Waxing your body.

[xmodkidd33]

Here's how I wax my Xmod bodies.

Supplies:

Two rags or peices of a t-shirt. I use ones that are 100% cotton. Microfiber rags are an awesome alternative.



Automotive wax. I'm using Mother's California Gold.



Whatever you're waxing. I'm using a stock Hummer hood.



Step 1. After you've open the wax, rub one of the rags in it. Make sure you've got a good amount of wax on.





Step 2. Rub the wax on to the body part in a circular motion for about a minute and a half. Start out rubbing hard and let up a bit as you go.
Do not push too hard, you can start to wear the paint off.



Step 3. Wait about 5 minutes until the wax has become pretty dull. Then, use the second rag (the un-waxed one) to wipe the wax off. Push hard at first again, then let up a bit. Make sure you wipe the wax out of all of the small seams, such as door lines and corners. The wax can get in there and harden and looks really bad once it dries. You can still get it off with a Q-Tip or rag, but it's just easier if you take the precautions and do it right the first time.

Step 4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until you get the desired finish. I usually use two to three "coats" to be safe. you can use more or less, it all depends on your tastes.

Did it make a difference? You tell me:

[Stampedekid]

Yes it did! I use a spray called Adam's Collector Car Shine sometimes(I think that is the name) It really brings out the shine and smells nice too.

[texan_idiot25]

Very nice tut. An even better material is microfiber towels, they clean much better then cotton, and are much less prone to streak or harm the paint.

Just never over-do it. Wax and rubbing compounds will take your paint off if your not careful. And, keep it out of the sun when you 1st apply.

But, waxing makes a helluva difference:

Guess which half of the hood has had work done.

[xmodificationer]

omg tex you have the same polishing compound stuff i do! I use it to get those black scuffs out of my bodies. Turtle wax with mild abrasives like $3 at Autozone

[texan_idiot25]

Great stuff, but thanks to the weather I didn't get wax on it in time, and it went dull again with in a few weeks

[xmodificationer]

lol yea I havent really tried to polish my xmods with it though

[texan_idiot25]

Helps to get scuffs off, but doesn't seem to shine them up as much as a good waxing.

[xmodificationer]

yea when I would take the scuffs out it got the paint color on the rag but you cant tell that any paint or clear coat came off

[xmodkidd33]

Microfibers are good, I haven't used them yet though.

[texan_idiot25]

Polishing compound works by, in a sense, smearing the paint loosely. Thats why you can get rid of small scratches with it. It works the paint back into the scratch. The rags I used on my car are stained red, but the car is minus a few small scratches, and water stains.

That's why you don't want to over do it. It'll eventually go right through.

[xmodkidd33]

I added microfibers to the supplies.

[bondo]

well written and useful tutorial but why use wax?
there is no gain from using wax over a compound but there are advantages to using compound instead of wax.

the main purpose of wax is to protect the finish from the elements.
rubbing compounds are what bring out the shine.
i use wax on a few of my cars aswell but not in the same manner.
my shine comes from alot of elbow grease,graduating grits of sandpaper and graduating abrasive compounds.
the elbow grease is the fuel.
the sandpaper levels the finish
the graduating abrasive compounds do the same thing as the sandpaper but at to a much finer degree.

for a stock Xmods paintjob,the best thing i've found to bring out a killer shine is mothers mag and wheel polish.
this is a high abrasive content compound though and seems to only work on metallic painjobs.
non-metallic paintjobs tend to rub through a little too easily for my taste.

the second best would be the tamiyafine polishing compound.

the third is 3M shine restore.
this is a light abrasive that contains carnuba so it's filling in the scratches and then basically polishing itslef.(noturday has my back on this one)

the wax that i use is turtle wax "ICE".
a bit expensive but you can put it on any finish and it wont leave white residue.
i like to use alot of flat black accents in my projects and a regular carnuba would shine the flats. the ICE actually gives a flat base the sheen of leather or vynil.
with any compound or wax you use on an Xmod though, you dont want to use too much otherwise you get the residue in the creases like you said.
think of it on scale.
if you used that size pad and that much wax on a 1:1 car it would be similar to waxing with20lbs of wax on a seven foot pad.
it doesnt matter how careful you are, you're going to get wax in the creases.
a little dab of wax will do almost an entire car.


i wish i had a camera to show example pics........

[firebird999]

you can even get wax in specialty modifiers(1/48 toy cars) sets. you can get one on ebay for 5-20 dollars and there is (i think) enough wax for one xmod, and then you can sell the rest of the set for a possibly greater profit.

[xmodkidd33]

I used wax because that's all that I had, I'll look into polishing compounds though. Can this be moved by a mod/admin?

[devbell]

Always nice to hear what others use and do. I would have never thought of waxing after a killer paint job.