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How often I should do waxing for my 2012 Audi A6
I bought a 2012 Audi A6 in January 2012 and didn't take it for waxing till now except car wash. I'm new to car stuff. Please help me with the ques i have
1. How often I should do waxing for my car to preserve paint and to keep it new forever? 2. Can I take my car to any car wash center which has waxing service or are there any specific things to look for? 3. What is detailing ? When should my car need this? 4. How can I keep my car interior(leather seats and dash board) new? If you feel anything important that a new Audi car owner should aware of to keep the car as a new or regarding maintenance,etc..please let me know. Thanks in advance. |
Generally, hand washing using the 2 bucket method it the best way to wash it using a super soft microfiber mitt or sponge. You use one bucket for clean soapy water, and the other to rinse the mitt off after you wash each section of car. This way no dirt or grime stays on the mitt and scratches your car. I use a spray on wax between waxings when drying the car. A good wax (done in the shade after a good wash and dry) should be done 4 times a year, each season really. Once a year, before the spring waxing, you should clay bar the car. This removes stubborn grime you don't really notice. It will really make your car shine.
Detailing is just a really good cleaning of the inside of the car. If you want, maybe once or twice a year, you could may a pro for this, but if you take good care of it when you wash it, it won't be necessary. As for the leather and dash, I love McGuire's brand leather wipes and cleaning wipes. In the end, NO ONE will take care of your care as good as you will. As for maintenance, follow the manual. If you have the know-how, tools, and space, you can take care of the simple things, like oil changes. For other things, find a reputable shop that knows European cars, or take it to a dealer. |
Thanks for your reply. Which one is good Carnauba wax or sealant ?
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Whatever you do, don't use a power buffer. It will cause swirls that stay forever, and wear off the clear coat, making the car look dull regardless of how much waxing you do.
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Originally Posted by z28pete
(Post 1394111)
Whatever you do, don't use a power buffer. It will cause swirls that stay forever, and wear off the clear coat, making the car look dull regardless of how much waxing you do.
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Man I posted this on the wrong thread, a couple up from this one, my bad...I used to use and swear by Mothers products for everything inside and out. My dad got an acrylic polymer protectant polish Kit for our boat last month from www.saveyourpaint.com and when he pulls it out the the water its almost dry... So I checked it out and they have two things Car-tech (polish for paint) and Luster-tech that protects rubber and vinyl. I use that inside and out now and I havent washed my 01 a6 in like two weeks now all Ive had to do since I polished it is wipe it off with a dry towel. plus ive always heard waxes eventually build up, and I guess this stuff doesnt it strips the old as you apply the new and you do it 2 or 3 times a year :)
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1. 4x per year works, but it does depend on your environmental conditions and how the vehicle is stored, driven, etc. If you park outside a lot, especially during the day, that can have a negative effect. If it rains a lot, that can have a negative effect. Lots of blowing sand/dust, again that's harmful. How much you wash your car, and how you wash your car, can also have negative or positive effects. The best way to answer this is to basically wax your car when it needs it. Look for indicators of wax degredation like water not sheeting off as easily, or dirt not coming off easily when rinsing the car before washing it. Stuff like that will tell you it's time for a new application of wax. It also depends on what kind of wax you're using, and how you maintain it. I used a shine spray often after washings, as this extended the life of my wax applications.
2. Any place that does detailing will do it. Your car isn't all that special. Most modern cars aren't. They only have special considerations with older cars that don't have clear coat, or that have old paint. 3. Detailing is both inside and outside. For inside stuff, the basics are vacuuming, wiping down all surfaces and cleaning the windows. Beyond that, you start getting into cleaning vents, cleaning and conditioning the leather surfaces and more intensive carpet cleaning (steaming, shampooing, etc). The two biggest areas I've noticed is upkeep of leather, and cleaning of carpets. Leather needs to be constantly cleaned and conditioned, but it becomes even more important if you live in a warmer climate, or if you don't have tinting and you have a lot of sunlight. Also, dry air can dry out the leather too, so there's that too. Carpets can be vacuumed, but you do need to clean them better than that regularly. If you don't, they will slowly degrade, regardless of how much you vacuum. I have a Bissel carpet cleaner that works pretty well for that. Also removes the funky odors that start to build up. Exterior detailing essentially just super-intensive cleaning of the paint and exterior parts. What I do is once every year I'll do a major detail, and then just do upkeep the rest of the year. I do a very thorough washing, then I use a paint cleaner/wax remover. Then wash the car again. Clay bar the paint, then wash the car again. While washing the car, clean the wheels, using a wheel cleaner if necessary to get off the brake dust. I will also scrub the tire walls. Clean the wheel wells, all moulding and vents, and anything else. Once dry, I tape off the lights and other areas that I don't want to get anything on, and I will polish the paint. Once done with polishing, I will wash the car again if there is a lot of polish dust. Then, I will apply a couple coats of wax to the car. Follow that up with tire dressing and call it a day. Good way to kill about 16hrs of your life. ;) After that, I will only claybar and polish if it becomes necessary. If not, this is only a once-a-year thing for me. When I used to competitively show my E46 M3, I would do this whole process before every show, and I got some awards for my trouble, so it was certainly worth it. I would do about 3 waxings a year and that was enough, provided that I did use the spray shine often. 4. Again, use a leather cleaner and conditioner for leather. For other surfaces, most interior cleaners and protectants work well. When I got big into detailing, I had a mix and match of everything and it became a hassle to find this, that and the other thing. So much so that I decided I wanted to make it easier for myself and I forked over the money for a bunch of stuff from Griot's Garage. They may great stuff, but you'll pay for it. What drew me to them was that everything they have is designed to work and integrate together, so this made it easy to set up a system and follow it. I use the 6" random orbital for all of my wax and polish work, and it works great. The nice thing about random orbitals is that they don't generate heat, so you can't damage your paint when using them. You don't necessarily have to go with Griot's, as there are a couple other companies also that make most things you need. There are a couple of considerations you need to have have though. Do you want to get the "over the counter" stuff that you get at AutoZone or OReilly? Or do you want the "boutique" stuff? Most stuff that you get from auto parts stores is designed to do many things. You can buy one product that does tasks A-D, while another product does E-J. Boutique brands like Griot's tend to have individual products with a specific purpose. One product does task A only. Another does task B. Another may do C and D, but that's it. You need another for E, another for F, etc etc. Can you tell the difference? It depends. I used Griot's stuff on my Bimmers. I used Turtle Wax on the wife's Honda. She couldn't tell the difference between the two, but I could. The average person couldn't tell the difference either. People who were big car guys could tell though. I've used a lot of good "over the counter" products over the years, and modern technology has certainly produced some cool stuff. Just keep in mind that whatever you do, you can't mix and match certain types of protectants. Carnauba wax is very nice and gives a good shine, but the polymer/synthetic waxes tend to give more of a "wet" look to the paint. Once you apply a polymer/synthetic wax or sealant to your paint, you shouldn't apply any kind of natural wax. That polymer stuff is like Teflon and is designed to prevent anything from sticking to it. If you apply wax to any surface that still has the synthetic polymer protectant, the wax generally won't stick very well, or at all. Years ago, when I switched from polymer to carnauba, I had to strip off the polymer with a paint cleaner (from Griot's, of course :D ) so that the wax could stick. OR, you could just make your life easier and pay someone to do it. I took a lot of pride in my work, and I got a lot of compliments for my cars all the time, even in day-to-day activities. I did it because I prefer to do it myself, but I did burn up a lot of my free time doing it, so you have to be prepared for the time commitment. |
Originally Posted by Reedo302
(Post 1418172)
1. 4x per year works, but it does depend on your environmental conditions and how the vehicle is stored, driven, etc. If you park outside a lot, especially during the day, that can have a negative effect. If it rains a lot, that can have a negative effect. Lots of blowing sand/dust, again that's harmful. How much you wash your car, and how you wash your car, can also have negative or positive effects. The best way to answer this is to basically wax your car when it needs it. Look for indicators of wax degredation like water not sheeting off as easily, or dirt not coming off easily when rinsing the car before washing it. Stuff like that will tell you it's time for a new application of wax. It also depends on what kind of wax you're using, and how you maintain it. I used a shine spray often after washings, as this extended the life of my wax applications.
2. Any place that does detailing will do it. Your car isn't all that special. Most modern cars aren't. They only have special considerations with older cars that don't have clear coat, or that have old paint. 3. Detailing is both inside and outside. For inside stuff, the basics are vacuuming, wiping down all surfaces and cleaning the windows. Beyond that, you start getting into cleaning vents, cleaning and conditioning the leather surfaces and more intensive carpet cleaning (steaming, shampooing, etc). The two biggest areas I've noticed is upkeep of leather, and cleaning of carpets. Leather needs to be constantly cleaned and conditioned, but it becomes even more important if you live in a warmer climate, or if you don't have tinting and you have a lot of sunlight. Also, dry air can dry out the leather too, so there's that too. Carpets can be vacuumed, but you do need to clean them better than that regularly. If you don't, they will slowly degrade, regardless of how much you vacuum. I have a Bissel carpet cleaner that works pretty well for that. Also removes the funky odors that start to build up. Exterior detailing essentially just super-intensive cleaning of the paint and exterior parts. What I do is once every year I'll do a major detail, and then just do upkeep the rest of the year. I do a very thorough washing, then I use a paint cleaner/wax remover. Then wash the car again. Clay bar the paint, then wash the car again. While washing the car, clean the wheels, using a wheel cleaner if necessary to get off the brake dust. I will also scrub the tire walls. Clean the wheel wells, all moulding and vents, and anything else. Once dry, I tape off the lights and other areas that I don't want to get anything on, and I will polish the paint. Once done with polishing, I will wash the car again if there is a lot of polish dust. Then, I will apply a couple coats of wax to the car. Follow that up with tire dressing and call it a day. Good way to kill about 16hrs of your life. ;) After that, I will only claybar and polish if it becomes necessary. If not, this is only a once-a-year thing for me. When I used to competitively show my E46 M3, I would do this whole process before every show, and I got some awards for my trouble, so it was certainly worth it. I would do about 3 waxings a year and that was enough, provided that I did use the spray shine often. 4. Again, use a leather cleaner and conditioner for leather. For other surfaces, most interior cleaners and protectants work well. When I got big into detailing, I had a mix and match of everything and it became a hassle to find this, that and the other thing. So much so that I decided I wanted to make it easier for myself and I forked over the money for a bunch of stuff from Griot's Garage. They may great stuff, but you'll pay for it. What drew me to them was that everything they have is designed to work and integrate together, so this made it easy to set up a system and follow it. I use the 6" random orbital for all of my wax and polish work, and it works great. The nice thing about random orbitals is that they don't generate heat, so you can't damage your paint when using them. You don't necessarily have to go with Griot's, as there are a couple other companies also that make most things you need. There are a couple of considerations you need to have have though. Do you want to get the "over the counter" stuff that you get at AutoZone or OReilly? Or do you want the "boutique" stuff? Most stuff that you get from auto parts stores is designed to do many things. You can buy one product that does tasks A-D, while another product does E-J. Boutique brands like Griot's tend to have individual products with a specific purpose. One product does task A only. Another does task B. Another may do C and D, but that's it. You need another for E, another for F, etc etc. Can you tell the difference? It depends. I used Griot's stuff on my Bimmers. I used Turtle Wax on the wife's Honda. She couldn't tell the difference between the two, but I could. The average person couldn't tell the difference either. People who were big car guys could tell though. I've used a lot of good "over the counter" products over the years, and modern technology has certainly produced some cool stuff. Just keep in mind that whatever you do, you can't mix and match certain types of protectants. Carnauba wax is very nice and gives a good shine, but the polymer/synthetic waxes tend to give more of a "wet" look to the paint. Once you apply a polymer/synthetic wax or sealant to your paint, you shouldn't apply any kind of natural wax. That polymer stuff is like Teflon and is designed to prevent anything from sticking to it. If you apply wax to any surface that still has the synthetic polymer protectant, the wax generally won't stick very well, or at all. Years ago, when I switched from polymer to carnauba, I had to strip off the polymer with a paint cleaner (from Griot's, of course :D ) so that the wax could stick. OR, you could just make your life easier and pay someone to do it. I took a lot of pride in my work, and I got a lot of compliments for my cars all the time, even in day-to-day activities. I did it because I prefer to do it myself, but I did burn up a lot of my free time doing it, so you have to be prepared for the time commitment. |
1. How often I should do waxing for my car to preserve paint and to keep it new forever?
If you are using a carnauba wax, it typically lasts about 3 months because it is a natural substance that wears out. You could try Wolfgang Fuzion Carnauba-Polymer Estate Wax. This wax has carnauba and POLYMERS which adds protection and typically lasts around 6 months :). 2. Can I take my car to any car wash center which has waxing service or are there any specific things to look for? I would stay away from car wash centers, their automatic washes are way to aggressive on your car's clearcoat. This is the most common reason why people get swirls and scratches in their paint. bradtyler02 is absolutely correct about using a 2 bucket wash system, it's the safest way to wash you car. Here's our 2 bucket wash system - Wolfgang Grit Guard Dual Bucket Washing System 3. What is detailing ? When should my car need this? You can pay professionals to wash, wax, etc.. your car for you, but it is typically way more expensive than if you just bought your own GOOD products and did it yourself. You can detail your own car whenever you want when you have your own car care products. Our website offers everything you need to take care of your Audi --> www.WolfgangCarCare.com 4. How can I keep my car interior(leather seats and dash board) new? Buy some kind of interior kit that has cleaners and conditioners. We offer a complete interior kit that will clean and protect EVERYTHING in your Audi. It's called the Wolfgang Leather Care Cockpit Kit. Hope this helps and definitely check out our website. My Advice - Detail Your Own Audi :) |
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