Advice needed - I think my Carnauba melted.

I

IronChef

New member
I'm just an amateur when it comes to detailing so I am looking for a little advice.

The black paint on my car is about 9 years old and WAS heavily oxidized. I did quite a bit of work on the finish with the following steps.

1. Wash
2. Meguiar's One Step Cleaner
3. Polish with Meguiar's Show Car Glaze
4. Apply coat of Meguiar's #26 High Tech Yellow Wax
5. Repeat another coat of #26

The finish turned out beautiful. But I encountered two problems shortly afterwards.

The wax job has gone "greasy looking"... it almost appears if the wax has melted and then re-hardended and is no longer glassy... but cloudy. I live in Toronto so the summers tend to get quite warm (mid 70's - low 90's).

Also I noticed this particular combo didn't stand up well to acid rain, noticed some bad spotting on my hood (but not really anywhere else).

I've read that polymers have a much higher temperature threshold (if that is indeed my problem with the Carnauba).

Would using a polymer wax be a better bet... or should I follow the Show Car Glaze with Meguiar's Polymer Sealant (think it's #20) and then the Carnauba Wax?

Advice is greatly appreciated. I'm looking for off-the-shelf recommendations preferably.
 
You need to strip off the old wax you have polish and probley re apply wax. I would get some DACP for swirls and Oxidation if you have a machine if not get some poorboy's SSR products and go by hang then apply a polymer or synthetic sealent IE Poorboys EX,Platnium UPP,Klasse AIO+SG,BFII,Zaino and the rest of them.
 
I live in Oklahoma where summer heat can easily exceed 100 degrees farenheit with a good ammount of humidity and I never encountered a problem with "cloudyness" when using #26.

Are you sure it fully dried the first time you applied it before you buffed off the excess?
 
You sure the paint was 100% clean or the applicator or towel you where useing its often not the product but other things that can ruin that nice just waxed look.
 
Fr0zen, thanks for the quick reply. So would you deepsix the Carnauba altogether?

Tassadar, think for the first coat I may have left it on 20-30 minutes. Not sure if that is long enough.
 
I have never had a probley with S100 carnuba I would highley recommend it because its easy on off no wating for it to dry etc. Carnuba is great to top over sealents as it gives that pop. I would try the #26 Again it can give nice results. Never apply in the sun or use rags with other car cleaning things on it.


S100 is avalible at all Harley Davidson dealers.
 
Its not really a set ammout of time. Next time, try going over the surface in a very small area. If it wipes clean, then its ready, if it smears, let it sit longer.

Temperature, air density, humidity, EVERYTHING affects curing time.
 
You do probably need to go back to scratch and use less wax, or go to the sealant....it will stand up better than plain wax on a black car in the summer sun and should also be a little better in the winter time...maintenence and proper preperation will also make the protection be better and last longer.

FrOzen thanks for the PB's suggestion, but Canadian's have limitation on produccts and because of the value of their money to us and with a combination of taxes for products shipped into Canada from the US...it makes it very hard to justify a great expense, compared to our prices.


Someday
:(
 
If humidity is high, using less is better. It is very humid here year round and if you use a lot of product (carnauba based) it will smear. Try an AIO like KLASS sparingly then top with a carnauba sparingly and the "smudging" will disappear.
 
Thats What I use AIO With a Carnuba topper and have no problem with smudgeing although the first time I got S100 I let it sit for like 25 min I came back and I couldent get it off. I then learned 1 panel at a time.
 
Park it out in the hot sun again and when it gets nice and baking, wipe it off with a microfiber towel, it should be OK then. I saw this on a friend's black Audi that I'd #20'd. He put a coat of #26 over it, and in the heat it'd hazed like that.

I did catch it for him before it re-hardened. I didn't supervise him applying the #26, so I can't say how much he used, but if you didn't wait about 24 hours between coats, you may have used too much and the first coat didn't "set up". Then, when the wax did set, anything more than enough to cover the car with one layer had no where to go.

If it doesn't unhaze in the heat, try re-applying #26, or QDing it before you try stripping it all off.

You can use carnubas on black cars in the heat and sun, no problem. Sealants do last longer, but carnuba on black looks awesome and is worth the extra couple applications. #26 is a great looking product.

#26 (over #20) in the 90* heat:

3620dscf0083-med.jpg



Tom
 
IronChef said:
I'm just an amateur when it comes to detailing so I am looking for a little advice.

The black paint on my car is about 9 years old and WAS heavily oxidized.
1. Wash
2. Meguiar's One Step Cleaner
3. Polish with Meguiar's Show Car Glaze
4. Apply coat of Meguiar's #26 High Tech Yellow Wax
5. Repeat another coat of #26

.
Click to expand...

1. 9 yrs old black...you need swirl remover...
2. How old was your wax and did you keep in a proper environment....I think wax can go bad under certain elements

Meguiars should work fine......need to apply it in shade also..
jeff
 
Poorboy said:
FrOzen thanks for the PB's suggestion, but Canadian's have limitation on produccts and because of the value of their money to us and with a combination of taxes for products shipped into Canada from the US...it makes it very hard to justify a great expense, compared to our prices.


Someday
:(
Click to expand...

Yeah, yeah! Poor guys, so far from you..... :D :o
 
Cousin Jose..should I edit it to say Europe too?

Hawaii also pays a huge shipping charge for their products....

but back to the thread...yes it sounds like over use and the directions say use on a cool surface....... in the shade is best....
 
Cousin Jose..should I edit it to say Europe too?
Click to expand...


No cousin, no need.

[Off topic]
Cheese. You like cheese? Imagine you don't know it but hear people say it's so great, but you can't buy it locally. But, for a couple more a $$ or €€ you can get it from the other side of the world or so, would it be expensive? NOT! if you can afford it, it's cheap, you have the chance to try it at least!

I bought my PC from Dwayne, I could have bought a sander from Bosch or so but yet I'd be thinking how good it was compared with the PC, for example. I bought almost everything possible, except the 'Z'. [/Off topic]

What I mean is, detailing as I've read on forums is more like an obsession, if you hear EX or UPP or Z6 (?) is great, is another 10 or 15 (or even 30) USD going to keep you from using it? Don't think so. Didn't stop me, and now I have my own opinion on what people talk about.
 
You can't get cheese localy? That doesn't make sense to me. France and Germany both produce a lot of great cheese. I'll even pay for imported cheeses sometimes because they have a diffrent and uniqe flavor. It's not better pour say, but it's good in a diffrent way. And Steve is acutaly not able to eat cheese! The poor guy. I feel so bad for him. I'm sorry for going so far off topic, but cheese is very important to me.
 
Koop said:
I'll even pay for imported cheeses sometimes because they have a different and uniqe flavor.
Click to expand...

That's exactly my point! If you want it/like it it's not expensive. The same with detail products.

(and we do have a LOT of cheese here, local and foreign) ;)
 
Hey guys-
I keep seeing references to "melting". Just for reference the melting point of Carnuba wax is about 185F or 80C. I really doubt the wax melted, that's exactly why carnuba is chosen for cars! As mentioned you may be getting moisture causing smearing or you may not have let it set long enough before buffing and the last of the solvent evaporated after you wiped some of the dried wax off leaving more dry wax.
What did you end up doing to fix it IronChef (by the way, I take it you're a fan of the show?)?
 
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