Originally Posted By: LoneRanger
What wax did you use. I just did my Forester yesterday with Turtle Wax Ice, the liquid (spray) version. Decent shine but nothing to write home about, ridiculously easy on/off and doubles as protectant on the plastic trim and lenses of head and tail lights. Given the ease of use and almost water like consistency, durability may be questionable or down right poor.
I usually use REJEX aerospace sealant, which has superior durability through everything winter throws at it but it is tedious to use and stains the black plastic trim if it gets on it.
The finish you see is after washing the car with ONR (Optimum No Rinse), the car hasn't been waxed in about 3 years. However if you want an easy to apply protectant that lasts a long time, use a sealant called Opti-Seal. There is really no on-off application to it, you just apply it very sparingly with a sponge applicator. And it works in direct sunlight as well.
Originally Posted By: 69GTX
The wheels on KrisZ's car are hopefully just plastic wheel covers over steel wheels. If you let alloy wheels go very long with any brake dust on them it will start the corrosion process. Both my Lincolns had alloy wheels and the '97's were a basket case by the time I sold it (50-65% rusted). All 4 wheels leaked air and needed a charge every 1-2 weeks. They looked horrible too. I waited too long to start a weekly cleaning regimen on them. On my 2002 I started right away. But those 7 years under the 1st owner already allowed some spots to get started. After 13 years they are still about 85-90% rust free in the slots, the hot zone....holding up many times better than the '97 did. If you drive heavily in winter salt, this may have to be done after every drive. Either that or some type of protective coating applied when the car is new or nearly so. Corrosion is at its peak between 30-40 deg F. If it's too cold the rust process is much slower. Parking a slushy car in a 35 deg garage might be one of the worst things for it. It definitely doesn't help much for a concrete floor.
These wheels are aluminum, but they are painted, or maybe powder coated IDK, but they are holding up so far pretty well and I have a dedicated set of steel wheels for winter. But unprotected aluminum wheels do tend to oxidize pretty badly if not taken care of.