How to Remove Wax From Polishing Cloth
Although natural (Carnauba) wax can make a car beautiful, it can also ruin whatever cloth you use to apply it. Infiltrating the cloth's fiber matrix, the wax embeds itself and coats the fibers, making it very difficult to remove the stain if you don't know how. The procedure is actually simple--you just need a little bit of chemistry knowledge to get the job done right.
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Things You'll Need
- 3-gallon pot
- Gas or electric stove
- Laundry detergent
- Wooden stirring spoon
- Washing machine
- Hot water
- 2-gallong pot
- Rubbing alcohol
Instructions
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Removing the Wax
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1
Bring 2 gallons of water to a low boil or high simmer on the stove.
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2
Add 3 tablespoons of laundry detergent to the water, and watch for sudden over-boiling.
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3
Drop stained rags into pot, one by one.
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4
Stir rags continuously for 10 minutes with wooden spoon.
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5
Immediately drop cloths into a washing machine pre-filled with hot water and the package-prescribed amount of laundry detergent.
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6
Run washing machine through the wash, rinse and drain cycle at least two times.
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7
Remove cloths, and soak in a bath of 75% rubbing alcohol and 25% water in 2-gallon pot for 10 minutes, stirring periodically.
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8
Drop cloths back into washing machine, and run them through one more wash, rinse and drain cycle.
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9
Allow cloths to air dry.
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1
Tips & Warnings
Carnauba is the only type of car wax that gets stuck in cloth. Synthetic (polymer) waxes are almost exclusively water based, which means they can be removed by washing the polish cloth in the same manner as any other type of fabric. One cycle through the washing machine should do it.
Carnauba wax melts at 180 degrees Fahrenheit--and can be dissolved by most solvents. An alternative to the hot water dunking procedure is to steam the cloths in a sieve, bathe them in alcohol or other mild solvent, and wash repeatedly with a bleach-free detergent. This is the preferred procedure for microfiber cloths and other high-end detailing materials.
Polyester and synthetic cloths can usually get away with little more than the alcohol bath and repeated washings. Their smooth fibers tend to have less grip on the wax; some types can actually be damaged by the extreme heat of boiling.
When adding detergent to boiling water, be very careful of boil-over. Powdered detergents are more prone to this than liquid types. That's why you should use a larger pot than is required.
Although dish washing detergent does a good job of removing dried wax from car bodies, it will do little good on stained cloths. Dish washing detergent won't penetrate the cloth deep enough to remove the wax without heating it. The amount of heat required to melt Carnauba will quickly cause the detergent to boil over and lose its ability to remove the wax.
References
- Photo Credit shiny surfaces image by askthegeek from Fotolia.com
