I waxed my car. What a frugal thing!
Wow. I was blown away by this. I don't know why I did it. For the past few months, I've been buried in tedium. I had started a remodel job in the house a year ago, and had a health problem and was thrown off it. I got back to it a few months ago. But I got up Saturday morning and could not face it - just too much of the same thing. So, I thought of a few other jobs/tasks I've been chipping away at for most of the summer and all of them made me go "Bleh"...not interested.
I had not waxed a car in ten years. I had convinced myself that a waxed car is no more fuel efficient, and lasts no longer, and who cares about how things look anyway. However...I decided it might be a brainless way to idle some time and maybe get a bit of an upper body workout.
The car is black. Years ago, I worked as a flunky in an auto body shop, and learned about a product called "New Car Glaze #5" by Meguiar. It's a nasty green color and kinda stinky. It's a blend of oils that sinks into paint and more or less re-blends any oxides that have occurred with time. I remember using it in the past and being surprised at how much it improved a car's look beyond what mere wax could do. I had some of this left over from 15 years ago. I also had some "Mother's Original Gold Paste Wax" also left over from those days. $15 and $10 is what you'd pay today....lasts decades, as I can tell.
I got some old worn out cotton shirts to use as rags. I washed the car, the cheap-and-dirty way using liquid dish soap, then dried with an ordinary bath towel. I started with the #5 Glaze. You pour the stuff on, then rub until it feels like it's soaking in, then wipe off before it can dry. When I did this, the black paint seemed even blacker. So, I did it a second time, and the black got even deeper. I tried it a third time, and no difference. So, I did only two applications on the whole car.
I then followed up with the Mother's Wax. This stuff smells sweet. It's called "gold" because of the yellow color, like Beeswax. There is no abrasive in this stuff, you will not leave swirl marks. It's wax, not polish, the difference is that polish has abrasives and you always end up removing some of the paint. You can wear out a car's paint prematurely by over-doing polish. Not wax.
When I did the roof, I was shocked at just how much luster was left in this 20 year old paint. Paint that has never been in a garage, paint that has been left ignored for the ten years I've owned the car, paint that's had bird droppings, insect splats, etc. on it. Car paint has really improved, I'd say..in the old days, if you went a few years without waxing, your paint oxidized to the point where it would stay dull forever, no matter what you did.
And so I spent five hours on Saturday, brainless, just going through the motions. It was kinda fun, doing something I really didn't care that much about, feeling the outdoor breeze, hearing the birds. Afterwards, my shoulders told me that it had been, in fact, quite the upper body workout.
And the car looked great. I had not realized the impact this would have. Somehow, my trust in the car increased. This old car, with 220,000 plus miles on it - feels young. Oh, it doesn't drive any differently, but for some reason, just knowing it can look this good, has an ineffable effect of making me believe in it better. This car has had zero repairs for its whole life, only routine/scheduled maintenance, and seeing this shiny paint makes me believe (if only for a bit), that I will get another 220,000 miles out of it without a repair.
Went to work Monday and honestly had fellow employees ask if I'd bought a new car. Honestly, female colleagues asked me to take them to lunch in it. I had to remind them I was married. I do recall in my dating days that having a waxed car seemed to help demonstrate to the woman that you knew how to take care of things.
And, recalling times in my career when I was more about climbing the ladder - having a car that clearly is well cared for tells your employer that you are detail-oriented, and follow through on commitments. Not a bad signal, for employers, friends, prospective romantic partners.
Wax your car. It'll benefit you in ways you cannot imagine.
Until later, enjoy stillness and treasure the rare solitude you may find.
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