Do You Really Need To Wax A Brand New Car?

Crusher or Grapes said:
It may have been said before, but you can guage how "clean" your new car paint is by firstly using a good de-iron product such as ironx or AF Iron Out etc as this really does show you what nasties are ingrained in the paint. I bought a new BMW a few years ago and had the £300 paint protection put on and was not impressed. I contacted Rich at Polished Bliss and he suggested I strip the finish off and start again. I as suggested and was amazed (I mean amazed) at the difference between the two finishes. The level of depth and shine when I had added the Blackfire product was simply stunning and it lasted for months. What really did show me how much crud was present was the Auto Finesse Iron out. I cleaned the car and clayed then sprayed half the car Including wheels with the AF iron out (Too many panels and my brake discs needed some TLC afterwards(should read instructions first)). The within 10 minutes I had a purple sludge all over the car especially on roof and wheels. I wish I had taken pictures. The amount of embedded **** was very obvious. I ended up de-ironing twice. The paint was like glass when I was done.

I think we may be a bit harsh on the dealers as the average owner buys the car that looks nice and it gets a clean with halfords wash and wipe once a week. It will still look the same but with few tar spots and bird poo stains in 4 years time. The wheels will be cleaned with soap and water and possibly some really nasty acidic solution. The dealer added protection will be ideal for them.
The other 1% (being ourselves) want more and will laugh at the option of a dealer applied paint protection.
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I get what you mean and at the end of the day garages just want a "shiny" car leaving the garage, they pay someone £5 an hour to do do as many cars in that hour as they can. I can spend anywhere from 1-2 days fully correcting my paint. Garages just don't have the resources to do this. I'm a bit of an OCD clean freak when it comes to my car, my car didn't come perfect from Audi but unless you ask them not to even lay a finger on it, then it probably won't. If the car was caked in swirls then that'd be a different story and I'd have to say something aha
 
Crusher or Grapes said:
Hi. I would initially try a liquid such as Iron X to remove any rust marks. Reason being that if there is anything solid there, you may drag it across the paint. Iron X or those liquids are excellent for removing anything iron based. As for acidic wheel cleaners. I think AG do two, one being Acidic and the other "Custom wheel" cleaner being non. My Outback wheels were ruined by a heavy cleaner as it is too aggressive. Again a good clean with wash and then iron X will get most crud off. If you have any chips in the finish and the acid gets onto the bare metal, it reacts very quickly.
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Ah, i think i'll ditch the acidic one then.


So, what is the clay bar for? Since if I used Iron X to get off rust marks, and I could use tar remover spray, what would the clay bar do over those two things?
 
J4MMYz said:
Ah, i think i'll ditch the acidic one then.


So, what is the clay bar for? Since if I used Iron X to get off rust marks, and I could use tar remover spray, what would the clay bar do over those two things?
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Clay is to remove decontaminates and General crap on your paintwork.

After I Iron x'd my new car I was surprised by the lack of iron deposits really, imo it wasn't a essential step.
 
If you claybar the car with mild tar spots and rust spots will it scratch the car?

Tempted to use the liquid stuff first to get it all off when I do it in the spring
 
Righto, glad I found that out before I did it lol
 
I recommend AF iron out too, like chall mine didn't react for iron when I first got in but I find it an excellent wheel cleaner. It's really good to use on the hard to reach places that you can't quite get a brush into. Spray it on, make a brew, blast off, DONE!!
 
Easiest way to see if your paint needs claying is to put your hand inside a sandwich bag and rub your fingertips over the paint. If it feels rough, it needs claying.

I think it's on PolishedBliss that they show you a video where a new car is treated with IronX, showing the purple reaction to the iron on the paintwork. I'm sure I read that most of it comes from the train journey from the factory.

IronX gets rid of the iron deposits; clay gets rid of the inorganic deposits and tar remover gets rid of the organic ones (or maybe the other way round!)
 
You must use a lubricant with a clay bar and constantly change the surface so you don't go rubbing the contaminants over the paint surface.

If your unsure find some one close who can give you a demo. Its not a difficult product to use but then again it's easy to make your paint worse than it was.

I didn't have any metal spots on my last two A3/S3 when new but I use Zymol products and their HD Cleanse cleans the surface so its smooth and shiny ready for their glazes.
 
I had my first go at claying a car last year. After reading a thread on Detailing World I used the G3 Claying Mitt which I got from Halfords. Was so easy and so quick. You have to use some lubricant, such as Quick Detailers spray, but it was so quick and easy. Heartily recommended.
 
Clay mitts don't need clay lube, a soapy water solution does the same job bud
 
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There seemed to be some contention around that when I was reading up on it, but that's what I did anyway. I had a go with using a bit more shampoo in a bucket than normal and no problems at all. Just wasn't sure about recommending it ;)
 
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