How to Wax your Car when Detailing

Video Transcript

"Hi! I am Bob Osborne with Expert Village. After you have thoroughly cleaned the car, it’s time to wax and when you are doing professional detailing, the best way to wax a car is with an orbital buffer and this isn’t a buffer, this isn’t a high-speed buffer. This is an orbital; the difference being is the platform does not only spin but it rotates up and down and it avoids a swirl mark which on a plain buffer, you are going to get regardless of what pad or whether it is a compound or a black. You are going to get a slight swirl if do not have that random orbital oscillation. So anyway I go ahead and apply the wax right on the surface of the paint. Again if the surface is very hot, better to apply it right to the pad itself, but today it’s kind of cool. I usually try in quarter each area before I move on meaning that this right here, I would just go ahead and have it waxed, a quarter of that half and then I move on. If you are doing waxing out in direct sunlight, it is a good idea to go ahead and remove the wax as you go. Letting it sit out in direct sunlight for too long can literally bake it into the finish and make it more difficult to get off. So I apply and then I remove and I always leave a little piece of wax at the edge of the area that I have covered just to show where I have left off. I also remove with micro-fiber towels. They are 100% cotton, but it is a micro-fiber weave; sort of a new product. They have been around a couple of years, but they make the job a lot easier and they give you a much better result than just a plain terry cloth towel. After you have gone ahead and covered the majority of the area with the orbital, go ahead and use the wax pad; plain 100% cotton is the best and you can find these at any auto part store. I always do the smaller areas with the pad, makes it a lot easier and you don’t have to worry about the orbital damaging anything. Be careful with the orbital when you are using it around mirrors and old trim pieces because sometimes you can actually break pieces off the car with the orbital if you are not careful. Whether it is wax build up, go ahead and use a stiff bristle brush. This is a special brush that you can get at any detail supply store. It is horse hair and it doesn’t scratch the paint. I use this to get into the cracks to remove the little bit of wax that usually builds up there. "