Why wipe on/wipe off is not going to save you time...

[OCDetails]

I'm going to give you a very simple reason why this wipe on wipe off thing that people talk about is NOT going to save you any time. That is the reason people do it and it is absolutely flawed logic. If they aren't doing it to save time then they are doing it because it is easier to buff off, which is also flawed. Products streak when they are wet and they dust when they are dry. I'm not going to explain that one because it should be self explanatory, but I will explain why it doesn't save any time and actually may cause you to spend MORE time on the job.

I am all about processes. There is an order to doing things that makes them work. Take cooking for example. If you made cookies and forgot the salt but decided to sprinkle a little salt on top of each one to make up for it after they were baked, would they taste the same? No. It isn't about having the right ingredients. It is about the order. Here is another thought... What would a cheeseburger taste like if you put it in a blender and liquefied it? Would it still taste like a cheeseburger? I promise you that it wouldn't. (first hand knowledge on both of those) There is even a process that your taste buds go through to enjoy something and making it faster to eat doesn't get the same results.

So you are applying a wax and you are tempted to just wipe it off right afterwards. Let me give you the single best suggestion to why that is not necessary. Wax (or seal) your entire car and then when it is covered in wax, go around and dress the tires, trim, clean the glass, wiper cowl, chrome, etc. Any overspray from those processes will be wiped up when you buff off the wax. If you are able to do all of those things without getting a single drop on the paint, then you are too good for this world and should be expecting to get called home any minute now. lol I for one have never been able to dress the rubber around windows without getting something on the paint. Nor do I have much success perfectly dressing tires without getting something on a fender or bumper. Buffing the wax off as the final step enables me to complete the job with an absolutely perfect looking vehicle and no additional final detailing steps required. I think any detailer would agree that it is the final detailing that seems to take the most effort sometimes. I'll cut and buff all day long, but if I had my druthers then I'd have someone on staff to clean up anything I missed or caused by spraying something after I buffed the wax off.

You will use the same energy to buff the wax off right after you apply it as you will if you wait. The difference will be the energy you don't have to spend cleaning up overspray from final detail tasks like rubber, glass, and trim. Does that make sense? Forget the fact that some products actually NEED to dry on the paint before they will properly bond, and forget that wiping a wet wax off may just leave the oils on the surface and remove a lot of the protection you are trying to lay down. Think about the WOWO technique as something that will cause you more work at the end of the job. It is an enemy to an efficient process.

The only defense anyone married to this technique could give is that they do all that final detail stuff BEFORE they wax the car, so when they are done with the WOWO they are actually done with the car. If that is the case, then I give up. Whatever floats your boat I guess, but I just wanted to offer up the idea to anyone curious about process that they can actually save time at the end if they wait till after they have done everything that risks overspray before they buff the wax off. You'll be amazed at how much time it saves.

[Buckskincolt]

Thank You OC,

Very good read and what you say makes total sense. I often wondered about how effective the WOWO method would be and tried it once with the streaking you referred to as the result.

Thanks ~~ Happy Turkey Day!

[loudog2]

I agree to let the wax/sealant cure for a while. I've been doing this after reading a test on another forum.

[Da Fats]

Does extra curing time cause issues with the waxes tha tare harder to work with? like colinite? or is the dificulty I had with this wax only pertain to the thickness laid down on the paint?

[Blackfire]

I have been ignoring all the hype about saving time and energy. First of all, if you look around, all of us can afford to spend some energy. Just consider it exercise. Elbow grease has never made anyone die. Yet.
Very good write up, and very insightful thinking.

I'm going to follow your method for my hobby detailing at home.

Thanks, and Happy Thanksgiving.

[loudog2]

Does extra curing time cause issues with the waxes tha tare harder to work with? like colinite? or is the dificulty I had with this wax only pertain to the thickness laid down on the paint?

Thickness will effect removal. Remember "thin is in".

[Waxmax]

Some paste wax product directions state it is not necessary for a haze to form, you can WOWO (although I typically give them a couple minutes before buffing off). If they dry they can be hard to remove.

[slawek65]

I think with some wax WOWO is the best way to do it. #16 or 476, if left to dry for to long then is very hard to remove and You needed more time then WOWO.

[OCDetails]

Even if the instructions don't tell you that you have to let it dry, listen to what I'm telling you about saving time at the end. If efficiency isn't your goal, then that is fine. If you want to save yourself an extra half hour or an hour of trying to find all the spots you missed after you dressed the trim and everything, then that is fine. I'm not trying to tell people to be lazy. I'm telling you to be efficient. The WOWO process is lazy. It has no practical purpose in proper detailing other than the perceived savings of time, but if you are dressing trim and glass after you wax, then it will actually not save you anything.

Sealants are supposed to go on thin, like loudog2 said. If you apply it thin then dry or wet makes no difference to the effort it takes to remove it. It will be easy either way. Waxes can be a little more effort when they dry, but if you are using a good wax like Souveran or P21S or something like that, then there isn't any real effort involved there either. If there are a load of fillers in the wax then it will be difficult if it dries too long, but that should be reason not to use waxes like that.

Bottom line is, how hard is wax to remove really? It isn't like you need an ice scraper to remove it if you let it dry. Sure it might take a little more bite to buff it off, but it isn't going to add more than 90 seconds to your job even if it is 'harder' to remove. You'll save more than that by not having to clean up tire shine overspray on the fenders or rubber dressing on the doors.

[CharlesW]

I didn't read all the thread so I could easily be missing some things, but......
Wipe on and wipe off is recommended by some manufacturers.
Personal opinion, but it seems like those products would be best used per the manufacturers instructions.
Klasse AIO and S100 Carnauba are two products that I have used that the manufacturer recommends WOWO and they seem to work fine following the instructions.