Wash/Waxing in Full Sunlight?

J

John_K

New member
Hey all,



I did two cars this weekend and unforutnately their garage was full with a new hot tub! So I had to do everything outside. By the time noon hit, and I began to clay/wax, it was 80 degrees, and the car was very hot to the touch (especially on the roof).



The strategy I did was to do VERY small areas with ONR clay lube and Mother's clay, then I followed up quickly with a MF towel. I did the same with the wax (small areas, then quickly buffed off with a very plush and soft MF towel). The owner was very happy with their cars and the surfaces were smooth as glass.



Anyways, I know the results were good and everyone was happy, but does anyone have tips on how to minimize the issues working in sunlight? I have another car in two weeks that is getting waxed and I'd like to come in with a better battle strategy.



Any help is appreciate. Thanks again for the great advice in the past!



John
 
Buy a canopy (EZ Up tent). Not only will it help keep the car cooler, but I'd imagine it would be a lot easier on you by keeping the sun off you.
 
JaredPointer said:
Buy a canopy (EZ Up tent). Not only will it help keep the car cooler, but I'd imagine it would be a lot easier on you by keeping the sun off you.
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You happen to have a link to one of these? I have been searching Ebay ect and mostly coming up with enclosed tents. I must be missing the right key word to bring up the blue topped eazy up tents.
 
I detail in Sunny Las Vegas.....mostly in shops and garages but every now and then if the money is right i'll be outside. Pop up Tents are the way to go, I got mine at Big 5 20x10 for about $149.99 but this was a year ago. Good luck
 
i just use a normal canopy cheap to was like 75 bucks at big lots whole car wont fit under it but i just pull it forward when i change sections works good an didnt break the bank woudl like to get a enclosed one eventually but thats not in my budget right now
 
Let me ask you all this: How compact is the canopy when you fold it up? I don't have a van, so I really need something that will fold up nicely and I can fit in my car's trunk.
 
I think it depends on the wax/sealant you are using. You can do a test to see how it react to sun. Try a test spot by applying wax then buff them off partially in a incremented time order: Immediately, 2min, 4min, 6min, etc. or you can do 5min increments. This will tell you how many minutes is the sweet spot before it becomes hell. This way you can see side by side how difficult say 4min is vs 6min.



You sound like a pro so I assume you are putting it on thin an even.
 
shadow85 said:
I think it depends on the wax/sealant you are using. You can do a test to see how it react to sun. Try a test spot by applying wax then buff them off partially in a incremented time order: Immediately, 2min, 4min, 6min, etc. or you can do 5min increments. This will tell you how many minutes is the sweet spot before it becomes hell. This way you can see side by side how difficult say 4min is vs 6min.



You sound like a pro so I assume you are putting it on thin an even.
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Thanks for the compliment, but I am working on getting to pro status as hard as I can while working a day job and doing housing projects!! I wouldn't consider myself a pro yet, but an amateur for now.



I usually use the least amount of wax as possible. On the cars I used Meg's NXT Wax 2.0 and I really do like it a lot. After each little section I did I would run my hand over the surface very lightly to make sure it had the glass feel. Then I would wipe the section again so the oils from my hand didn't stay on the car. Here is a pic of the doors after I was done. The car has swirls, but I don't have any polish / paint correction equipment yet.



waxc.jpg
 
I like to work in the sun when possible, generally don't have any problems with #105/205, Ultrafina or any of the Optimum polishes in the sun. ONR makes it a lot easier to wash without water spotting on hot days as well.



The nice thing about the sun is that it heats up the metal under the paint and seems to stretch it out a bit (the paint has to expand with the metal or it would crack, right?) and swirls come out a little faster. Plus the heat also flashes off any oils in the polishes pretty quickly leaving you with a true picture of what the polishes actually removed. Plus, nothing like the sun for spotting holograms.
 
I guess this would go in here. Again, for those of us who have no choice for washing but outside (and no tent) how do we remove fresh water spots? In the past I used vinegar but will that remove my wax?
 
Ryan Paymaster said:
I guess this would go in here. Again, for those of us who have no choice for washing but outside (and no tent) how do we remove fresh water spots? In the past I used vinegar but will that remove my wax?
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Do you have a form of quick detailer? When I dealt with this issue the other day I was using Mother's Quick Detailer and a very soft MF cloth to go over the spots.



When that ran out (because I used so much claying), I switched over to a 22oz bottle with a mixture of 1.75 oz Optimum No Rinse and 20.25 oz water and that worked just as good if not better. It definitely is cheaper than buying a quick detailer OTC.
 
John_K said:
Do you have a form of quick detailer? When I dealt with this issue the other day I was using Mother's Quick Detailer and a very soft MF cloth to go over the spots.



When that ran out (because I used so much claying), I switched over to a 22oz bottle with a mixture of 1.75 oz Optimum No Rinse and 20.25 oz water and that worked just as good if not better. It definitely is cheaper than buying a quick detailer OTC.
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Yup, have quick detailer. Used a pretty liberal amount with a microfiber cloth and it eventually lifted most of it. They're a pain though since a good chunk of my quarter panel saw sunlight. They're coming out.



I'll use the ONR method next time since it is a lot cheaper. Quick detailer is any sort of reasonable size is like $10 even at Walmart. :bawling:
 
Ryan Paymaster said:
I'll use the ONR method next time since it is a lot cheaper. Quick detailer is any sort of reasonable size is like $10 even at Walmart. :bawling:
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Actually, I'd just switch to ONR period. Since you just wash a section at a time, you can quickly see how large an area you can wash before it dries.
 
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