Mustangfreak

First off, a dang good friend of mine, who knows his cars told me not to wax my new GT till about 6 months. I forget why, but I'm taking his word on it.


But then another person told me I should wash the car with soap either for the same time period. Is this real or complete BS? I've never heard of such a thing and I just want to make sure.

karman

Go ahead and wax away with a quality product like Meguiars or Zaino.
Search our threads for advice.
A non-factory paint shop job needs to have time to harden. That's where the story comes from. Any repaint (scoops, spoilers, etc.) you need to wait 6 weeks or so before you polish. 6 months I've never heard that.

Glenn

yep you can wax your car the day you bring it home from the dealership

GottaHaveIt

nuff said

05GT-O.C.D.

Corey, that's an old wives tail. In this day in age with the technology in factory paints it's completely unnecessary. Wax and wash away... and have fun doing so.

Mustangfreak

Thanks guys! I found it extremly hard to believe about the soap, but its good to know that I can put some wax on her now

I-70 west

Use only car wash soap, no laundry or dish detergent !

Stix66

Can you not use dish detergent to wash off or strip old wax off? Lets say if you want to start all over, wash it with regular Dawn, clay bar, and wax 2-3 coats. I do this in the spring and it makes my 93 look like it has a fresh coat of white clearcoat paint.

1200custom

The problem with using Dawn is that it strips most wax off of the paint. What you do should be fine, as long as you protect your paint with a coat of good wax or polish. The problem with Dawn is that people who don't know are removing all the protection from thier paint. The car ends up clean, just to clean.

I-70 west

When you do this does your wash mitt or your wax applicator show any paint color when your done ? If it does, that will show you how corrosive detergent soap can be. If you do use detergent before a wax application never do it in direct sun light on a hot sunny day.

Stix66

well my car is white... and well wax is white. So it would be hard for me to tell. I would do the detergant, then clay bar, then cleaner wax, then 2 coats of NXT. Looks and shines great. Lots of work tho. I only do the detergant in the spring after the salty winter here in Chicago. Other than that I use the Gold Class car wash soap.

But no I always wash/wax my car in the shade on a cool day.


oh yeah if my spelling or grammar is bad thats cuz its 3am here and I am bored

StangMahn

I make it a point never ever to wash it with dish detergent. A friend of mine started washing his car with dawn, I went and made up a bucket of real car wash, and helped him redo it.

05GT-O.C.D.

The problem w/ Dawn isn't that it doesn't clean, it's that it strips wax.

I-70 west

oh yeah if my spelling or grammar is bad thats cuz its 3am here and I am bored[/quote]

Looks good enough for the girls I go with

StangMahn

Yeah, it takes off the wax, but depending on how old the paint is, and how well previous owners have taken care of it, paint can start to come off, and we all know how bad that is.

davisinla

I'm quite into keeping cars clean. (My garage looks like a Meguiar's stock room.) So I've been involved in a number of "Dawn" debates over the past few years. FWIW, here's my take...

In the first place, in 40 years of waxing cars, I've never seen a real need to strip off old wax. Maybe if you're waxing a bowling alley, ok. But by the time you are ready to wax your car, there probably isn't much wax left on there anyway. Even if there were, using an automotive paint cleaner would be a far more effective tool.

In the second place, even if did plan to re-wax immediately after washing with Dawn, keep in mind that dishwashing soap is VERY strong. It's meant to suck grease (and oils) off of what it touches. Great for plates - lousy for cars. Not only did you wash your paint with it, but all your trim, rubber, plastic, weatherstripping, wheels, tires, stripes (if any), etc.

There are so many great products out there designed for automotive use...leave the stuff that's under the kitchen sink alone. Visit one of the great forums (i.e. Meguiar's) and get real info and use real products.

Why wouldn't you?

My two cents.

And to address the OP's original question...I say wax away. Paint from the factory is fully dry by the time it gets to you. Repaints OTOH take more time as they are not oven-baked. (Two more cents.)

Ripstang

After a regular car wash (no dishwashing liquid) i use WD40 to remove the old wax ,tar ,road film before useing NXT.I do this once a year in the fall before the Mustang is put away for the winter so in the spring she looks like new and is ready to go .

During the year that she is out just regular washing and the odd spot waxing keeps her looking good untill the fall.

balboa

definatly throw a coat of gold class on