There’s no questioning the remarkable finish Best of Show Wax gives, but occasionally we receive feedback from customers having difficulty removing the excess. For example… “Best of Show is a great product. The only down side is it takes a lot of elbow grease to get it buffed out perfectly.” Fear not, the remedy is simple!
Best of Show Wax Kit
The most common cause of wax removal difficulty is over-application. We all want that deep gloss with long lasting protection, so more is better, right? Wrong! With Best of Show Wax a little bit goes a very long way, so you only need a few small dots of product on your pad to do a 2′ x 2′ section.
Carnauba in its raw state is rock hard, which is why it protects your paint so well. As explained here, automotive waxes blend 100% carnauba wax along with other things to soften the wax for application purposes. Most of these additives evaporate during cure time, leaving the wax bonded to the surface. Some excess, dried wax will also be left behind, and it needs to be buffed off. Since the excess quickly turns dry and hard, removal can be very difficult when too much wax has been applied.
Left: Too much wax applied. Right: Perfect amount of wax!
As I discussed in an earlier article, you always want to apply wax in a cross-hatch pattern. Start working in a smaller section and gradually expand your work area until the wax has been applied in a thin, even coat. On lighter colored cars you may have difficulty even seeing the wax in certain light conditions.
Allow the product to cure until totally dry (it shouldn’t smudge during removal), then buff it off using a Micro Fiber Wax Removal Cloth. If you are having some difficulty removing it in spots don’t use more pressure. Instead, mist a light amount of Spray-On Wax across the area. This will soften up the excess wax making it almost effortless to remove.
Have a car care question you’d like me to tackle? Ask it in the comments or shoot me an email.
January 27th, 2010 at 1:27 pm
Thanks for the Spray on wax tip! That will come in handy. Using it to loosen the excess will not loosen the application on the paint?
January 27th, 2010 at 4:29 pm
It shouldn’t loosen the application on the paint because, at that point, the wax has cured and is already bonded to the paint. It would affect the wax in a similar way to using Speed Shine or Spray-On Wax later on (i.e. after a wash), which doesn’t remove your cured wax.
January 28th, 2010 at 10:01 am
Can you guys show pictures of how much wax was applied to the pad before doing the right had side of the that hood? My small dots might not be the same as your small dots.
January 28th, 2010 at 11:44 am
Good question, Brian! It’s largely a matter of experimentation, but we ran out to the garage and were able to get the right coverage on a 2′x2′ area with this amount of wax. As Derek said, a little goes a long way!
February 2nd, 2010 at 8:20 am
Thanks for the follow up!
February 12th, 2010 at 3:51 pm
yes on what is a good out side temp to use most of these waxes, paint glaze,paint sealant, the wax stick,& the cleaning clay?
February 12th, 2010 at 3:59 pm
what is a good temp to use these waxes and clay how cold should the car be?
February 14th, 2010 at 11:34 am
I would not work outside with waxes, clay, polish or glaze with temperatures below 60°. When inside my garage, on cold days I fire up the kerosene “jet engine minus the turbine” and warm it up to 70°. That way it is easy to work without a jacket on.
February 15th, 2010 at 8:19 am
Bruce is right. It isn’t recommended to apply Best of Show Wax below 60°. In addition, you also don’t want it to be much warmer than 90°.
February 16th, 2010 at 2:56 pm
In the part of the county where it does not get above 60 degrees for months…also no heating in my garage! If I can’t use my Best of Show Wax, what is the alternative?
February 16th, 2010 at 4:01 pm
Jim, Paint Sealant is going to be your best bet for colder climate detailing. We really don’t recommend applying it below 50°. If it gets much colder than that the product won’t bond to the paint well causing it not to last very long.
My best recommendation, apply Paint Sealant just before you hit the cold season. It can protect paint up to a full year, so it should be plenty to get you through the cold season without needing to apply wax. Once the weather warms up you can use Best of Show Wax to get your car ready for show season.
February 18th, 2010 at 10:07 am
Derek, thanks for the great tip.
March 7th, 2010 at 5:52 am
WIth a Black car (2010 Camaro) what speed would you set the electric Griots dual random orbital to apply Best of Show Wax?
March 8th, 2010 at 8:47 am
John, Best of Show Wax is recommended to be applied on speed 3 or 4. I always tend to use speed 4, but a lot of it boils down to personal preference. Try both and see what works best for you on your paint.
Congrats on the new Camaro!
March 9th, 2010 at 6:45 am
OK, I tried 4. I got an almost identical pattern of application as shown on this site. It appears dry in some sections and is easily removed. On other sections it dries in a thick shell (I use Spray Wax for removal), and in other sections is doesn’t seem to dry enough and smudges upon removal. Result is still a great finish, but in certain light and angles “smudgy” swirl marks are visible. They are almost entirely removable with a finger, something like a residue. I am convinced I am doing something wrong.
March 9th, 2010 at 4:58 pm
John, it sounds like you’re either getting too much wax in some areas or just not getting it all buffed off. 3 things I’d try (the solution could be 1 or a combination of all 3)…
- Apply a little less product to the pad / work a larger area.
- Use more micro fiber towels. You might not be getting it all removed because your towels are too saturated.
- Allow the wax to dry a little longer before buffing. Once the wax has completely cured, it should not smear/smudge when you drag your finger across it.
Feel free to email me directly if you have more questions. Click here then “Contact the author”.
July 1st, 2010 at 5:08 am
steve writes.
what’s the rules with the invisible front end bras, they are plastic so therefore no polish 3 I’m guessing, even for stubborn bugs I get that, but what about best of show wax, can wax bond to plastic for added protection or leave that area alone?
car is black.
July 1st, 2010 at 8:57 am
With clear bras, the area you need to be most careful around is the edge where it goes from paint to clear bra. It can be next to impossible to remove clay, polish, and wax from that edge, so always mask that area and work carefully by hand after you have finished polishing and waxing everywhere else.
Technically you can polish and wax on the clear bra, but I prefer to just let it be. Machine Polish 3 is fine to use on it (it’s not too aggressive), but Plastic Polish is ideal.
For bugs, use undiluted Car Wash with our Four-Finger Mesh Mittens and gently agitate. Then, follow up with Paint Cleaning Clay and Speed Shine. That combo should take care of just about any bugs. If it doesn’t, soak a towel with Speed Shine and lay it across the bugs overnight. In the morning they should have softened up and will just wipe away.