While waxing your car does make it look all shiny and new, it is not only for the sake of vanity. There are various practical reasons why regularly waxing your car is beneficial for it. Yet, many people are still unaware of how often to wax cars.
Now, you cannot just wax your car every second day or week or even month. There needs to be a right interval between each time you wax it. With that said, allow us to help you out.
In here, we are going on a quick journey to find out when exactly should you wax your car. Before we can do that, however, let us first share with you the reasons why you need to wax your car on a regular basis.
Why Should You Wax Your Car?
As mentioned earlier, there are several practical reasons to wax your car regularly. So, without focusing on just the aesthetics of it, we list some of the top benefits.
- Promotes Safety
This is more of a psychological effect. For instance, when you buy your car for the very first time, you are extremely cautious about not letting it get scratched or damaged in any way. By waxing your car, you give it a shiny new appearance. So, naturally you would want that to last for a while, and hence this would promote you being safer with your driving.
- Reduction in Repair Costs
When you wax your car regularly, you protect the paint from abrasion, rain, snow, salty air, and so on. All of these result in lesser overall and everyday maintenance and repair.
- Prevents the Paint from Chipping
When you drive at very high speeds, you will often find that tiny stones and rocks jump and hit the car, which affects the paint. When you wax your car, it smoothens the paint surface and reduces the friction between the car and the debris that hits it. This means that the debris would just slide off the car rather than damage it.
- Fills in the Scratches
Note that waxing your car does not get rid of the existing scratches on your car. Instead, what it does is it fills in some of them. Waxing the car will help fill in the shallow scratches that it will become very less apparent, and in some cases, not noticeable at all.
- Easier to Wash
Waxing your car will make cleaning it much easier. When a waxed car gets dirty with bugs, sap, and other messes, the wax acts as a barrier to the paint and does not allow any contact to it. Thus, the dirt can be easily wiped away with a car wash. Without any wax, you could possibly need a full detail to get rid of certain types of dirt.
How Often to Wax Cars
So, ideally, you should wax your car at least a minimum for two times in a year. You could do it once in the spring right before the temperature begins to rise and right before the winters to protect the car from snow, hail, and rain as well.
An easy way to determine when it is time for the car to be waxed is by dropping hot water on it and seeing how it runs off. If you don’t see nice beads of water over the car, then it is definitely the time to wax it or at least do up with a simple wax detailing.
If you wish to go a step further in maintaining your car, you could possibly wax your car at least three or four times in a year, keeping a gap of a minimum of three to four months. How many ever times you opt to wax your car, you must follow a regime.
If you fail to do so, you will leave the car open to the paint fading and cosmetic damage. This will result in the resale value going down.
When Should You Wax Your Car
Deciding how many times to wax your car and when exactly to do it could be tricky. This is due to the fact that the outer protective shine and layer reduces slowly and is imperceptible to our eyes. Only experts and specialists in car detailing can exactly determine when to wax the car.
However, there are a couple of key factors that could help in deciding whether it is time to wax the car. Below we list some of them.
- Environment
The environment where you use your car plays an important role in determining when the car should be waxed. If you park your car under the shade of a tree often, you will need the wax to protect it from the sap.
Salt is also harmful to the car especially if you live near the coast. Ideally, in such situations, you should wax your car at least four times a year.
- Season
Summers are generally the best months for a waxed car. You can go about four to five months without having to re-wax it. This is because the weather during the summer months is typically warm and either has less or no rain at all.
Winters, on the other hand, will require you to step up the car waxing regime, especially if you live in countries that have extremely harsh winters. In such cases, waxing the car once every two or three months is ideal. Actually, during these times, the lesser the time, the better.
- Age
The age of the car plays an important role in determining when you should wax the car too. It is obvious that newer cars will not need as much work in comparison to a car that is older.
So, for a newer car, waxing the car is only to make sure that the car is protected just about enough. If your car is older, along with waxing often, you will also need to use a color restorer in order to bring it back to life.
- Type of Wax
The kind of wax you use also is a factor to consider. Some wax lasts for months and can withstand several washes. Some, on the other hand, will last only last a few weeks and can even come off the minute you shampoo the car.
Always check the label and read reviews of the wax you settle to have a better idea about it.
Conclusion
We are certain that this article would have helped you figure how often to wax cars. As a general rule of thumb, you must wax your car twice a year, at the very least. Anything above that entirely depends on the many factors that we have mentioned above. Waxing the car will prolong the life of it, and we strongly advise that you do not skip on it.