use products and three
simple steps – wash, polish, and wax.

My first step was a cool wash with Mothers California Gold wash and wax. While I obviously didn’t need
the wax in the wash, it did an excellent job of removing surface dirt and debris from the car without too
much over sudsing or leaving a heavy soapy feel. I've used it often in the past as my default method of
getting at least some form of wax on a car. It provides at least reasonably clean surface on which to
apply the next step.

I would never considered using a polishing compound on my car for fear of damaging the finish, but lots
of embedded swirl marks, water spots and just an overall gritty feel to the paint finish pushed me in that
direction. I might have removed the latter with a clay bar, which is in itself very labor intensive, but the
former needed a little extra help. Meguire's Ultimate Compound worked nicely and was simple to use
with a terry cloth applicator and buffer on my 6” D/A. A couple hours working in overlapping sections and
using a separate terry cloth towel to remove the haze revealed a nice smooth finish.

For my final step, I used Meguire's NXT Tech Wax. One of the things I disliked about waxing is that
traditional paste waxes tend to leave a powdery residue behind, no matter how thoroughly you wipe it. As
a liquid wax though, the Meguire's product was easy to apply with the D/A and hazes nicely to help keep
track of where you've been. Removal of the haze with a terry towel brought out very noticeable shine and
glossiness in the paint. Another hour or two in the evening and a little patience to ensure all of my
painted surfaces were handled was well worth the time and effort!

June 2015 Volume 37, Issue 2