New Car

[tabbyayn]

So I've been told by my BF (who apparently thinks I'm made of money) that before I have my first car wash, I should have the dealer polish stripped off and have a hand wax done.

Thoughts?

Keep in mind, my 2012 Jetta is a daily driver not a show car. I do want to keep it as clean and pretty as possible but I'm likely not going to do any mod's other than tint.

Thanks everyone!
Tab

[67Customs]

He is absolutely incorrect.

If the dealer put a wax or sealant on it before you took delivery, let it wear out before you wax it. Unless you are OCD about your vehicle and you only want your own wax on it, it doesn't make sense to do what he suggests.

I'm just not sure how a hand wax is going to do anything better for your vehicle than the wax/sealant the dealer put on.

Secondly, and most important, I can't fathom how you safely strip the dealer "polish" off of the vehicle without A) Washing it first B) stripping it with a wash. So technically, you can't strip the dealer "polish" off of the vehicle before your first wash.

And, just so you know, stripping the wax off of a car and having a hand wax done can be a simple as this:

Wash
Clay Bar
Paint Cleaner
Wax

You can do it yourself VERY easily with cheap supplies from Walmart/Carquest/etc.

If you decide to do it, let us know and will will offer you some step-by-step supply/process suggestions.

[tabbyayn]

BWAHAHAHA! I *love* that he's wrong!

Thanks a million!

[smittyATL]

I think most dealers are using synthetic sealants these days.

My wife's Accord, purchased last year, had some synthetic on it. I just layered a couple coats of Duragloss on and it still beads like crazy.

Stripping a synthetic and replacing with a wax would be counterproductive.

[clutchrider]

I got my car right around Thanksgiving last year. Came off the truck and was PDI'd and detailed. Picked it up with 17 miles on it. They did a pretty good job of sealing it and there are hardly any swirls on the car now. I have stocked up on my supplies lately and am about to give the car it's first once over. So that is about 7 months and just over 7k miles of driving.

I've never owned a new car and have just been washing it using the two bucket system with quality products.

The only time I stripped a car from the dealer was when I got my 20,000 mile Toyota Matrix XR AWD. It was CPO and they did a **** job getting it ready. I stripped it down and went to town on a 3 step process for scratch/swirl removal, polish, then a good wax coating. Took me almost 20 hours to get it back to the way I wanted it engine, interior, all of it. Ever since then it was pie to keep clean.

So for you, no. Just wash it properly, use a quick detailer here and there and wait a few months for it to wear off.


Oh and GF gets new car, BF says to strip it and redo the detail, GF goes to TCL for input, BF overruled. Epic.

[2001 VR6]

I could be really out to lunch, but unless you pay extra, the dealer is not putting protection on cars

[tabbyayn]

Clutch - Epic indeed! More importantly, why am I no longer get post notifications?