Questions after first detail

[lrosales]

Last week I did the 5 step prcoess on my new car using the Deep Crystal products. At this point, i guess my objective is to maintain. How often should I reapply a wax coat, and can I reapply it just after a wash, or do I need to do some kind of surface prep? Also, if I do a good job of maintaining it, how long before I need to to the whole 5 step process all over again. This car is gonna be a daily driver and will only see the inside of a garage about one week a month, and I'm in So. Cal. And would any of you pros, like to offer this newbie any tips on the 'maintaining' part.
thanks.

[Lt1Corvette]

Hey,
With that base down, I think you are good for a while. What I like to do is every time I wash the car, I use the quick wax spray. Then wax about once a month to ensure adequate protection. My view is the more protection on the car during the winter, the better off the car will be. Also I might recommend trying NXT; I have attained great results with it.

[Boss_429]

Re: Questions after first detail

Originally posted by lrosales
Last week I did the 5 step prcoess on my new car using the Deep Crystal products. At this point, i guess my objective is to maintain. How often should I reapply a wax coat, and can I reapply it just after a wash, or do I need to do some kind of surface prep? Also, if I do a good job of maintaining it, how long before I need to to the whole 5 step process all over again. This car is gonna be a daily driver and will only see the inside of a garage about one week a month, and I'm in So. Cal. And would any of you pros, like to offer this newbie any tips on the 'maintaining' part.
thanks.

A good rule of thumb is to apply another coat of wax once a month, or every 6 weeks or so. You shouldn't have to do any surface prep if you keep it maintained with weekly washes/QD'ing. However, if you notice any swirls, or the paint doesn't look as bright as it should after washing/QD'ing, you may need to polish and/or clean the paint prior to waxing.

Figure a good light polishing 3 or 4 times a year, with your complete 5 step process once or twice a year................. of course, this depends on a lot of variables.

[Marc08EX]

It really depends on the weather conditions really.. For me, I wax once a month to keep the finish protected and shiny. It would really be nice to wash the car once a week but everyone's really busy nowadays so maybe wash it at least once every 2 weeks.. As for the 5-step process, it depends really on the level of swirls you accumulate.. It would be great to do it if you see some swirls already but if you can't see that much, maybe once every 6 months would suffice...

[cheapthrills]

I used the Deep Crystal System by hand a few times with some nice results. But I am sure glad I bought a pc and #80. Anyway pay attention to how water is beading on the car, if you see it start to fail or the beading looks a little weak it's time to rewax, the next time you my want to wax before this happens. remember when you applied it and when it starts to fail, then add another coat about a week prior. (Did I repeat myself?) Use a good car wash like NXT or Gold Class and you should be ready to add another coat of wax. As far as repolishing I would think twice a year would be fine, if you keep it waxed. But almost everything makes a difference here, weather conditions, how you wash, to what extent could you live with swirls etc. Use quality products to wash and dry, and QD's also help in between and after washing. Hope this helps.

You may want to look into NXT Tech wax, and Meguiar's just came out with a NXT QD for it. (It's on my Christmas list, can't wait to try it.) I used NXT for the first time last weekend on Halloween and was very happy and so was my friend. My friend is going to let me know how it holds up.

Hope this helps