I want to wax my girlfriends Mini, but I'm looking for a product that won't leave residue on the wheel arches. Is there any product that won't harm the plastic trims of the arches. Any help would be awesome, I want to do it right for her. I was going to wash it then claybar it and the wax it.
Thank you

Should I wax it or wash it and use that wax that you use while you are drying it, I can't remember what that stuff is called, something like hydro or hydra and can that get on the trim pieces???

 

It's Hydro you are thinking of, and it works great, but as a primary sealant you should use it with every wash, as it does not last long. Epic is a good product, but will stain the trim. You can either mask it off, or use Black Wow first on the trim, then the Epic will not stain.

Look here, and here, for these products.

Mark

 

I've never had staining issues with Epic. I have found that the hardest thing to remove from your trim is polish. I do use BW before detailing though just to make every thing easier to wipe off.

 

I think the best defense against wax residue staining is prevention more than a particular product... like lotsie said, I also recommend pre-treating the trim with Black Wow or any other plastic protectant (Wizards Black Renew, 303 Aerospace Protectant, Prima Nero, etc, etc- any brand will do for this purpose). Pre-treating the plastic trim creates a surface on which the wax cannot typically adhere to, thereby eliminating the staining issue altogether.

I'm not a big fan of taping, just because I find it to be a pain and I'd usually rather just be careful and/or pre-treat. However, many MINI owners find it very helpful to tape the MINI before waxing or polishing (especially for polishing).


We've found that Prima Epic wax is choosy about whether or not it wants to stain your trim. We've been told that there are likely slight variations in the composition of your plastic trim that you can't tell visually or otherwise but is enough for slight variations in its reaction to applied chemicals. So, as a result, we've found that some trim (like MiniMaybee's) does not allow Epic to stain while others do. Either way, if you pre-treat then Epic won't stain either kind of trim anyway!

Other waxes that do not stain are: Prima Banana Gloss (available at the end of this week), Klasse All-In-One, ICE, Zaino, and, of course, Prima Hydro (the spray wax you asked about).
(note that Klasse AIO and ICE do not last very long though)

-Heather

 

thanks for all of the info!