Back in 1967 paint was pretty basic. Today’s cars are not like that. They have sophisticated paint systems on them that will last for years and years, if you give them proper care. Now proper care begins with washing. You have to wash the finish regularly, but make sure that you use a proper car wash soap. You do not use any type of laundry or dishwashing detergent.

One thing that I’ve found to be very effective is the Mr. Clean Car Wash system. Now this uses special filters and a special soap to do away with water spots, and it really does a good job. Now you buy replacement filters and soap for it. If you look at it, it sounds like it’s expensive, but it’s only about $1.20 per wash, so that’s not bad for the quality that you get.

To protect the paint, the first thing you do is you have to go through and get rid of all the bugs and tar. That means that you go over the affected areas with bug and tar remover. That will get rid of that.

Now the next thing is a cleaner. A cleaner is going to do away with any embedded materials in the surface of the paint. Next is going to be a polish. Now a polish is not a wax. A polish is going to make the finish shine. And last is going to be a good high quality wax. Now the wax is what’s going to seal the paint and protect it from the elements.

A lot of good waxes on the market. One of the things that you want to look for is a high carnauba wax content, like this Zymol that we have here. Now here’s something. This is NanoWax. NanoWax is new. It’s easy to apply. It does a great job as far as the shine is concerned, and it does away with the white powdery residue that’s so difficult to clean up.

The last thing you have to be aware of is what you’re going to use to apply and remove the waxes and the polishes and so on. There are special applicators and cloths. Make sure that you use those. The reason is, if you use an old towel from the house, some of the laundry detergents and softeners and things like that, they can actually leave a residue on that towel that even though it feels soft, it can leave fine scratches in the paint. So if you do it regularly, use all the proper products, your paint will look great for many years.

If you have a question or comment, write to me.  The address is MotorWeek, Owings Mills, MD, 21117.