TOGW = The Other Guy's Wax

[Mike.Phillips@Autogeek]

TOGW = The Other Guy's Wax


This is called, TOGW, pronounced, togwa.





Here's a close-up of TOGW



TOGW stands for The Other Guy's Wax.

That is the wax in the cracks and crevices or on trim components or around emblems left by the last guy that buffed out the car. So not only do we have to remove any splatter we get on the car, we also have to remove the other guys wax or his shoddy work will reflect poorly on our work.


Here's a tip...

One of the thing I do before taking a job is to inspect the car for the other guy's wax in the cracks, often times this will be from the owner of the car that you're standing there talking to.

Look around any components, especially if they have a gasket under them or a seam with a rubber gasket or white residue on plastic, vinyl or rubber trim. If there's a sunroof, look around the gap for the rubber or fuzzy seal to be creamed-out with polish or wax.

If you find this kind of shoddy work, be sure to take a few pictures of it and also point it out to the owner so they know you know it's there before you even start to work on the car.

Then let them know that you're willing to try to remove the other guy's polish and wax residue as a part of the job but let them know HOW DIFFICULT and TIME CONSUMING it is and that you can't make any promises to get it all off because it's so difficult and time consuming to remove completely especially after it's been there for a while.

If the person you're talking to is the person that normally waxes the car, at a minimum it will bring attention to the fact that in the future they should be more careful and hopefully they'll appreciate your attention to detail as well as figure out you actually do know what you're talking about.

Also, while you're looking for wax in the cracks, take a look for any places some other guy may have burnt the paint off of high points and corners and point this out to the owner BEFORE you work on the car.

This is where an inspection form comes in handy so you can mark any pre-existing problems, point them out to the owner and protect yourself from getting the blame for someone else's mistakes.

Two products Autogeek carries to help you remove the other guy's wax off of plastic trim are,

Wax Blaster Wax Remover


Duragloss Wax Eraser

[konrad]

Is it also possible to use a dilution of Meg's APC and a soft brush to remove this wax? If so, what dilution?

Thanks,
Konrad

[Mike.Phillips@Autogeek]

Originally Posted by konrad

Is it also possible to use a dilution of Meg's APC and a soft brush to remove this wax? If so, what dilution?

Thanks,
Konrad

Or just about any quality detailing APC product, i.e. All Purpose Cleaner


Off hand I think 20:1, that is 20 parts water to 1 part APC or APC+

Always test first in an inconspicuous area and check your results.

[Dibbuz]

I've tried the waxblaster but it didn't do anything on the wax stains on my trim. APC 1:10 and a meg's triple brush did the trick.

[Nappers]

I like those products!

I tend to get MOW, My Own Wax.....

[Hemin8r]

Great advice Mike! I recently had a customers vehicle that had quite a bit of TOGW. He did mention to me after I did the inital inspection that it was "he" who had previously waxed his 1 month old vehicle. I totally agree that it does take time to remove the wax residue off and depending where on the vehicle it was left to harden makes it that much more defficult.

I removed this wax residue from a plastic type material up on the roof of the car (Ford Edge). It was a little more difficult for me to remove than if it would have been on a painted surface. I would probably say about 30 minutes alone.


After (Removed using Last Touch & light bristled brush)

[jake66]

On a different note, we were working on my brother's 1959 Chevy project and he was cleaning some plastic lenses that had old dried wax on them. I told him to use peanut butter to remove it. They thought I was nuts, tried it, and it worked great.

[Mike.Phillips@Autogeek]

Originally Posted by jake66

On a different note, we were working on my brother's 1959 Chevy project and he was cleaning some plastic lenses that had old dried wax on them. I told him to use peanut butter to remove it. They thought I was nuts, tried it, and it worked great.

And now we've come full circle in just a few hours...

See my replies in this thread and the time stamps as compared to your time stamp...

Removing dried compound from vehicle?

[jake66]

I just saw it. Too funny.

[Emile]

I am the worst with wax residue. That stuff is all over my car, and it's 100% my fault. I don't mind, except there is a crease/crevice in the rear of my vehicle as part of the design which separates the lower rear valance from the rear bumper and there is a juicy line of wax residue that runs along the entire rear of the bumper.

One of these days I will sit down with some P21S TAW/APC+ and various brushes and try to get it all off but until then I'll just live with it.

Those Cotton Detailing Stix that AG has on the BOGO page right now are great at removing wax residue. Usually they need the help of a QD or some kind of exterior cleaner, but some time and effort usually gets the area quite clean.