Best technique for removing old wax?

[Richn83]

Hi all, I am hoping that the weather will be good enough over the weekend to give the car a good clean, polish and re-apply some wax.  Question is whats the best way to make sure all the old wax is removed before I start polishing, and pre-wax coating?

Ive heard washing up liquid mentioned, is this a good idea?

Or is the best way to clay the car?

I plan on doing the following incase this will make a difference:

Snow foam
Wash
Clay
Polish (have some SFX-2 which im going to try out on some swirl marks)
might follow up with some super resin polish
AG HD pre wax
AG HD wax

[icenutter]

I tried washing up liquid a few times, but because it contains salt, I had problems with water marks, which just creates more work. Claying is definately the way to go. If you are looking for something to spend money on then you could wash first with some Meguiars APC as this strips more wax than normal car wash.

[Mandy]

I would personally clay the car to get rid of the old wax etc and start again from fresh.

[JPC]

Firstly, Washing up liquid is really not a good idea. It contains far too many ingredients that can be quite damaging for a car. First up the be damaged will probably be all your rubber seals and plastic. It can dry out these.

What i normally tend to do is snowfoam the car with an all purpose cleaner. Let that dwell, then rinse it off.
Then i would clay the car, then I give it a Wipedown with IPA.

You might think this is a bit overkill, and in some scenarios it is, but there are some pretty strong sealants out there.
Some might come off with an APC, but stuff like collinite can be a pain to remove.

Zymol vintage and royale sometimes give me a headache, but with those three steps above, your pretty much sure you have removed it all ;)

[stealthwolf]

I thought claying and polishing would remove the LSP?

[Richn83]

Cheers for the replies guys, Keep them coming.  And glad I asked to avoid the washing up liquid fiasco!   

JPC cheers for the advice, It currenlty has AG HD wax which although seems to be fairly hard wearing isnt quite as dramatic as Collinite (from what ive heard)

Just got to hope the APC turns up before the Weekend, also got distracted by some poorboys black hole, so will be giving that a go too.  And if it doesnt then I already have the clay bar and polish so hopefully this will put an end to the remaining wax, which has been clinging on for 4-5 months now.

New itinerary

Foam
Wash (TBM)
clay
polish SFX2
glaze black hole
HD cleanser
HD wax

Beer or two with some photos! 

[JPC]

I thought claying and polishing would remove the LSP?

your right, but these days i find it much better to remove any traces of LSP before i start polishing

[Richn83]

I also have 2 stone chips I want to touch up, which is why im so keen to get rid of as much wax as possible!

Thats another topic that you could help with JPC, would be better polishing before I touch up, as the soft paint might not take polishing too well?   

[stealthwolf]

Surely if you're going to touch up, it would be better to clay the car, then touch the areas up, let the paintwork dry and harden, and then (after washing the car), polish the area to flatten down the touched up bit?

[Richn83]

Surely if you're going to touch up, it would be better to clay the car, then touch the areas up, let the paintwork dry and harden, and then (after washing the car), polish the area to flatten down the touched up bit?

That would make sense, only thing im worried about is the paint having time to harden before I need to detail it, as I only have this weekend free.  As the missus is elsewhere, otherwise I wont have the time to do everything I need too.  Assuming 12 hours is sufficient I might try some localised washing, and claying tonight and touch the paint up in advance to allow for a good polish on the weekend.

[stealthwolf]

Then the question is how bad are the chipped areas? If you didn't do them, would they be noticable. If not, you could always touch them up at a later date.

[Richn83]

its two very small sections on the front right wing, two stone chips that have gone down to metal, they have been on the car since I got it, Jan 2010, so not doing them isnt an issue, but its something thats on my list for when I have removed the wax and its back to bare metal.

And the last one is a bit larger and on the ridge above the boot handle/VW badge, have no Idea how the previous owner managed to do it but it annoys me every time I see it.

Think I might tackle them tonight which will give at least two days for the paint and lacquer to harden, do you reckon that will be long enough Stealth?

[stealthwolf]

I remember being told 3 days. Alternatively, touch them up and go round them when polishing, then when you later polish in the year prior to winter, you can polish it down to a smooth surface.

[Tarmac_Terrorist]

I reckon 48 hours following the touch up this time of year should be OK.

Because I only do approx 1500 miles per year, I am reluctant to clay twice a year. No matter how careful you go, a little marring will probably occur somewhere. Earlier this year I striped back my Dodo SN with Poorboys APC ready for me to prep again with Black hole & Swiss Vax BOS.

The strong-ish APC mix seemed to do a good job of stripping the wax and removed the need to clay.

[Richn83]

Cheers Tarmac, I have done about 6000 miles since last claying, and as it was my first attempt and I dont think I actually did it properly, I will watch for the marring, and I will be followign up with the polish so as long im careful I should be able to correct any issues.

I did the touch up last night, and the lacquer stage didnt go so well, so might be a bit of  fine wet sanding and polishing to do on the weekend.

ANyone know what weight of wet and dry is the best to use!