Waxing - Hand vs Machine

[beercanbilly]

Just finished waxing my car. I put the wax on and removed it by hand. Looks great, but I got to wondering if using my orbital machine (in lieu of doing it by hand) would have made any noticeable difference in the final shine. The car is small and I did the work over a few days so I did not bother with the orbital.
If it does make a noticeable difference, can I go back over the car with my orbital or should I start over and put down a new coat of wax. What pad is recommended or best for the final wax removal/buffing process? I white, blue, and black pads and also have microfiber and wool covers that fit over the pads. Also what speed setting should I use on my Porter Cable orbital?? TIA.

[BobbyG]

I find that when applying both sealants and waxes by machine allows me to be more thorough, more uniform, use less product, apply them correctly, much less time...

Personally, I found it makes a huge difference......

• Porter Cable 7424
• Blue or Red foam pad
• Speed 3 to 4

[DaGonz]

I have done both.. last night I applied Meg's NXT to my wife's Edge by hand, tonight I will add another layer via the PC...

[Ted S.]

I think either way has trade-offs, and the speed depends heavily on the type of wax you use.

[Mike Phillips]

For applying waxes or paint sealants... machine all the way...

How-to Machine Apply Wax using a DA Polisher

How to Apply Dodo Pastes Waxes by Machine

How To Apply Mothers California Gold Carnauba Paste Wax by Machine

[AeroCleanse]

Depends on the product, I prefer to hand apply an remove wax. The Dodo Juice finger mitts makes the job more enjoyable than using a round applicator.

[Rsurfer]

I enjoy applying a nice carnuba wax by hand over a well polished paint.

[Mike Phillips]

There is something relaxing about hand applying a premium quality wax to a finish perfectly prepared to accept the wax but I would still choose a machine because by machine applying wax you have equal, uniform pressure applied to the entire face of the foam pad.

The oscillating action of a DA Polisher is superior to the human hand for mechanically working the wax safely over the paint and laying down a uniform coating.

There are ways to apply wax by hand where you can hold the pad flat to the paint but a lot of people use the traditional small round wax applicator pad and with these you get pressure points because you sandwich the applicator pad between your thumb and your four fingers.

In this article about how to check for a single stage paint, you can see the pressure points on the pad because a heavier concentration of pigment accumulates in the four places your fingers press down on the pad showing what I mean...


How to Test for Single Stage or Clear Coat Paint

Confirmed, we're working on a single stage paint... also note the heavier accumulation were my fingers pressed down with the most pressure... this is because you can exert more pressure to the small area of your finger tips than you can with your entire hand, you can use this to work for you or cause problems depending upon what you're trying to do...

I show how to machine wax on every car we buff out here at Autogeek...





1954 Ford F-100 - Extreme Makeover - Process and products used


Next up we machine wax the paint using Pinnacle Signature Series II

For this we're going to use Lake Country Red Low Profile Ultrasoft Wax or Sealant Pads on our DA Polishers on the 3-4 Speed Setting

With the Pinnacle Signature Series II Paste Wax you can gently knock the wax out of the jar and then wearing a Microfiber Glove make a few swipes across the face of the pad and you're ready to start machine waxing using a paste wax.



Machine waxing with a DA Polisher is a lot more effective than applying wax by hand and in my opinion safer to the paint and faster...




1970 1/2 Camaro - Show Car Finish by Pinnacle - Modeled by Amy


No pictures of us machine applying wax on this project but we did...


After we machine polished out all of the defects we machine applied Pinnacle Souveran Paste Wax...




This Camaro won three first place awards at a local car show on Sunday, October 30th...






Machine waxing is my my personal preference but when it comes to working on a show car I believe it's the best way to go...