Alright guys, I have a question for you. Everyone I know has always told me that if you wax to often that you will ruin your paint. They refer to too often as being once everyone one or two months. Now I've been very nervous about waxing my truck more then once every 3 - 4 months because of this. After reading a lot of your posts I have come to the conclusion that a lot of you wax every few weeks. I was wondering, what is safe? I want to wax my truck again tomorrow (because I have the day off) and I wanted to clay it and all that good stuff. I just wanted to make sure that I was not going to ruin my paint job.

- Chris

 

I wax weekly from June to Oct. I've had no problems yet. (going on to two years). Use a quality product like Meguiar's or Mothers. Check out www.meguiarsonline.com and check out the forums

 

Waxing won't harm your paint at all as long as you use proper products and technique. During the late spring and summer months, I'll wax probably once a month. I usually do a full detail about 3 times a year and then polish about 6 times a year with a wash once a month. Lots of washes and quick detailing in between.

 

i usually wax my truck once a week...i like to keep the paint protected and like the glassy feeling....and wash maybe twice a week with a full detail just about every week

 

Why this compulsion to wax so often??
Twice a year is fine, more than that you're wasting your time and money . .

 

hey guys ,do you really know how wax works and how long it lasts and that temp. plays a large part and the diff between wax and polish let me get my facts strait and i'll post again. M.W.

 

2-3 times a year, max! I have a life to live! Don't get me wrong, I have no objection to how a man wants to run down his time-some people LOVE to spend most of theirs on their trucks, I'm just so much more interested in so much else to have the TIME to wax more often! I bought my truck to use it as as truck and actually dropped the leather, moonroof and much of the frills (I got an XLT SCAB) that I'd had in my cars-I felt great having a vehicle I could take in the woods when I hunt etc. and not worry too much about scratches etc-it's a truck! But that's MY attitude-my neighbor literally gets out a toothbrush for the grill etc. and by the time I am back from my day he is still working on it! But hey, he thinks I am crazy that I take my truck into the woods and didn't know what "swirl marks" were untill I discovered this site! To each his own!

 

Chris,

It won't hurt your paint at all! As a matter of fact, a fresh protective coating is good for your paint.

Now, frequent "polishing" with an abrasive polish would eventually remove the clear-coat. To my knowledge, there isnt' a wax around that is abrasive enough to do that........ and I've tried a bunch of them.

 

Recurve,
I agree with you 100%. There is now way I would wax or wash for that matter, my truck every week. That takes like 6 hours to wash, wax, etc... Only 1 day of rain, snow, mud whatever to get the truck back to the way it was. I usually wax 2 times a year, and try to wash it at least 2 times a month. I can count on 1 hand how many times I've washed my truck since August 04 when I bought it. I think it all depends on where you live also. In Wisconsin, the months of November thru March, you are almost wasting your time washing every week.

 

Different strokes... different folks...

If I can get ONE day of my truck looking good rolling down the road, I'll work my nuggets off the night before to ensure that happens...

 

Ah, even if it rains the next day and gets your truck all dirty, you can say your getting enough exersize from the wax on wax off training exersizes.

 

I hear ya, I just enjoy it, and love to see a clean truck. I am pefectionist and that goes with everything I do so its natural to me. Although I learn from this site everyday and I thank everyone for that!