Waxing your car?

I read online that if you waxed your car previously and now ready to wash your car again, you must use dish washing soap to strip the wax off before you put wax on your car again.  True?

Dawn contains something that is suppose to help strip away the wax.  Maybe some other brands do as well.   alkaline?

The cheap ajax does as well, thats what i use, and i put it directly on the car and the sud it up vs putting the soap in a bucket.

so the thought process....> spend moneys on waxing car> wait till dirty then "strip" off wax>(essential wasting the money on the wax job)> spend more moneys on wax> repeat.......:pat: really?!?!?! its perfectly safe and fine to wash a car after its been waxed youll prob see a diff in how the water beads off and the suds. i had mine detailed and had to wash it week after still looked amazingly good. the Wax is there to protect your paint

You know what i miss read his post, my idea was for if you waxed it and need to rewax it, but his post said wash it......... No need to remove wax if your just washing it.....

i even heard waxing the windshield is good during rain the water flys right off any truth to this?

Yeah. Basically the concept behind products like Rain-X.

My trick is when drying the car, the last thing I do is the inside of the fuel filler lid and recess, then use the same cloth to wipe down the windshield. This leaves a slight film of gasoline on the glass (don't wipe your car down with the rag after) which beads water like crazy and it rolls right off, just like with Rain-X or wax. 

For the OP though, yeah, remove old wax before applying new wax. That way you're removing the contaminants trapped in the old wax instead of sealing them in. Dish soaps break down oils (and waxes), Dawn happens to be a particularly good one for this. That's why you normally wouldn't want to use them on a waxed car, unless you're re-waxing.

But like the other guys said, there's not need to wax each time to wash your car.

Yes theres truth to that although rain-x dose the same. I polish and wax my glass. As for the the dawn dish soap. You can use it to strip wax and other surface fillers with good results. I often do a degrease using a foam gun and dawn or degreaser depending on the paint condition and paint type (single stage... etc) of customer cars that im not to sure of what was used before. That way I start with a clean slate before I work my paint magic:hsughhyper2:

And to the op. No you don't need to remove the old wax before applying new wax if there hasn't been a long amount of time in between paint care. You can layer as much wax as you choose to. Layering offers more protection from mother nature. And normally the more layers the easier time you will have removing stuff like tar, bird droppings etc. You can though choose to remove the old wax if say your going to polish the paint or want to try a different brand of wax to see its results. If you don't want to strip the current wax and it has been quite some time you can opt to wash then clay bar to remove surface contaminates then wax the car. You don't want to layer dirt between the waxes.

Tis is just the answer I was looking for.  Thanks!!  Ideally, how long in btw should I rewax?  Once every one or two months or is that too soon..?

Wash your car with two bucket system...dry really good with a waffle towel.then clay it.windows headlight taillights everything.then wax it to seal the clean in.and bammm super shiny! I do he wax and clay once a month and hand wash every 3 days when i had a vip car...the wax job makes it easier to keep it clean when u wash it yourself every 3 days...but im ocd...

[QUOTE=TLontheDL;475655]Tis is just the answer I was looking for.  Thanks!!  Ideally, how long in btw should I rewax?  Once every one or two months or is that too soon..?[/QUOTE]


Your welcome. Nope not to soon. It comes down to the quality of wax at that point. Some will last longer than others. And a sealant will last longer than any wax. You will notice that your car will become harder to clean so to speak, as in dirt will seam to be harder to remove. At that point is around when you would want to wax again or before it gets to that point.  

On my personal car I use a sealant then layer it with wax. Then once a month I wax. The sealant last upwards of 6 months. The combo of the 2 gives a great shine and great protection. Best part is if you dont get around to waxing in a month or two your still protected from fallout, bird droppings etc.

Hey toyo, nice post, what brand of sealent and wax do you use?

Yeah, what brand wax do you all use?  Ill post a picture of the wax I use.  On my previous car, I used "spray on wax" and used it for 13 yrs.  Now I bought a brand new car and now use a liquid wax, which is very new to me, which is why I made this thread b/c I am a total noob to car detailing.

Me being a noob, I have always heard dish washing soap strips off the gloss of the car but after hearing and reading threads about people using dishwashing soap just made me cringe!!  Then I started asking question and it turns out that dishwashing soap is okay IF and ONLY IF you want to strip off the wax to reapply a new layer of wax.

I've used mainly Sonax solid wax and Autoglym liquids. Solid waxes are the best, but they are a bitch to apply. Next on my to try list will be the Simoniz solid wax.

[QUOTE=mrbrian8;475973]Hey toyo, nice post, what brand of sealent and wax do you use?[/QUOTE]

Thanks. For the winter i use mostly Meguiars synthetic sealant 2.0, Gets you though the winter months while making it easier to clean. Spring- Fall I use on my cars Chemical Guys Blacklight layered with Meguairs ultimate wax, CG Blacklight layered with Barrier reef wax. I also use CG Fusion and Wolfgang Füzion Estate Wax but those I layer with themselves. 

TLontheDL. Liquid wax is good to work with, you will pick up the knack for it fast. Spray wax works well if you spray it on a foam pad and then spread it on. I still use it from time to time.