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What kind of wash/wax do you guys use on your vehicles?

Just waxed my '04 WJ with Chemical Guys Butter Wet Wax. Goes on and wipes off with ease. Great shine. I use Meguiars compound to remove swirls, scratches, etc, to prepare the paint for wax.

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Yikes! Dawn pulls everything off the paint. Wax and sealer included. Dawn is a great removal wash, not a weekly wash.
I’ve used dawn for clean vehicles for decades, that is an old wives tale. If the paint is good you don’t need wax. Also when I was LEO I kept my vehicles washed three times a week. When the new ones came in after a three or more years service life, the Chiefs and Sheriffs couldn’t tell mine from the new ones. That not an exaggeration as I’ve had it told to me twice. One chief and one sheriff.
 
Too many variables and way too many choices. I could type a book on reasons why you would use one over another, whether wax/sealant/coating. The best thing is to choose 1 and use it often. Apply it as directed. The key to it working best is prepping your paint by first removing as much surface dirt and bonded contamination by chemically and mechanically cleaning it off. From there you can choose to do a paint correction/polish or if you are satisfied, apply whatever you want to use for your paint protection. If you decide to polish, make sure you use some type of surface prep such as a 20%Isopropyl Alcohol/Distilled water before applying your wax/sealant to get the best bond to the paint surface. Traditional waxes like Carnauba have a melting point around 180° and will not last long so properly prepping can make huge gain in durability. If you wonder how clean your cars surface is, clean a spot on your paint and wrap some cellophane from a cigarette pack or plastic from something such as a sandwhich baggy and use that to feel the surface. It will heighten your sense of touch and you can tell how clean your paint is. Prepped paint should feel like glass and be smooth.

But....

Even the wax from a drive in car wash is better than nothing if applied often.

$450 for a legit ceramic sounds very cheap. You probably saved yourself some aggravation

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I’ve used dawn for clean vehicles for decades, that is an old wives tale. If the paint is good you don’t need wax. Also when I was LEO I kept my vehicles washed three times a week. When the new ones came in after a three or more years service life, the Chiefs and Sheriffs couldn’t tell mine from the new ones. That not an exaggeration as I’ve had it told to me twice. One chief and one sheriff.
I'm over here just glad to see someone washes cars as much as I do. Most won't wash once a year, much less 156x a year.

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Depends on how much time you want to put in it and how long it has been since the last detail. To start from scratch I use Dawn dish detergent to remove all wax and grease. Go over the entire vehicle with a clay bar after that to remove everything else that the Dawn didn't get. A buffing pad with meguiar's paint polish is next. Then finish with meguiar's gold class wax. Two coats of wax if I'm really feeling fancy.

For follow-up washes on my daily driver I sometimes don't even use soap. Just wet the sponge and wipe it down before you rinse it off. If you still have a good coat of wax underneath and keep the sponge clean it won't scratch the paint and I can clean the entire car in about 5 minutes.
 
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