TransAm12sec

I don't know exactly why, but I remember reading that waxing your car to much is a bad thing. I know of two people who wax their car a few times a week. Besides having no life, what are the disadvantages of it?

Jade Grey

iTrader: (1)

You can actually wax right through your layers of clear-coat. That's definitely a bad thing.

Also you can build up a thick layer of wax on areas where the wax wears off slower.

Dens71TA

iTrader: (5)

Eventually you can get thin spots where the base coat(on base coat/clear coat) or primer starts to show through.

The original paint on my dad's '78 Trans Am has a few spots where the gray primer is starting to show from 27 years of washing and waxing.

JeffW

to much wax can also cause you paint to crack and spiderweb. the paint needs to breath and expand and contract while outdoors. to much wax seal the paint so tight all it can do is crack.
want to polish alot use a quick detailer like meguires will give ya the shine without the wax build up. or use a simple polish a product with now wax in it. the package will say polish instead of wax.

jeff

KEVIN G.

There is no way that multiple wax jobs will "burn through" a basecoat/clearcoat job.
"Buffing" and machine polishing, however, can.
The old lacquer and enamel would oxidize and as you would wax it the color would actually come off on the rag. Those paints were just highly refined, colored dirt. Nowhere near as durable as todays' urethanes that chemically "crosslink" and become a polymer.
The wax buildup is what can damage your paint. too much is not necessarily a good thing in this case.
Another thing to watch out for is: You get what ya pay for... If you're spendin' 2.99 at Wall-mart for KIT or TURTLE WAX, you will see the fruits of your cheapness. A lot of the old waxes actually contain kerosene, most were not clearcoat safe. Many still are not.
Look for a good carnauba wax. Mother's, Meguiar's...Both are very good quality, safe for clearcoats, developed with the car care enthusiast in mind.
Don't hesitate to spend a few bucks.