Is there such a thing as waxing your Ferrari TOO much?

If your Ferrari is driven under 5K miles a year and left in the garage most days, as most Ferraris are, anything past a once-a-year wax is extreme overkill. Many Ferraris (like mine) don't even get WET, so a decent wax job with your basic can of Turtle Wax will last a long, long time.

Waxing any car monthly, especially a seldom-driven Ferrari, is not only a waste of time and/or money; it's what a shrink friend of mine might term "obsessive compulsive" or some similar psycho-babble. And if you get really aggressive, you'll wax your way all the way down to the bare metal - especially on sharp edges - and then you can go shopping for a paint job so that you can continue your monthly waxing.

 

Cover if you have a garage queen. Quick detailers are nice for daily drivers who go without being covered all the time and are on the road frequently, in between washes. Dusters cause friction, even your skin causes friction, and scratches will show up more frequently and more in quantity using a duster, a cloth without enough lubricant (i.e. water, soap, detailer spray, etc).

One of the problems with layering wax is that people do it when the car is not completely clean. Any car driven daily under any conditions and you want to wash it twice to remove as much as you can before applying another layer. Layers should be applied same day, otherwise, you get dust and other grime embedded in the wax.

A premium show wax, easy to use, best optics, can be layered in under an hour by hand and its recommended no more than 2 or 3 depending on the product per day.

Layers can be detrimental if its not clean or if the method/materials your using causes scratches.

You don't need more than a handful of layers for what you need. Unless your showing, taking it to be stripped and redone once or twice a year is all you need tops.

Sunny

 

I wouldnt wax any car once a month personally, you could strip the paint in a matter of a few years.....

 

First of, no professional detailer should be claying, polishing, and waxing your car every month. You only polish when needed, and you layer the wax when you wax that frequently. You need to approach the situation differently depending on what you require out of the paint. If you drive the car on a limited basis, waxing 2-4 times a year is fine. If you drive frequently, you may want to wax every month if you are compulsive, but it is a bit overkill. You are better off waxing when the car's paint requires it and not on a time basis.

 

If I didn't wash & wax the car like a madman, what would I do with all my free time? ;-)

Seriously, I think some of this conversation depends on the color of the car. A black car (like mine) will get extremely hot when outside in the sunshine. It wouldn't surprise me if the paint temperature hit 120+ on hot days -- that'll just about cook any natural wax within a day or two. A silver metallic on the other hand, stays -somewhat- cooler by its reflective nature. Synthetic waxes obviously hold up better, but there's a serious trade-off with depth of shine. I'm happy to wax the car every few weeks, and not the slightest bit concerned what the pundits say. I've been at the detailing game for many many years (back when Coca-Cola was considered the best tire-shine around!), and I'm telling you, with the PROPER materials, tools, and training, it'd be hard to "overdo" it.

The more I try things like Griot's SpeedShine or Meguires QuickDetailer, the less I like them. It seems like it'd be hard to avoid scratches -- think about a simple garden hose: the volume of water knocks a lot of dirt/dust off the car and it 'floats' the dirt into a nice flowing river quickly off the car. With quick detailers, it seems like you need to use a LOT of the stuff, and it encourages the use of dry towels against paint that still has dirt particles on it. I welcome your responses, because I'd love to use those products with more success.

To the original question -- I wash all the family cars weekly. Wife's car (white) gets clay once-a-year, and synthetic wax every 4-6 weeks. My daily driver (steel blue) gets clay once or twice a year, and Griots Best-in-Show wax every 4-6 weeks. F-car which is black gets washed weekly -- if I drove anywhere, and a light coat of Griot's Best-in-Show semi-weekly. I got the car in early January and immediately clayed it and put a base polish on. It's probably got 3 or 4 thin layers. At the rate I'm going, I won't need Stonegard because of all the wax ;-).

To me the car looks great. I'm sure micro-scratches will develop over time -- black is a difficult color to keep correct.

-Daniel

p.s. Yes, Coca-Cola on the tires. It was "all the rage" before they invented Armor All (and no, I don't use Armor All....)
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fricton and paint don't mixeso until they come up with a way to wax your car without touching it, don't overdue it