Just got off the phone with a buddy of mine that works as industrial engineer at GMs plant testing paints on new cars. Since this is my first new car, I asked him what he'd recommend using to wax a new car.

He said:
1) "Paint always needs to breath, new or old. If it can't breath, it starts to crack". Then he goes on saying "Do not wax new car. Wax does not allow paint to breath. Instead, use a Polish. I would recommend using Meguiars Deep Crystal System Polish. But stay away from the cleaner/polish. The cleaner/polish has abrasives in it. But the pure polish is OK, it still allows the paint to breath".

2) "Black paints are very soft, and white paints are very hard. That's why darker paint chips easier than lighter paint. Since I have a black car, he said to make sure I use the softest Microfiber Detailing cloth I can find".


Just wondering what everyone's else's experiences have been? And please feel free to disagree. This is just one persons advice.

I have heard the same thing about not waxing new paint right away. The dealer sells all kinds of unnecessary or untimely products when you seal the deal(no pun intended).
They have tried many times to sell me cloth seat treatments when I have leather seats! Saturn tried to sell me undercoating and I pointed out that the manual says it is unnecessary due to factory anti-corrosion measures.

Update[/color]: I found on Maguires website info about waxing new cars. New car paint is cured at a very high temp and can be waxed right away! who knew? Excerpt from site...


A new car with a factory paint job can be waxed the moment it is rolled out of the manufacturing plant. Cars that have factory paint jobs are cured at much higher temperatures, sometimes as high as 300 degrees in special baking ovens. At a factory level, the car goes through the painting and baking process without any of the rubber, plastic, and cloth components installed. This is why they can expose the car and it's fresh paint to such high temperatures. These high temperatures and special paints used at the factory level insures the paint is fully cured by the time the car is completely assembled.

After-market paint finishes however, are cured at a much lower temperature to ensure the method of baking or heating the paint doesn't melt non-metal components such as wiring and vinyl. For this reason, it's best to follow the specific paint manufactures recommendations for care and maintenance of fresh paint. Most paint manufactures that supply paint to the refinish industry recommend that you allow anywhere from 30 to 90 days curing time after the paint is applied before you apply the first application of wax.[/color]
http://www.meguiars.com/faq/index.cf...ection=_54#_54

My buddy was saying if a car has new factory paint or if it's 3 years old, he would never place wax on a car. He said paint always needs to breath regardless of the cars age.

Yesterday, my wife picked up some Turtle Wax Ice Synthetic Liquid Polish. She knows how meticulous I am. Not sure if I'm going to use it or not.

I use Meguires NXT 2.0 liquid with great results. It is one of the prefered waxes that people on the Corvette Forumn use (Other prefered waxes on this forumn are Zaino and Rejex).

I'v been advocating polish for 30 years, ever since I got my first Vette. I heard the same thing about letting paint breath.
I've been using "NuFinish" polish from the beginning. It is cheap and a VERY VERY good shine, but I imagine just about any brand name polish will be fine.

If you go on various car forums, there's always a bit of debate on whether or not to wax/polish right away. I'm of the opinion that OEM paint is so good now you really don't have to worry. Besides, chances are the dealership already waxed or put 'something' on when you took delivery.

My personal opinion is that polishing isn't usually necessary on a new'ish car, unless you have a bit of damage or swirlies. I think claying is far more important, as it does an excellent job of cleaning the surface of the paint before waxing. I've also seen some polish jobs gone bad, too, and people go too far, not realizing most polishes have a very fine grit to them (roughly equivalent to 4000-5000 grit sandpaper).

I have worked with many differant body guys and they all agreed that not touching the paint is the best way for your car to keep its shine.

Once you start the process of waxing, or polishing you are scratching the paint, they may not be visible rate away due to the wax or polish filling them, but over time they will start to show up, as swirl marks, light half moon looking scratches. Once this process is started people will usually reapply wax, or polish, witch adds more scratches, and starts the whole process over. The biggest part with polishing, or buffing is not using the correct method of application.

I am very particular on touching the paint of my vehicles, especially dark colored ones, I try to 'touch' the paint as little as possible, I'f a deep cleaning is needed I will spunge wash, only if scratches are appearing, I will use a hand glaze buffing compound, or a glaze, depending on how far I need to go, and use a powered buffer, one that is not dual action and spins at around 1200 rpms. with these compounds and the machine, you actually remove the scratches, rather than just fill them for time being.

Only time I personally would use wax, is if I was selling and didn't want to take the time to do it right.

On another forum (equinoxcentral.com) there are guys who work at the CAMI plant in Canada (where the Nox/Terrain are assembled) and they say that the paint is cured before the final assembly is done. The post by AllenCW explains why..

I have been using Nufinish on my cars for years now and see no reason to switch to something else..

I haven't polished my Terrain yet and probably won't until next year, maybe two. Washing it regularly and having a clear coat, I don't think it needs it. I'm at the point that, screw it ... just drive the **** thing and stop worring about waxing/polishing or clay barring it. I did all the stuff back when I had my Corvettes and did the concourse thing.....talk about being anal.
I believe in keeping the car clean, but going the clay bar thing is just a waste of time(IMO)....unless you are putting your car in a car show.
Of course I could just be an old fart and too lazy to do all the cleaning/polishing I use to do when I was a lot younger.

Same thing with my Harley....I'd rather be out riding then cleaning.

any product that is labeled as a "polish" is abrasive... every polish has some grit in, that's why it's called polish. i wax my cobalt at least once a month and have zero paint issues. when you touch a car, you are not touching the paint, you are touching the clear coat, so idk how your friend thinks paint needs to breathe...