WAXING Yes, waxing does impart a shine on your car, but it's main job is to protect your paint from harmful agents. Plus it makes the surface very smooth and slick in case small children decide to use your car as a slip-n-slide. But without the layer of wax protection, things like bird droppings or olives (if you're ever parked under an olive tree for some asinine reason) will eat through your paint, making for nice discolored spots on the surface. Depending on which brand you use, wax consists of either natural carnauba or a chemical protectant (made from petroleum distillates). The checmical waxes may have fancy names (ie- AutoFom with Fomblin A) with high tech chemicals that protect your car against ultraviolet rays to protect against color fade (but do cars get sunburned that often?), unfortunately they still can't outlast the protection of natural carnauba. Wax comes in two forms: liquid or paste. Liquid is easier to apply and more conveinent. But hard-core enthusiasts use the paste, which is the natural form carnauba comes in. This step is recommended every 4-6 months, and is usually done after washing (or polishing). The step in between, polishing, can be skipped unless needed. It is recommended you wash the car prior to waxing to remove any contanimants from the surface. In place of cleaning, some people like to use a cleaner & wax combination. While I've never really tried this, I would probably recommend using a seperate cleaner and then using the purest carnauba possible for the best protection. Using a dry or damp applicator (depending on your product instructions), apply the wax in a circular motion. Again, it's best to work your way from top to bottom, waxing the horiztonal panels first before the vertical ones. You can either do one panel or the entire car.I normally wax the entire car before starting the buffing procedure. Wait about 0-20 minutes for the wax to harden and haze (depending on your product). Then take a terry cloth towel and buff the haze to a shine. Remember to turn the towel frequently. Note: Try not to use the same cloth you used for buffing the polish. It may still have some powder residue and will be applied back on the surface. Again, if you're using low grade wax which leaves a white residue powder, remove or dust off the powder. By now you should be president of Cheap Bastards Anonymous for your continual use of crappy products. You can use a toothpick and a camel hair brush, remove polish and wax from small crevices, holes, emblems, and other trim. Waxing should take you about 30-90 minutes, depending on how many layers you plan to apply. I like to apply the wax with an orbital buffer, remove the haze by hand, then go back to the orbital buffer for the final buff. You should have several bonnets for your buffer so you're not using the same one for the polish and wax. I try to apply 2-3 layers of wax for a long duration, but that's only if time (and energy) permits. One layer is adaquate to protect your paint surface for up to 45 days. Again, there are a billion products out there you can choose from, each with their own unique price, quality, and ingredients: Blue Coral Autofom Meguiar's Gold Class Meguiar's Professional Hi-Tech Yellow Wax 26 Meguiar's Deep Crystal Mother's California Gold Pure Carnauba Wax Pinnacle Souveran Wax Shop's Super Glaze Zymol Wax Well, that's but a small listing of products on the market today. There are some you can get through the retail auto stores, but products like Zymol and Pinnacle can only be obtained through mail order or some of the more professional stores. These are ultra premium waxes that will outshine and outlast any other product on the market. Of course these waxes will cost you an arm and a leg too ($30 - $45 for a small bottle). If you're like me, and not made out of money, we commoners can settle with the regular waxes. I prefer Meguiar's Gold Class or Mother's California Gold Pure Carnauba Wax. These products work well and makes things nice and shiny. But if time is short but you still want the protection of wax and don't care it's a short term duration, apply a layer of the Wax Shop's Super Glaze. This is a very quick and easy to apply liquid wax (sort of a watered down liquid wax). It's also painless to buff off. It leaves a great shine, that unfortunately only lasts for a week at most.