We wax your car where it's parked

Wax only sticks to clean paint

Wax is a thin layer that sits on top of your clear coat. It sheds water and gives the paint a deep, wet look. It also bonds to whatever is on the surface when it goes on. Wax laid over road film and pollen seals that dirt to the car, and the paint looks dull no matter how hard it gets buffed. So every wax job we do starts with a full wash of the car and a careful dry.

Washing takes off loose dirt, but some grit stays stuck in the clear coat after the soap is rinsed away. You can feel it. Run your fingertips across the hood of a clean car, and if it feels like fine sandpaper, that is bonded grit and dried sap. Wax spread over it traps it in place. We check the paint by touch before the wax comes out, and rough spots get cleaned off first.

Then the wax goes on thin. A thick coat does not protect the paint any better. It only takes longer to buff off, and it leaves white streaks in the seams and around the badges. We work one section at a time and buff the haze off with a clean towel before moving to the next. Done right, water beads up tight on the hood and the reflection in the door is sharp.

• Full wash and dry before any wax
• Paint checked by touch for stuck-on grit
• Thin, even coat on every painted panel
• Haze buffed off with clean towels
• Done at your home or at work

Nashville weather wears wax off faster

Summer in Nashville is hot and humid, and a car parked outside sits in strong sun most afternoons. Heat and ultraviolet light break wax down over the season, and the hood and roof go first because they face the sky. Once the wax is gone, the sun starts on the clear coat itself. That is how a dark car ends up looking flat on top while the doors still shine.

Spring has its own problem. Tree pollen settles on every car in Middle Tennessee, and after a light rain it dries into a yellow-green crust. Sap drips from maples, and bird droppings bake on in the heat. On bare paint, droppings and sap can etch the clear coat in a few days. With a fresh coat of wax, most of that mess sits on the wax and comes off in a normal wash.

Winter is short here, but it still does damage. When ice or snow is on the way, road crews spray brine on the interstates and main roads. That salty mist coats the lower half of every car that drives through it. Brine speeds up rust at chips in the paint and on any bare metal. A coat of wax in the fall makes that film easier to rinse off before it sits all season.

Cars parked outside need wax more often

Plenty of cars around Nashville never see the inside of a garage. The tall, skinny infill houses going up across the city usually have a parking pad out back or a spot on the street. Older brick ranch houses often have a carport, which keeps rain off but not the low afternoon sun. Apartment lots are open to everything. A car parked outside every day wears through wax faster and needs a fresh coat sooner.

Trees are the other big factor. In Belle Meade and Forest Hills, many homes sit on large wooded lots under old oaks and maples. A car parked in one of those driveways collects sap and wet leaves for much of the year. Leaves left sitting on damp paint leave brown stains behind. Sap hardens into small beads that a wash mitt slides right over. That paint needs the sap taken off before wax goes on, or the wax seals it in.

Out in Brentwood and Franklin, more houses have an attached garage, and a car kept inside holds its wax a lot longer. It still needs it. The drive up the interstate coats the front end in road film and bugs every day, and a garage does nothing about that. What changes is the timing. A garaged car can go longer between coats, and a car parked under a tree on the street should get one sooner.

Wax protects paint but cannot repair it

Wax adds shine and a layer of protection to paint that is still in decent shape. It does not take out scratches. A scratch you can catch with a fingernail has gone through the clear coat, and wax will not hide it. Very light swirl marks can look softer after a coat of wax, because it fills them a little. They show again as the wax wears off. You should know that before the job starts.

Clear coat that has already failed is a different problem. On older cars that spent years in the sun, the top of the hood or roof can turn cloudy and then peel in patches. Wax cannot fix that, and it will not bring back the gloss on a panel where the clear coat is gone. If we see peeling on your car, we will point it out before we start.

Paint that has faded but is still intact is where wax does its best work. After the wash and a coat of wax, a dull hood looks deeper and water beads on it again. How much it improves depends on how far the finish has gone. A car that has been looked after comes back close to new. One that sat outside with no protection will look better, and we will be honest about how much better.

Good washing habits make wax last longer

How long a coat of wax lasts depends on how the car is washed after it. Automatic washes with spinning brushes scrub wax off quickly and leave fine scratches in the paint. Dish soap strips wax too, because it is made to cut grease. Use a soap made for cars and a soft wash mitt, and rinse the car well. The wax will stay on much longer that way.

Watch the water the next time it rains. On fresh wax, rain beads up in tight round drops and runs off the hood as you drive. As the wax wears thin, the beads get flatter and wider. After that the water spreads out in sheets and just sits there. When the roof and hood stop beading but the doors still do, the top of the car is ready for another coat.

Between coats, get bird droppings and sap off as soon as you see them. On a waxed car, a damp microfiber towel with a little plain water usually lifts them off easily. Left through a hot Nashville afternoon, they can wear through the wax and mark the clear coat underneath. Pollen is easier to deal with. A plain rinse every so often in spring keeps it from caking into a film.