Wash & Wax

Fourteen weeks after detailing

      3^rd August 2009:  Back in mid-April I decided to have the R professionally detailed (by Automotiff).  I didn’t post before-and-after pics because frankly none of my pictures that day turned out well.  This weekend, however, I finally took some more pics after hand-washing the R for the first time since (the R doesn’t do auto washes).  To my delight, the R still looks great even after having been neglected for three and a half months.

Flecks of reflex silver.

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Front Repaint

      6^th May 2009:  A long while ago I had the R’s front bumper replaced under warranty.  Unfortunately, whichever shop the dealership sent the new bumper to did a terrible job with the paint.  I managed to ignore it until it was too late, and my recent road-trips made things drastically worse.  After having the R detailed it really bought out the multitude of road chips so I finally bit the bullet and had the front bumper and hood repainted.

      The paint shop I went to baked the pieces after painting.  Hopefully it will last until I can get a clear bra/sticker on it. 

The entire front bumper was like this.

After front repainted.

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Glanz Wax – new formulation

      17 May 2008:  Actually, I guess it’s not so new.  I purchased this new formulation of Glanz Wax last year—it’s only last month that I finally finished the old stuff.  Anywhoo, here are some pics after washing and waxing the R.

      UPDATE (24MAY2008):  I uploaded a couple close-up pics.

This pic was taken a

week after waxing.

Also taken a week later.

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First Wax of 2008

      9^th February 2008:  This weekend worked out relatively well.  Both temperature and timing aligned such that I could wash and wax my R32 for the first time in three months—and to make things even better, it was 31 days after having my hood repainted so I was finally able to wax it.

      As normal I used Glanz Wax.

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Removing paint

      19^th January 2008:  A couple days ago due to my own STUPID mistake I scraped the driver-side door against a wood post.  It left behind white paint and a dent on my side skirt.  Wangos.

      First, I washed the area to get as much white paint off as I could.  Second, I used a claybar and my fingernail to remove the rest.  You might not be able to see it in the pics, but there are white-coloured shadows (or maybe they’re scratches?) left behind that claying doesn’t appear to help.  In the spring I’ll see if a scratch remover will help.  Ugh.  Third, I waxed the clayed area with Glanz Wax.

       UPDATE 20JAN2008: The whitish shadows did turn out to be lots of fine scratches.  I’m relieved to be able to say that Meguiar’s ScratchX worked wonderfully and all the scratches are gone.  I just wonder whether or not ScratchX contains fillers (meaning I’ll have to reapply it periodically).  Anywhoo, for now at least the only remaining evidence of my gross carelessness is the dent on the side skirt.

Wangos.

#!%@#*?!

After wash, clay, and wax.

::sigh::

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Columbus Day weekend 2007

      6^th October 2007:  We’ve been having unusually dry weather so I used the opportunity to wash and wax my R despite having waxed only 5-6 weeks ago.  I used Einszett’s Glanz Wax (old formulation).

      Using my camera’s flash just bled out any pictures so I was forced to do without, which bought its own set of problems.  Out of 15 pictures these were the only two that weren’t too fuzzy. ::sigh::

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Independence Day 2007

      4^th July 2007 (U.S.):  I had the day off so I decided to wash and wax my ride in lieu of going to the fitness center.  :o)  I stuck with Einszett’s Glanz Wax since I’m still pretty happy with it.

      More pictures.

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Spring detail 2007

      26 May 2007:  Normally I’ve been waxing my R every 2-3 months; with the warm weather we’ve been having I decided it was about time I gave my R its annual spring exterior detail.  I washed, clayed, polished with Einszett’s Metallic Polish Wax, and then waxed with Einszett’s Glanz Wax (old formula—hey, I need to use this up before I can move on to the new formulation!).

      Pictures of my R generally look better under the light of early morning or late evening (since, you know, surprise surprise… it’s silver), but by the time I finished my exterior detail it was already bright, sunny, and cloudless.  I think the pictures still turned out okay.

      More pictures.

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New and improved Glanz Wax

      22 February 2007:  Late last year Einszett announced a new improved formula for their Glanz Wax.  I was of two minds when I heard this:  on one hand I was looking forward to trying out the new Glanz Wax, on the other hand I still have about 250 mL of the old stuff.   Luckily Einszett was giving out free samples and I was able to snag one.  The sample actually arrived several weeks ago but it was only last night that the weather was finally warm enough to allow me to wash and wax my R (aside: satisfaction is… being able to wash my ride after three and half months of salt and dirt).

      Immediate observations: the new Glanz Wax is pink and more viscous than the old—which is clear and virtually water-like in its viscosity.  My understanding was that Einszett thickened the new stuff because of customers’ complaints that the original formulation was too easy to spill/waste.

      Application: Just as easy to apply as before.  :o)

      Durability: Too soon for me to tell.

      Appearance:  I think that at the minimum the new stuff looks just as good as the old; unfortunately I didn’t do a side-by-side comparison.  I also think that the new Glanz Wax brings out the metallic flecks in the paint more than the old formula did.  Hopefully you’ll be able to see that in the pictures.

      Update (03MAR2007): I uploaded some new pictures I took this morning.

Poor lighting—it looks even better in person :o)

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Salt and ice

      10 February 2007:  For the past several weeks the weather has been too cold to wash the R.  My only consolation is the hope that colder temperatures will slow down the reactivity of the road salt covering my R.  All I’ve been able to do is go to a DIY car wash to rinse off the salt—which is a short-lived solution at best.

Too salty!

After a quick rinse… ice!

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Glanz Wax

      30JULY2006:  On the spur of the moment, I decided to apply a new coat of Glanz Wax on the R.  I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again—this stuff is the easiest/fastest wax to apply that I’ve ever used.  Technically, it’s the only wax I’ve ever used, since previously they’ve all been acrylics, but you get the idea :o)

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Exhaust tips

      When I wash my car I rarely remember to clean my exhaust tips.  Having tested the free samples of polish and wax from Einszett, I decided I wanted to buy some more and decided to use the opportunity to try out other Einszett products—in particular something to make my blackened exhaust tips shiny, again.  Einszett was out-of-stock on an item I wanted, so I ended up at the online store of Open Road Motoring Accessories which had everything I wanted in stock (they ship quick, too!).

      Chrompflege (Chrome and Metal Polish): I’ve never used a similar product before so I can’t make any comparisons, but I can say that Chrompflege definitely works.  It’s simple to use, too.  Apply a little Chrompflege to an applicator (sponge/cloth) and rub it onto a cleaned exhaust tip.  It will haze a little, so simply wipe/buff off.  In the pics you’ll see that I didn’t completely clean the inside of the tips, but the outside looks great. For the insides, I thought I‘d take it easy and do a little at a time—maybe whenever I wash the R.

Before…

…and after.

Both at once!

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Einszett

      I had requested and received some free samples of Einszett’s Metallic Polish Wax and Glanz Wax and decided to try them out this morning.  I’d only heard good things about Einszett and its products so I was looking forward to see how they compared side-to-side with the four coats of Blackfire Wet Diamond All Finish Paint Protection I had on.  Glanz Wax is a synthetic wax as opposed to Blackfire Wet Diamond All Finish Paint Protection and the Klasse twins—which are acrylics.  This means Glanz Wax can not be layered like acrylics since any new coat you put on will merely remove and replace the previous coat. 

      My R32 had been polished with Blackfire Gloss Enhancing Polish followed by four coats of Blackfire Wet Diamond All Finish Paint Protection—the last of which had been applied almost three weeks ago.  This morning I washed and dried my R32 and then decided to divide the hood in half—the passenger side I would use the Einszett stuff, and the driver’s half I would leave alone.  I did everything by hand using microfiber applicators and cloths.

      Metallic Polish Wax:  Very easy to apply and buff off.  I did one section at a time, applying, letting it dry, and then buffing before moving on to the next section.  This didn’t take too long since I was only doing half-a-hood.

      Glanz Wax: Extremely easy to apply.   Again, I did one section at a time, waited for it to dry to a haze (about one minute), then buffed, then moved to the next section.

      Impressions:

·        Application—compared to both Blackfire and the Klasse twins, the Metallic Polish Wax and Glanz Wax were the easiest to apply.

·        Appearance—I must have spent 10-15 minutes walking around the R32, taking pictures, looking at it from different angles, worrying whether the angle of the light benefited the appearance of one side more than the other, trying to see if I could detect a difference.  Well, under the prevailing conditions I couldn’t tell the two apart. At first, I was a little disappointed.  It took me a while to come to terms with it because I had trouble wrapping my mind around the concept that in this case more work does not equal better results.  In other words, four coats of Blackfire equaled one coat of Glanz Wax.  Eh?!  Eventually I grew accustomed to the idea and began to see the obvious advantages.  Even if I have to apply Glanz Wax more often than an acrylic, it’s so easy to apply I’d still save time and effort.  This brings us to…

·        Durability—I contacted Einszett and they told me that Glanz Wax should last at least twice as long as carnauba-based waxes, and customers have said Glanz Wax can last as long as acrylics.  I’ll have to wait and see.

      I don’t know if this is a property of the Blackfire stuff or whether it’s just because I park outdoors these days, but I’ve noticed that a lot of pollen and dust collects on the R even just overnight.  I’m looking forward to see if I can see a difference with Glanz Wax.

      Right now I’m wondering if it was even appropriate to compare a fresh application of Glanz Wax to Blackfire—albeit four coats—whose last application was three weeks earlier.  I’ve been using Blackfire Deep Gloss Spray once a week since then, though…????

The R32 looks better than it does in these pictures.  I blame the camera not the photographer ;o)

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7 May 2006

Here are some more pictures—in total the R has 4 coats of Blackfire Wet Diamond All Finish Paint Protection, and I used Blackfire Deep Gloss Spray after washing that morning.  It’s hard to tell in these pictures, but compared to the Klasse twins Blackfire is more wet-looking and has more depth, but at the same time appears flatter than the Klasse.  The Blackfire doesn’t pick up the metallic flecks in the R’s paint as well, so there’s less shine and less pop.  Right now, it’s difficult for me to decide which I prefer.  Maybe I’ll end up trying another brand in my quest for an acceptable compromise.

      2 April 2006:  These pictures were taken after clay, Blackfire Gloss Enhancing Polish and 2 coats of Blackfire Wet Diamond All Finish Paint Protection.  I was happy with the Klasse AIO and SG, but I wanted to try something new—I’m happy with the results :o)

      18 June 2005:  These pics are after a wash and Eagle One Wax-As-U-Dry, on top of Klasse AIO and SG x3

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