I never waxed my EVO

[DRAGHICI]

Hey its almost 42 months since i owned my EVO, i never waxed her due to fear of swirl marks, just regular washing, drying and 3m clay two times to remove some asphalt specs.

she was always garaged since day one.

my question is if the car is still nice and shinny is wax really needed?

or is wax only needed for cars that are kept outside?

[alloutDSM]

wax is always good =)

[FJF]

Originally Posted by DRAGHICI

Hey its almost 42 months since i owned my EVO, i never waxed her due to fear of swirl marks, just regular washing, drying and 3m clay two times to remove some asphalt specs.

Often, swirl marks are a product of washing/drying the car. Have a look at this for as nice primer:

http://www.autopia.org/forum/guide-d...ng-drying.html

my question is if the car is still nice and shinny is wax really needed?

or is wax only needed for cars that are kept outside?

I would strongly suggest some paint protection (wax or sealant). If the paint lacks visible flaws, I'd start with a chemical cleaning followed by a protective application. This can be done by hand. If want to get more serious about the paint, a random-orbital machine is a great investment. It all depends on what you're after. If you'd like a show-quality finish, it takes a bit of work. If you just want a clean car, you can maintain the look with 15 minutes of your time and an application of Aquawax.

BTW, what color is your Evo?

[el brusco]

fjf is right! if you don't like to put wax on your car every 3 to 5 weeks go fore a sealant and maintain with a liquid wax or QD with wax it will help a lot and keep the car nice and protected, if you have a light color evo like silver or white it is harder to see paint imperfection but there are still there I believe polishing the paint once a year is the way to go

[DRAGHICI]

my EVO is GG, people always comment saying she looks new, when I tell them i never applied wax they don't believe me.

I always read people here saying how they wax every week, or once a month.

is it really needed?

[FJF]

I am a terrible photographer, but here's what GG can look like after a little polish and sealant. Notice the reflection of the tree branch in the wing pillar, as an example. YMMV

To answer your question, you don't have to protect the paint. There are show cars, that rarely see an open road, with finely polished paint and layers of glaze to bring out the gloss, depth and reflection. No matter where the car is kept, the paint oxidizes over time. Regular washing and drying, too, causes micro-marring that can be diminished by having a slick (paint) surface. There's no law that say you have to wax your car. If you want your car to look its best, you may want to look into the process before buying a random can of wax and smearing it on the paint. The technique is even more important.

[getcha]

^^^Yea

Washing and drying is probably THE biggest cause of marring and scratching(aside from obvious scratches from idiots).
You may as well have waxed or sealed the car, assuming you did a good thorough wash. It can only help protect it from acid rain, regular water marks, birdskit especially, bugs(which mind you love my car so much they lay down on the top of it for a tan and decide its cool to just die there) and the other fantastic things that love to ruin paint. Plus protection on the car makes it wayyyy easier to clean.

If you could get your washing and drying technique down, you probably wouldnt even need to polish once a year, maybe every couple. Even so, for the light marring you could use a glaze like Vanilla moose hand glaze that has like the slightest of slight abrasives to over time work on the marring and just fill in the rest.

Waxing/sealing is situation dependent. Is the car garaged?Washed how often?What type of weather does it see? What kind of environment is it in? What type/brand of wax/sealant is on it?

There is a million things to consider but its proven that a protected vehicle keeps a better finish significantly longer than a neglected(even relatively) one.

EDIT: FJF your car is friggin NOICE