"Lazy" Winter prep

With the reality of an upper-NY winter looming in just a few months (had our first possibility of frost last night!) I feel it's time to do something to my Legacy. This'll be the first time I'm doing any sort of detailing/waxing beyond lending a hand on Pop's as a child. While I'd love to do a full wash/ clay/ polish/ wax&seal, I'm both time and funds-limited.

My thought was that maybe I would just do a wash + durable wax (Collinite is sounding very good...) and then, come spring, give her a proper treatment. Does that sound reasonable? Heretical? Do more harm than good? Hoping for some input before I (possibly) make a mistake...

Wash it, call it good and reward yourself with a couple cold ones.

Give it a wash and at least clay it. That will make the waxing last as long as possible. Collinite is a good choice if you have some. The Meguiar's Ultimate Liquid Wax available off the shelf is also turning out to be a pretty durable product from my testing. You'll still probably want to hit it again maybe in December or January if you hit a 50 degree day, but you should be fine if you want to save the polishing and all that fun stuff for later in the spring.

Give it a wash and at least clay it. That will make the waxing last as long as possible. Collinite is a good choice if you have some. The Meguiar's Ultimate Liquid Wax available off the shelf is also turning out to be a pretty durable product from my testing. You'll still probably want to hit it again maybe in December or January if you hit a 50 degree day, but you should be fine if you want to save the polishing and all that fun stuff for later in the spring.

OCD, would you say Meg's Ultimate Liquid Wax is better then NXT?

i usually do a layer of polish and a layer of wax right before winter, in the NE here too. takes an extra 15min or so to do the polish, i just use that once-a-year in an orange bottle stuff.

 

prob doesnt offer much more protection from the salt on the roads, but it gives me peace of mind.

and i'll hit a coin-op car wash every other week just to hose it down, especially the undercarriage and wheel wells.

i usually do a layer of polish and a layer of wax right before winter, in the NE here too. takes an extra 15min or so to do the polish, i just use that once-a-year in an orange bottle stuff.

 

prob doesnt offer much more protection from the salt on the roads, but it gives me peace of mind.

 

Nu-Finish is the orange bottle stuff. My dad sweats that stuff.

 

A once a year clay, glaze and wax day is great for the car, but I'd do that in the summer when it won't get so abused. Before the winter I usually do a wash, glaze wax with a polymer wax, like NXT or whatever is on sale. Meguiars gold class is a carnuba wax, and carnubas shine nice, but don't last long.

2 layers of NXT wax + 3 layers of Zaino Z-2 pro... the whole process took about 3 weeks but I'm ready for the winter

OCD, would you say Meg's Ultimate Liquid Wax is better then NXT?

 

They are different products with different purposes. I'd say the Ultimate Liquid Wax will last longer and looks better, but NXT will polish your paint a little better and will fill some of the swirls. So it just depends what you are going for... I'd love to see ULW over NXT and see what that looks like to be honest. I think it would look pretty awesome. The fillers in NXT may affect the durability, but it would definitely look good while it lasted.

Nu-Finish is the orange bottle stuff. My dad sweats that stuff.

 

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Your Dad is a smart man. I have been using that stuff for almost 30 years. In the early 80's Consumer Reports ranked that is the best thing for your car's finish.

Nu-finish is good, but hard to use, and the shine is not that great... but I trust the durability.. I spilled a drop on my driveway 2 years ago and it's still there

 

give zaino a try, u will like it

I Nu-Finish'ed my car about 3 weeks ago. So far the rain has still been beading off and I get a decent shine when I'm in whatever sunlight remains here until next summer. It says for the best results to apply a second coat after 30 days, and seeing that WI winters are pretty brutal, I will be applying a second coat next weekend if the rain ever stops before the snow falls

Nu-finish is good, but hard to use, and the shine is not that great... but I trust the durability.. I spilled a drop on my driveway 2 years ago and it's still there

 

give zaino a try, u will like it

 

 

Hard to use ? it's liquid... pour it now push it around let it dry, buff it off.

 

They say for best results use mineral sprits to remove all the road grease and grim before using Nu-Finish.

Hard to use ? it's liquid... pour it now push it around let it dry, buff it off.

 

They say for best results use mineral sprits to remove all the road grease and grim before using Nu-Finish.

 

I've tried almost every wax out there,

Nu-finish always leave some white streaks on the paint after it dried up (a day or two)... and it's a PITA to buff them off

 

I thought zaino was just a hype, but their Z-5 and Z-2 pro are amazing, just want to share...

NuFinish is really really really old technology. They haven't made any changes to the formula other than the ones in 2004 to make it legal to ship to California which hurt the durability just a little bit. Other than that, it is the same stuff our dad's used in the 70s. While it does still work, I don't know that using 30 year old paint protection technology is necessarily the greatest way to protect a modern paint job and make it look its best.

 

For the most part, NuFinish is just a cleaner wax with a sealant in it. Not a whole lot different than NXT, except NXT is a little higher tech. You can't layer NuFinish at all since one layer will remove the old one. In fact, one of the reasons durability suffered in 2004 is because they had to modify it so much to be VOC compliant because of the very high solvent content in it. Take the cap off and have a sniff... It is loaded with chemical and physical abrasives and that is why it cleans single stage paint so well. It really isn't designed for clear coated vehicles, but it does work on them. Its just better used on single stage paint when you need to clean off oxidation. That's why it was such a hit twenty and thirty years ago before clear coats became standard on just about every paint job.

They are different products with different purposes. I'd say the Ultimate Liquid Wax will last longer and looks better, but NXT will polish your paint a little better and will fill some of the swirls. So it just depends what you are going for... I'd love to see ULW over NXT and see what that looks like to be honest. I think it would look pretty awesome. The fillers in NXT may affect the durability, but it would definitely look good while it lasted.

 

I used NXT since it first came out. I loved it and thought it was a huge upgrade to the Gold Class I previously used. When Ultimate came out, I thought I would give it a try. At first I thought it was Meguiars way to sell more wax, it is much thicker and you use more than NXT. The durability of the Ultimate has blown me away. 2 months in the summer sun, washed at least once a week and the Ultimate still shines and beads water like it did right after waxing. I am a huge fan.

ok, my theory i, I will NXT ON my car, and NO WAX OFF for the whole winter... keep it there as a shield against all the road salt and snow

 

I'm seriously playing around with that idea but not sure if there is any harm.. any expert advice is welcome

Well, I've gone for the whole (simple) treatment; clay + NXT + Collinite Insulator Wax #845 on top. For my first such job, I have to say the feel's rather amazing. Such a difference after clay! The NXT/845 makes a pretty good shine, too. Didn't do much for the scratches and swirls, but didn't expect too much by hand anyway. Will save that for spring.

I just recently went through all this too. I clayed, then used Meguiar's Ultimate Polish, then 2 layers of Meguiar's Ultimate Wax. I am pretty happy with the results, I am anxious to see the durability through the OH salt-filled winter.

 

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y256/monkonmonk/IMAG0215.jpg

 

Thanks OCD for the recommendations!

 

Monk