average time to polish and wax using DA polisher.

[xoom]

I am planning to buy a MT300 DA Polisher , i was wondering about how long to polish and wax a whole car using the DA. If anyone have inputs on average time it would be a great help. Thanks...!!!

[thedoc46]

Re: average time to polish and wax using DA polisher.

Depends on the car and how intricate it is.. & which polish you're using...

Always wash and dry the car first... That'll be your first step. If the car has any contaminates present, you should also clay the car, that'll be your second step. Then carry out any paint correction as a third step before starting the wax. All that can take a good few hrs. This is if you want to do the job properly. If the car is clean & clayed recently, (my guess is no, otherwise you wouldn't be asking such a simple question) then you can get away with a quick waterless wash, 15mins worth, 10mins going over the car with the DA, use a manual pad, for the bits that are too small for the da pad, then manually buff off.. Another 15min.. You can be all said and done in an hr.. That's including the door jambs, windows and a quick vac, if you move fast.

The waxing itself doesn't take much time at all. its all the prep work such as taping off if you're getting into the paint correction that takes the time.

A good tip is for the waxing, use Megs Ultimate Liquid Wax, as there's no need to tape anything off.. It doesn't stain any plastics... Always leave the windows to last, as if you clean them before, you'll only need to re-do them...

[xoom]

Re: average time to polish and wax using DA polisher.

Thanks thedoc46 i know i learn a lot from MOL... thanks!!! can i ask a couple of questions?
1. Does the ULTIMATE LIQUID WAX has the SAME effects and duty as the D301 Microfiber Finishing Wax?
2. The two wax mentioned can be use for glass?

[thedoc46]

Re: average time to polish and wax using DA polisher.

Thanks thedoc46 i know i learn a lot from MOL... thanks!!! can i ask a couple of questions?
1. Does the ULTIMATE LIQUID WAX has the SAME effects and duty as the D301 Microfiber Finishing Wax?
2. The two wax mentioned can be use for glass?

Not familiar with D301, being that its not 100% synthetic, it may not allow application on plastics. Someone else will have to answer. I can only speak for ULW and say it makes life a lot easier than the older carnauba paste waxes of the past, in that you had to be extra carefull to not get any on the plastic trim, otherwise it would stain if not immediately removed.

But if you're going to need to polish, you're going to need to probably tape off anyway, as polish or compound does not allow for application on plastics either.

It really depends on how the paint condition is... If its a new car, and not been thru any automatic car washes, and has no swirls, you can most likely get away with just a wash, clay and ULW.. Job done in a couple of hrs. If it has swirls, then you're going to have to go the whole hog.

[The Guz]

Re: average time to polish and wax using DA polisher.

There is no definite answer on how long it takes. It takes as long as it takes. Size of the vehicle comes into play. The severity of the defects comes into play. There are a lot of factors to take into account.

In regards to your question about D301 and ULW. ULW is a synthetic wax making it a sealant that offers longer protection than a carnauba wax. D301 can be considered a cleaner wax. It is carnauba based. It will not last as long as ULW. This is the basic answer. Michael Stoops can give the technical answer.

What exactly are you looking for?

[xoom]

Re: average time to polish and wax using DA polisher.

Not familiar with D301, being that its not 100% synthetic, it may not allow application on plastics. Someone else will have to answer. I can only speak for ULW and say it makes life a lot easier than the older carnauba paste waxes of the past, in that you had to be extra carefull to not get any on the plastic trim, otherwise it would stain if not immediately removed.

But if you're going to need to polish, you're going to need to probably tape off anyway, as polish or compound does not allow for application on plastics either.

It really depends on how the paint condition is... If its a new car, and not been thru any automatic car washes, and has no swirls, you can most likely get away with just a wash, clay and ULW.. Job done in a couple of hrs. If it has swirls, then you're going to have to go the whole hog.

Thanks a lot thedoc46!!! really appreciate it!

[xoom]

Re: average time to polish and wax using DA polisher.

There is no definite answer on how long it takes. It takes as long as it takes. Size of the vehicle comes into play. The severity of the defects comes into play. There are a lot of factors to take into account.

In regards to your question about D301 and ULW. ULW is a synthetic wax making it a sealant that offers longer protection than a carnauba wax. D301 can be considered a cleaner wax. It is carnauba based. It will not last as long as ULW. This is the basic answer. Michael Stoops can give the technical answer.

What exactly are you looking for?

Yeah i need to evaluate the paint condition... well said
Thanks for the input, now i know whats the difference between D301 and ULW. Thank you so much guys. I will buy the MT300 Polisher this weekend. I will update here for the time i spent for polishing and waxing.

[DimensionAutoDetailing]

Re: average time to polish and wax using DA polisher.

I have done jobs that have ranged from a few hrs when doing a quick and MINOR polish/ glaze and 30+hrs when doing a FULL correction. This includes from start to finish, ie gather supplier, tools etc, working on the vehicle(incuding washing, claying, quick interior touchups etc)... and cleaning up my supplies/ garage.

BUT, a full correction could take a few days! My Camaro took weeks (working on it on Sat and Sun only...

Only way to find out is get in there and experiment with a personal car.
Good Luck!

[Jarhead0754]

Another thing I like to add that can speed up the process are the right tools. There are fed tools that make it easier and more efficient. As guz points out the da is one of them. And def most needed in my eyes for any paint correction. The right brushes, towels, and so on. One of my favorite tools is the Daytona speed master brush. Before I was using a little lug nut type brush to clean the wheels barrels and it took longer and not as good of a job. While these tools are necessary they do add time off here and there. Another favorite are aftermarket spray bottles and squeeze bottles. Just a lot easier although again they're not really a big time saver but a lot easier to work with in my eyes.

Like everyone else has stated there are many factors into how long it should take. The condition of the paint, the hardness or softness of the pain when doing a full correction. The very 1st FULL detail from paint correction to full interior detail will take the longest. And again as guz stated all other son that car is really depends on ur maintaince schedule. And I think that's why a lot of us clean our cars so much other than we love doing it too.

It takes me about 15 hours do to a full detail inside and out on my daily driver. And then after that it takes bout 4 hours to maintain it weekly but my process is different then others as I like to do a full interior detail on the inside and the outside I just wash with ultimate wash and wax and dry using ultimate quick wax as another booster.
And on the inside I like to use a steamer to clean plus I use my upholstry attachment on my bissell carpet cleaner. One day I'll get a heated extractor as it's more efficient and just a better tool. But I do this cuz I'm a smoker. Another tool I'de like to add to this process one day is an ozone generator. But u get the point. Sorry did mean to get off track. But bottom line is there are many factors into the amount of time it will take. Post some picture of the paint and car and we can give u a good guess and see what ur working with.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: average time to polish and wax using DA polisher.

How long it takes to polish the paint on a given car will depend on certain variables, and these are extremely important to consider for a shop or individual who is doing this for a living:

• Size of the vehicle
  • obviously a Mercedes Sprinter Van is going to take a lot longer to do than a Mazda MX-5 Miata, everything else being equal
  
  
• Condition of the paint
  • lots of heavy swirls, deeper RIDS, heavy oxidation, etc take much longer to remove than just some fine towel marks
  
  
• Hardness/softness of the paint (it's response to the polishing process)
  • extremely hard paint (those that are very resistant to correction) generally take longer to correct than softer paints, but super soft paint poses a different challenge because they can be very difficult and time consuming to finish out completely haze free. product and pad selection becomes a major factor with both extremes
  
  
• Desired result
  • are you chasing a show car shine, or just a quick clean up of the paint surface? personally, I've done a one-step on a big Jaguar XJ sedan that resulted in a fantastic transformation in under 3 hours, and I've worked with a team on a classic Duesenberg that we took to a super high level but put a combined 120 hours into just the paint.
  
  
• Customer's expectations (this is HUGE for someone doing this for a living as you must understand what the customer wants/expects from the process in order to succeed)
  • you need to explain, at least to some degree, what you can and can't fix given the customer's budget and expectations. if the customer wants a concours level prep for a classic car prior to a show, or if he just wants that one-step to clean up his daily driver, makes a world of difference in the time it takes to achieve that goal
  
  
• Skill of the operator
  • a new user will often struggle to achieve the desired result, no matter what that desire is, due to poor technique and/or his inability to "read" the paint. it's amazing how quickly a seasoned pro can turn a car around with stunning results simply because he's got a workflow down that makes him incredibly efficient, plus he understands immediately how the paint is responding and which combo of product/pad will get him the desired result the fastest

[xoom]

Re: average time to polish and wax using DA polisher.

Thanks guys....i learn a lot...

[xoom]

Re: average time to polish and wax using DA polisher.

I found this article , i think this will help a lot.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: average time to polish and wax using DA polisher.

I found this article , i think this will help a lot.

We would suggest you use this as more of a guide for what sort of operations to perform, and not be overly concerned with the times noted. For example, they indicate 60-90 minutes to "Clean and polish paint using a Clay Bar followed by Car Polish" and 45 minutes to "Wax paint using the Liquid Car Wax or Paste Car Wax". Well, to clay and polish the whole car in 60 minutes seems really fast to us and taking 45 minutes to wax seems really long. Claying alone could take 10 to 15 minutes depending on size of car and level of contaminants, which would leave 45 minutes roughly, on the fast end of their timeline, to polish. Which means polish and wax take the same amount of time? We just don't see that. Heck, you can apply wax with a DA to the entire car in under 5 minutes, especially in a production environment. Wipe off of that wax should be no more than 10 minutes and if you use a wax like D301 there is no real wait time for it to dry.

In a production environment, time is money and you should concentrate on practices that make you more efficient. There is a huge difference between saving time by cutting corners, and saving time by just being organized and efficient. For example, having a rolling cart that the technician can take with him around the car to hold towels, waxes, polishes, compounds, etc saves him from always walking back to the counter or table to get these supplies. It also prevents him from constantly bending over to pick up a bottle off the floor. For the weekend warrior working in his own garage on his car this sort of strict time management isn't important at all, but in a production environment it's critical.

[xoom]

Re: average time to polish and wax using DA polisher.

We would suggest you use this as more of a guide for what sort of operations to perform, and not be overly concerned with the times noted. For example, they indicate 60-90 minutes to "Clean and polish paint using a Clay Bar followed by Car Polish" and 45 minutes to "Wax paint using the Liquid Car Wax or Paste Car Wax". Well, to clay and polish the whole car in 60 minutes seems really fast to us and taking 45 minutes to wax seems really long. Claying alone could take 10 to 15 minutes depending on size of car and level of contaminants, which would leave 45 minutes roughly, on the fast end of their timeline, to polish. Which means polish and wax take the same amount of time? We just don't see that. Heck, you can apply wax with a DA to the entire car in under 5 minutes, especially in a production environment. Wipe off of that wax should be no more than 10 minutes and if you use a wax like D301 there is no real wait time for it to dry.

In a production environment, time is money and you should concentrate on practices that make you more efficient. There is a huge difference between saving time by cutting corners, and saving time by just being organized and efficient. For example, having a rolling cart that the technician can take with him around the car to hold towels, waxes, polishes, compounds, etc saves him from always walking back to the counter or table to get these supplies. It also prevents him from constantly bending over to pick up a bottle off the floor. For the weekend warrior working in his own garage on his car this sort of strict time management isn't important at all, but in a production environment it's critical.

All noted Michael, thank you so much... follow up question if you dont mind. About the D301 , after applying it can I put another layer of wax(like ultimate wax)? what is the healing time to put a top layer wax over the D301

[bkm]

Re: average time to polish and wax using DA polisher.

I don't have a detailed response like the others, but a data point. I use a DA and it takes me about four or five hours just to do the work with the DA on one of my cars. Besides the DA work, I can take half to one hour washing the car to start. After the DA work, there is probably another hour of detail work on the exterior. So to do an exterior I am taking about six or seven hours. I usually do it over two or three days. Another person could do exactly the same work in three hours because they're hustling. I'm not doing a huge amount of work. Other guys might be doing twice as many steps in the same time. For sure, a person cannot do a good job in too short of time because it always takes more than just executing a procedure with so many steps. It takes time to pay attention to detail, to the results you're getting, and to make any adjustments or re-do something as needed. I just take my time because I'm not in a hurry, and I allow myself to be interrupted by the kids, the dog, because my wife has a meal ready, or I've got somewhere to go.