Y'all are hard-core!!!
I used to spend all my spare time washing & waxing my vehicles. I even worked my way through college as a detailer (strictly amateur). Now, being single & a homeowner, I just DO NOT have the better part of a day to devote to waxing one of the vehicles. I pretty much keep car care limited to one wash per week per vehicle since a typical wash job will take me about 2 hours. I can't bring myself to spend $70+ on waxes, sealants, glazes, etc. but I DO appreciate a nicely detailed ride.
Will probably get flamed like crazy for this one, but I've always favored Super Glaze by the Wax Shoppe. Granted, it does NOT last long... BUT... it goes on super easy, comes off easy, doesn't dry to a powdery residue (which gets everywhere), and you can wax right over the black trim. It's relatively inexpensive. Decent shine too. I'll defer comments on depth & gloss to the "experts". Let's just say it works for me.
I apply it to the entire vehicle all at once (in the shade). By the time I've got it all applied, I can start taking it off. Last week I did my Rainforest Green '04 Saturn Vue... which is a fair amount of square footage. Start to finish was less than 2 hours. Super Glaze has a fairly high solvent content (which I suppose is a plus if you don't have time to claybar every speck of tar & bug juice beforehand), so it flashes off pretty quickly.
Luckily, my '01 GT vert is oxford white, so the paint is a little less demanding in the attention department... wish I could say the same for the white vinyl top! Keeping a triple-white car clean in a hot, dusty, high desert environment has proven to be every bit as challenging as the darker colors.
Anyhow, that's my 2 cents worth...
) but there is alot of bad advice going on there (as even on Autopia) so use good judgment and discernment. There are some good guys there also, like Clean Dean and several others.
