Originally Posted By: 02zx9r
i agree monthly waxing is probably overkill, but every 3-4 months is beneficial
Extra protection is a good thing.
But I have not used a wax product in 3-4 years since I started the annual exterior detail/sealant routine. I have one car that gets parked on the street and it beads water after 12 months almost as well as it does after its annual detail/sealant treatment. I do wash the cars at least monthly (usually twice a month) with a sheepskin mit, two bucket method, and BOGO shampoo. The shampoo I have on the shelf currently is Nu Finish Orange Power and it seems to work well, but there are many other good ones to chose from.
Here is my process takes 3-4 hours once a year.
1) Wash and rinse car.
2) Work over the front end and wheel areas with Poorboy's bug-squash to get remaining bug guts and road crud/tar off the paint, then flood rinse the car.
3) Fire up the PC (Potter Cable 7336) with some Poorboy's pro polish or similar non abrasive polish. I let the PC supply the elbow grease. I only resort to an abrasive polish (PB SSR type) if there is a problem area. Followed by a flood rinse.
4) Wipe on (very little effort required as the car is very clean at this point) a thin coat of Duragloss #601 bonding agent with a sponge pad. Follow the instructions on the bottle as you do not buff/wipe the bonding agent haze off before applying the 1st coat of sealant.
5) Wipe on two thin coats (A little goes a long way)of Duragloss #105 TTP sealant, also with a sponge pad. Buff after each coat of sealant with a MF towel. I like to wait until the next day to apply the second coat of TPP to give the sealant plenty of time to set. I am not sure if you really need to.
This works well for me and does not require a lot of time.