How long before waxing

the paint is cured at the factory. You can wax it right away.

If you want to keep your paint properly protected I'd wax at least once each season, and polish once a year to repair swirls. Some synthetic waxes can last over 6 months but they shine wont be as good if you wait that long. Anybody that tells you that they have a sealant that last for years is lying to you. Wax and sealants evaporate and wear off after multiple car washes. Your environment will dictate how quickly the wax evaporates. Dont wash your truck with dish soap, unless you want to strip the wax.

 

Post a pic so we can see the finished result. Nothing better than standing, back and checking out that mirror shine from an hour or two of buffing eh!!!

 

I will wax mine several times a year. Wizards products are great and highly recomended by a lot of the hot rodders around here. I have had great results with all their products. I have gotten the high resale over the years because of the effort to keep the paint looking good for 9 or 10 years on my previous trucks. Even the bugs and tar come off easier with waxing.

 

The weekends here have been cold, blustery and snowy (During the week the weather is nice though). And this weekend, nice weather and all, I was working the entire time. I bought mine Dec 26th and and am ACHING to wax/detail it. I'll probably use Meguirs, but that Zaino intrigues me.

You have to keep your truck polished, you can see the Zombies if they're sneaking up behing you...

 

I wax mine about every 2 mon. because I live near the ocean and that salt air is murder on paint.

 

Ok, question for all of you...

Wash Tub (a chain of car wash places here in Texas): if they wash my truck and I ask them to do a full detail (which they say includes a wax and polish), is this the same as me waxing it myself?

(Warning: the above illustrates my true lazy nature. )

 

Kinda like taking a shower and saying since you washed your hair and the soap ran down why use a wash cloth and a bar of soap right.

 

LMAO - I'm lazy, but I do work in a corporate office. My desk is 30 feet away from the company President, and he sees me all the time. I think I would be in some trouble for that one.

 

No - because you don't get to spend quality time with your truck

It depends what they actually do. Are they really hand waxing it with a quality wax? If they are just spraying something during the rinse cycle then not the same. Ask what they use and see if they will let you watch them do another car.

 

Thanks. They do hand wax it, but I have no idea what they use. I haven't seen them do it to another car either. I will have to ask next time I have a minute to spare over there.

For now, it is oil change time...

 

How much do they charge? A REAL polish and wax takes several hours. Proper polishing requires some time and work. Ask them what their process is. Polishing and waxing should be separate processes and separate products.

 

You know I have no idea. I have only gotten the basic car wash from them ($7?). I will have to ask them this weekend...

 

usually, high volume car wash places dont do a good job on full details. They usually just a one step cleaner wax and run a buffer over your paint real fast and leave lots of swirls and holograms.

I dont do a full detail for less than $200, and it usually takes me 6 to 8 hours.

 

I polish/wax every 3 months since I bought it in May 2005 & it looks brand new still. I did it from the day I bought it because my truck was manufactured in March, I bought it in May, plenty of time for the factory paint to cure.

-3M Imperial Hand Glaze ($12 @ NAPA)
-Meguiar's NXT ($15 @ Walmart)

I have a little ergonomic handle that attaches to a polish pad (similar concept to velcro) and it takes me about 2 hours to finish. The water beads for months & looks awesome (indigo ink).

 

I quess I don't understand why you want the water to bead up, isn't that where water spots come from? Why wouldn't you want to use something like Dura-Shine that sheets water away with no water spots. I used this for years on my Ford truck and when I traded it in it still looked new, whith a great shine.

 

I do wax twice a year. But what I use does not bead water up so I don't have to wipe it down after every wash or rain storm, the water just rolls off.

 

NXT is great, goes on easy and comes off easy. I use pretty much all Meguiar's and have for years.

 

You should try some Adam's Polishes. High quality stuff, and awesome customer service. You can use the discount code TN for 15% off through Feb 14th. After Feb 14th I think the TN code gives a 10% discount.

http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/showthread.php?p=2169540#post2169540

 

After i got my tailgate repainted at the dealer after an unfortunate incident with a tree, i have noticed swirls in direct light. was this from a poor wax job or a buffer or what? they dont go away when i wash it. is this something i'm gonna have to polish out? cause i really dont want to do that. or will the swirls fade with time?

 

The body shop got careless with the buffer. I see this on people's cars all the time.

A fine polish will fix it. It won't go away by itself.