Originally Posted By: SirTanon
Originally Posted By: 2010Civic
How well you prep the surface before waxing also plays a role in how long the wax will last.
This is a major factor here, and is so often overlooked and misunderstood.
If you have the time, equipment, and patience, then I suggest you take the opportunity to prep your paint as best you can. Depending on how 'imperfect' the paint is, a thorough wash, clay bar treatment, and compound/polish goes a tremendously long way towards making your paint look amazing, and helping the wax/sealant do its job right.
.. and additionally, a good spray wax will help extend your wax longer, if you don't feel like doing a full wax job every 3 months (or more).
I'll use my car as an example.
This picture is of the hood on my 2010 Fusion, shortly after I bought it used:
.. and the trunk at the same time.
As you can see, the car had LOTS of "spider web" swirl marks. It was COVERED with them from front to back. The previous owner clearly did a bad job of washing it, and I suspect only washed in those drive through car washes.. ugh.
So, one weekend, I washed it twice using dish soap, then clayed it thoroughly, and finally I took the orbital to it, with some Meguiar's M105, M205, and Ultimate Polish.
Once that was done, and the paint was smooth and shiny, I finished with Meguiar's NXT 2.0 Tech Wax Paste to protect and seal it.
Finished results were amazing. The hood after:
The trunk lid after:
Now, I do like to keep my car clean, and so I pretty much wash it every weekend - about 45 times a year. I do not, however, wax it ever three months - Probably more like every 6. It's just too darn hot to wax the car between May and August, so every time I wash, I finish with a spray-wax, usually Meguiar's Ultimate Quik Wax. This helps 'top up' the wax on the car, and seems to do a decent job extending my wax out to twice a year.
This is the same car over a year later:
... I'd also like to add that the "green-tin" Turtle Wax is fairly outdated as waxes go, and not at all the easiest to apply or remove. If you have about $10 to spare, I might suggest picking up a tin of Meguiar's Ultimate Wax or even the new Turtle Wax Ice. Both are excellent synthetic waxes (Sealants), and both have amazing shine and durability.
Nice!