By Robert Emslie
Hooniverse reader B72 was musing the other day, when the infectious warm-weather mix tape standard Summertime by Will Smith dropped by his head and decided to stay for a while. That got him thinking about the lyrics everybody frontin’ and maxin’ – chillin’ in the car they spent all day waxin’ which raised two questions in his mind – what the hell ever happened to DJ Jazzy Jeff, and, do people still spend summer days outside waxing their car?
In case you’re not familiar, what the Fresh Prince was alluding to was the practice of preparing for a summer evening’s activities which involve cruising in your pride and joy, and the efforts that have gone into making it look its best. It’s a. . . well, why don’t you just see for yourself?
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_PDns23RWY[/youtube]
Doesn’t that make you want to set up a lounge chair on the back of a flatbed truck and cruise the neighborhood? But more importantly, does it get you joinsing to spend the day in the driveway, under the shade of a spreading chestnut tree, rubbing on the wax and buffing it off until you need sunglasses just to look at your ride? With today’s modern clear coats and the public’s general apathy for breaking a sweat, that scene doesn’t seem to get played out as often today as it did back when Will Smith was still the Fresh Price, and DJ Jazzy Jeff could be found on more places than just the side of a milk carton.
Still, if you’re here reading Hooniverse, you’re not part of that apathetic general public, and you likely take pride in maintaining your ride. So, if that’s the case, do you take your cue from Mr. Smith and spend your summer days frontin’ and maxin’ and then chillin’ with the car that you be waxin’?
Image source: [Robotbastard via Flickr]
Jeff Glucker
I know I need to, but usually don't take the time.
I might with an older car, but it is such a pain in the ass with the new cars and trying to avoid any plastic pieces.
Maybe I will give my car a nice clean and wax.
I'm lucky to own at least one car that was built before the age of 2-stage paint, so, yes.
After my last car became a magnet for door dings I quit caring so much about it. before that it was Zymol'd about three times a year. The new car has perfect paint. I'm planning on trying Zaino since that is what the previous owner used.
No joke, I hate waxing, though love to see the waxed ones 😉
You're certainly in the right country for it. They even named a 'do after it.
That No. 7 was good stuff in its time; you could also get it as a pourable liquid. The stuff that I miss is "Color Back". It was a pourable liquid you could use (before clearcoat paint systems) to gently color sand your paint, to bring it back to life. Even on clearcoat, it was great for removing paint transfer from other cars, associated with door dings.
Can you wax a flat black murdered out car? I grew up seeing cars driving around all day with the wax still on to get that extra shine.
The Jetta gets very little wax love. I'm going for a patina like at the billteproof shows.
Never outside. Wash them and get them in the garage. Dry them off and cool, then wax them. The four I normally have to do every few months take the better part of a Sunday and a Twelver or more of Beer. I leave the wifes car for last. Normally a little tipsy by then. Buffer normally comes out once a summer just to give that shine back.
Whoa. I guess its because we are all interconnected here on Hooniverse, so I should not be quite so freaked out, but yeah, I waxed my wife's Civic yesterday. Turtlewax has a cool new container (seriously, the last time I bought wax was 2001). It felt good to get out there (in the car port) and do some polishing. I figure I have no excuse not to wax my truck now.
Being a fan of the spray on waxy stuff they use in car washes (because it gets in the nooks and crannies – important for rust protection here in New England), I took a classic Mini to the car wash the other day. It was too low and I wasn't convinced it would clear the floor mounted rail system. I then drove around for an hour looking for one of those wash it yourself for five pounds in quarters places. Spent the better part of an hour cruising around and found nothing.
Just did the wife's Sequoia on Saturday. Thorough hand wash, then a paint cleaner (applied with orbital buffer), then a polish (also with buffer), and finally a coat of wax to seal it all up, finished with a final pass of the buffer with a sheepskin bonnet. Like lilwillie, it's all done in the garage to keep the surface cool. The whole thing took about 3 1/2 hours, but the result was worth it. I only take it this far about once a year for her car, twice for mine. I'll do a coat of wax here and there for good measure. Keeps the bugs from sticking, and I swear the cars stay cleaner. 4 kids and a lot of road trips make the interior detail a little more frequent and pretty involved. I am constantly amazed at the new ways the kids find to mess up the car.
I find car detailing (and repair) to be a great stress reliever. Seems to pay off when I go to sell the cars, too.
I haven't waxed my own car since the Integra, which was 3 cars ago. Being that I work at a dealership, I can get a full detail for about $65, so I just get it done there. Between yard work and honey-dos on the weekends, I've got very little time for anything else. Besides, I don't have the tools for it.
Since the truck doesn't fit in the garage (damn 7' door) I have to wait for a nice overcast day to do it. Haven't yet this year. The wife does hers in the garage. Yes that's right. SHE waxes HER car.
Then we both put another coat on each at the end of autumn to help protect during the winter.
Jazzy Jeff is still makin dope beats--http://www.amazon.com/Return-Magnificent-DJ-Jazzy-Jeff/dp/B000NO20UQ. Check it out.
Most of my cars have been shitboxes that didn't even earn a proper washing (two never got a basic wash in the time I owned them, and another went more than a year unwashed). I like to try and keep the current car clean since it's new, but I'm not about to spend hours on a basic Civic. The gas station car wash is good enough for it.
If I didn't, it would never rain in SoCal.
If the water doesn't bead the way I want it to when I wash, and I've got the time, I'll throw a quick liquid wax coat on the hood and roof. The big problem here is the combo of sun + light acid rain + dust that will oxidize the crap out of your sun-facing surfaces. I treat it more like a paint maintenance thing than a "make my car perfectly beautiful" thing…particularly given the accumulation of small dents and scratches they all have.
All the time. Usually trying to hurry up and finish because I'm late for a show or cruise. Living underneath a bunch of damn sycamore tree sucks.
Wait, what? We're still supposed to wax our cars???
*runs off to modify 'to do' list*
My car already has something of a patina developing, and I park in dirt at work and at home, so everyone is lucky I even bother to wash it once or twice a month. I might wax it twice a year.
Between the responsibilities with the house and the kids, I'm lucky if I wash our cars regularly. The last time I waxed a vehicle was about 15 years ago. Yesterday my daughter was squirting her new dolphin squirt gun on the door of the Volvo and then rubbing the dirt with her hand. I wanted to be mad but at least she finally took the darn thing outside and wasn't spraying her little brother. She was off trying to catch frogs a few seconds later. Surely the clear coat can handle that.
turtle wax 5 times a year. Quick once over I mean twice over. I drive old cars with rust spots so I leave a good layer on the rust. Helps slow it down. I polish my chrome bumpers cause they are perfect unlike the paint. s.o.s. the white walls and polish the hub caps too. 50-90 minutes to get it the best I can.
I had to at one point – the paint was oxidised badly enough that I could write on it when I got Vi, and my friends took advantage of that not long afterward. Occasional scribblings were fine, but a rather detailed penis, a swastika or two, and some rather rude language most certainly were not.
Now there's a bit of wax residue on some of the trim, but I don't really care; it's better than how it was. I should probably wash 'er and wax 'er again now that it's springtime; I didn't do much below the beltline because it wasn't oxidised down there.
Haha, I just spent all day Sunday washing, waxing and vacuuming my car. I put two coats of Mother's on that sucker so hopefully I won't have to do it again for another few months.
Wax my Ranger? Heck, it only gets washed when it rains!!!!
What's even more amazing is that the truck still has a mirror quality to it.