# Machine Waxing



## Fr33K!e (Mar 5, 2015)

Hi guys,

As the title says, I would like some info on applying and removing wax with a machine polisher. It's something I'm being forced to look it to due a neurological illness (the applying and removing just takes too much out of me and is starting to cause some lasting pain). I know applying and removing wax is better done by hand and funnily enough I find pottering about cleaning, washing and waxing quite therapeutic and good stress reliever but hey ho.

Now, would something like a Silverline rotary polisher suffice or would I be better going for das6 pro or pro plus. I will use it to remove some ultra fine scratches on my own car to begin with but just want to take the pain out apply waxing.


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## stangalang (Nov 27, 2009)

So to machine wax, a random orbital machine is best, and ideally not one with a huge throw. you can use a super soft pad to apply, and you could even trap a folded plush microfibre between pad and paint to remove the wax

You could easily use the same machine to remove fine swirls, but this is obviously a very different technique with very different products


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## Ecce (Mar 29, 2011)

First off, sorry to hear your health is hindering your detailing.

tbh, I find waxing by hand easier than using a DA but guess it depends on the wax you want to use? There are many liquid waxes out there that are simpler to use than the act of washing a car.

Remember, waxes won't 'fix' scratches, you need to polish to do that. Maybe look at glazes that fill imperfections?


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## cheekymonkey (Mar 15, 2008)

Ecce said:


> First off, sorry to hear your health is hindering your detailing.
> 
> tbh, I find waxing by hand easier than using a DA but guess it depends on the wax you want to use? There are many liquid waxes out there that are simpler to use than the act of washing a car.
> 
> Remember, *waxes won't 'fix' scratches,* you need to polish to do that. Maybe look at glazes that fill imperfections?


with a wax actually being a solid, it does fill to a certain degree:thumb:

+1 what stang said


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## Fr33K!e (Mar 5, 2015)

Yeah I know I going to have to get pads and compounds to correct the damage but once I have that out the way then hopefully once in a blue moon I will need to it again.

Cheers ecce, started when I was a kid and it's getting worse as the years role by but not a lot can be done. I have used AF Ultra Glaze which has done an alright job, quite surprised with it tbh but you can see some slight swirling up close in the sun so it will be getting polished.

Now I do know that Dodo Juice have brought a wax out that can be applied with a DA. At the moment I have go AF Ultra Glaze applied followed by AF HD and a coat of AG Aqua Wax. AG state that HD wax should applied by hand not with a DA but reading a couple threads on here people have use a DA to apply it.


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## Fr33K!e (Mar 5, 2015)

Also apologies for a errors in my typing, iPhones are brilliant for posting!


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## Mcpx (Mar 15, 2016)

My current shiny bits are Poorboys White Diamond Glaze (silver car) topped with Collinite 845, so if I can get my polishing finished in the next few days (providing Google actually gets the weather right for once!) I'll be machining both on. Of course I won't need the glaze to fill swirls immediately after polishing but it does also bring out the flake in my paint like nothing else and gives an extra layer of depth to the finish.

Machining a finish on like this isn't necessarily any quicker (or less tiring, da's do get heavy after a while) when you take into account cleaning pads etc, but I find it does help me to get a more consistently thin coat of product, which then makes it easier to remove and ultimately gives a better end result. I always buff both the glaze and waxes off by hand, again it gives a better finish but mainly because it is probably one of the most satisfying and therapeutic aspects of the entire detailing process that there is.

The trick to applying finishing products by machine is not to over do it, with polishes and compounds you work them and work them until they break down and then repeat if required, sometimes for several minutes per set, but with a finishing product all you want the machine to do is spread the product out evenly over the surface, so if you work it for too long you will actually start to remove it before you have achieved the desired effect.Set a low speed on the machine and move it quicker than you would when polishing, with waxes especially you want to avoid building up any heat. You will also find that you need far less product than you would normally use, once your pad is fully primed it will make a few drops of product go an awfully long way, hence the even, thin coating.


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## dabrad89 (May 5, 2016)

can I get a pad recommendation for applying wax - I normally do this by hand but would like to try with my silverstorm.


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## Fr33K!e (Mar 5, 2015)

I've been looking at the silverstorm but was unsure if it would be worth it simply because it isn't a random orbit polisher. Are they any good?

@Mcpx I use the BBC Weather app which seems to work a treat and has never really really been that far out.


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## SunnyBoi (Apr 25, 2013)

I use a Rupes 21 with a LC blue waxing pad along with M26 on my car. Works great for me, removing wax is lot lot easier since a machine lays a thinner layer of wax on the car.

Before the Rupes I'd use a rotary with a Megs 6.5inch foam finishing/waxing pad with M26 for the same purpose. But it was lotmore tiring than using a DA to do the same.

Wax applied with the rupes :


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## Fr33K!e (Mar 5, 2015)

DA it is then!


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## Mcpx (Mar 15, 2016)

dabrad89 said:


> can I get a pad recommendation for applying wax - I normally do this by hand but would like to try with my silverstorm.


You just need a soft finishing pad with no cut, technique is more important in this case but the best technique is dependant on the pad and wax you are using, so a little trial and error is called for to get the most even coverage.



Fr33K!e said:


> I've been looking at the silverstorm but was unsure if it would be worth it simply because it isn't a random orbit polisher. Are they any good?
> 
> @Mcpx I use the BBC Weather app which seems to work a treat and has never really really been that far out.


I would have thought that a rotary would be very much ott for this task, I know they are not the paint stripping beast's that they are sometimes portrayed to be, but I always think of them as fast and powerful, fantastic for cutting but not so good when the goal is to leave behind an even layer of product, I would have thought that they would be rather unforgiving in that respect.

Completed my polishing today but ran out of time, the ability to lift my arms and the will to live, so glaze and first coat of wax will have to wait until tomorrow.

@Fr33K!e - yeah I use the BBC app (on Android) but I find its accuracy quite intermittent, yesterday for example it showed heavy rain all night (which was correct) and then cloudy but dry from 10am onwards, so too risky to carry on polishing but I planned a few little jobs to be getting on with in the meantime, none of which I could actually do because of the not dry torrential rain. The most tooth grindingly annoying thing though is that my wifes iPhone is always absolutely spot on, a fact that she then takes great pleasure in reminding me of at every opportunity.


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## Fr33K!e (Mar 5, 2015)

Mcpx said:


> You just need a soft finishing pad with no cut, technique is more important in this case but the best technique is dependant on the pad and wax you are using, so a little trial and error is called for to get the most even coverage.
> 
> I would have thought that a rotary would be very much ott for this task, I know they are not the paint stripping beast's that they are sometimes portrayed to be, but I always think of them as fast and powerful, fantastic for cutting but not so good when the goal is to leave behind an even layer of product, I would have thought that they would be rather unforgiving in that respect.
> 
> ...


Guess what, my iPhone is bang all the time as well although my other halfs windows phone said it was raining... it's brilliant sunshine and 22C all day! :lol:


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## Fr33K!e (Mar 5, 2015)

So a DA and a soft finishing pad it is then. 

Next question - does it matter whether it is a DAS6 or Pro that I use?


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## Hufty (Apr 27, 2015)

Dodo do a supernatural wax stick like a roll on deodorant stick I've seen Mike Phillips pull the whole wax out of tub in one and just rub on the applicator for hard wax soft wax is easy of course.


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## Fr33K!e (Mar 5, 2015)

Any particular brand I should go with for pads?


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## Mcpx (Mar 15, 2016)

I saw the DJ wax stick and it seemed like a really good idea, but in reality anyone using one is going to end up putting far too much wax on the pad, plus I would much rather stick with my own preferred choice of products rather than have to use that specific one just because it comes in the machine friendly format. If DJ were to offer their entire range in that format then at least it would give us some choice.

I don't really think that getting wax onto the pad is that much of an issue tbh, if you can't swipe the wax with the pad directly (maybe the wax is worn down or is just a sample pot) you can always pick it up on a normal applicator then transfer it to the pad, again something that encourages you to be frugal with the amount of wax you apply, less is more here. 

As for pads use whatever you have, or if you are buying specifically for the task then probably best to stick with what you know.


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## cheekymonkey (Mar 15, 2008)

have used DJ wax stick for years. never overloaded the pad, infact if used right it is hard to overload the pad and it goes a long way. the DJ SN wax stick is infact a different recipe to the normal SN, so the same would have to be done with all there waxes.


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## Mcpx (Mar 15, 2016)

Fr33K!e said:


> So a DA and a soft finishing pad it is then.
> 
> Next question - does it matter whether it is a DAS6 or Pro that I use?


Not in the slightest, all the machine is doing is spreading the product out, it doesn't have to cut and it doesn't have to keep the pad spinnng under pressure (because you shouldn't be applying any pressure), so the power of the machine doesn't matter.


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## Bod42 (Jun 4, 2009)

Just to put this out there, why not use a wipe on, walk away product like Reload instead of a wax if this is more health related. Spray sealants as so quick and easy to apply.


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## Mcpx (Mar 15, 2016)

After an ipa wipe down today I put on a coat of Poorboys White Diamond, applied to the whole car by DA using the softest Autofinesse refining pad, then buffed off by hand. Then a coat of spray sealant and finally a coat of Collinite 845 liquid wax, also by DA but switched to a new very soft foam pad to keep exclusively for wax. Was initially working at speed 2.5 (DAS6 PRO+) but found that any overlapping was starting to remove wax,so dropped it to 1.5 which allowed me to get a more even coat. I covered the whole roof in four seperate sections before buffing off by hand and then divided the rest of the car up in a similar fashion, giving each section about 5-10 minute's to haze before removing, depending on the strong but patchy sun at the time.

Applying the glaze and wax by machine was a breeze, very quick and easy, mainly down to how simple it was to get an even coat without having to go over the same area several times as you would by hand. I am also pretty certain that I used a lot less product than I would of by hand, a pad loaded with four pea sized drops of wax did near enough half of the side of the car.

The only drawbacks I found were that there were a couple of areas that the machine couldn't get to that I had to do by hand anyway and that because both the products I used were very viscous (the Collinite has to be warmed up to change into its liquid state in order to be worked) it took a bit of trial and error to find the right amount to load onto the pad and how to initially spread it to prevent it from slinging everywhere.

Minor niggles aside I am convinced that glazing amd waxing by machine was much better than by hand, although I did still buff both off by hand. Very difficult to show the results off on silver paint, but you can see some of the gloss in this image

[URL=http://s1344.photobucket.com/user/mcpricex/media/forum%20stuff/20160513_152314_zps56gcokx4.jpg.html]


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## AudiPhil (Aug 11, 2018)

Mcpx that looks great! Thanks for the write up.


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