So, I have a good friend whose father worked as a chemist for a huge car wax company. He maintains that you should never wax your car, as it will actually degrade the finish up until a certain point (usually a couple years). I have an '07 that has developed rust spotting on the boot from contaminants. I plan to clay to remove them, but I'd like to avoid polishing/waxing for a few years, as it's a new car. Can I get away with just clay, or am I a (total) moron?

 

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I don't think you're a total moron, but I think you've probably been mislead. There is a reason why 80-90 year old show cars (the ones that win the big events) are able to look great so many years later - they've been protected from the elements.

In fact, your contaminant issue is a perfect example. I don't think the spots on your boot are actually rust, but let's pretend they are. So you clay them to remove them, but if it's actually rust, that means there's a pit all the way through your paint to the bare metal. So you remove the contaminants, and without protection from the elements (wax or sealant) the rain and other moisture continue to oxidize the rusted spot, eating away at more of your paint.

This is precisely why people wax/seal their cars. It provides UV protection to the paint (in the cases of most sealants, anyway), and it seals the paint away from anything that could hurt it - salty winter roads, for example.

Look at a photo of a car that has never been waxed/sealed versus one that has had a protective coat of wax/sealant at all times, where 5 or so years have passed. The waxed paint will look (essentially) like new. The unwaxed paint will start to oxidize and look chalky and eventually rust. I know this because I didn't care for my previous car at all, and then had to use serious polishes and abrasives to remove the oxidation on the roof and hood when it came time to sell it.

So please, wash your MINI, clay it, and then put a good coat of a long-term sealant on it if you don't want to be waxing it all the time. A good sealant (like Klasse Sealant Glaze or Prima Epic, among others), will last 4-6 months before it needs to be reapplied.

Please love your MINI.

 

Oh, I love my MINI more than you'd believe

She's been washed religiously - indoors - by wool mitt twice a month for the 6 months I've owned her. But now it's getting warm outside, and it's time for the full detail. I was second guessing the wax on this car because of what I mentioned above. But, shortly here, she's going to need the bumper cover, and some other pieces to come off for various installs, which will be the perfect time to clean some of those hard to reach places. There seems to be an inordinate amount of garbage built up in the nooks and crannies...way more than I'd expect for a car with 5k miles.

So, Epic is the product of choice here then?

 

There are a lot of things people use. Prima is popular here, and so is Zaino and Klasse and Griot's. I would say Prima is probably *most* popular here, and that's primarily because not only are the products great, but the vendors offer fantastic customer service here in Detailing 101.

So within Prima's line, you have two options (some of us who are REALLY OCD like myself use both, haha)...there is Epic, which is the long-term protection. You apply maybe 2-3 tablespoons to the entire car's paint (little goes a LONG way), let it cure for half an hour, remove. Next day it's CRAZY shiny. The other option is Hydro. You wash your car, and as you dry, you spray this stuff in and work it in with the waffle-weave as you dry. It works as well as Epic - I'm paranoid, so I do both...I Epic 2 or 3 times a year, and do weekly washes with Hydro on top. But for those who use Hydro exclusively, they say it lasts at least a month. So as long as you are SURE you will wash monthly, it's fine too.

 

So, we're seeking to obsolete the PC here then?

 

Impossible!