Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[natboy]

Hi
Can anyone recommend a wax for the storage of my car over winter.I just want a wax to put on the paintwork and leave until spring,any suggestions.Cheers

[ka]

If you store it outside, Waxoil sprayed liberally, then a robust cover. It will be a pain removing it from the glass next year but better than nothing. Stored inside, I would use a good old fashioned, thick bees-wax loaded wax, look at a furniture polish. Personally, I never 'wax-up' for winter, a good wash then make sure it is fully dried before putting into hibernation, then a good cover to keep the dust of it.
I still use my car all the year round, no heater, no roof, just the pleasure of driving it!
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KA

Better three than four.

[Rick]

As "ka" mentions, a proper beeswax (not the liquid stuff in a bottle) would work, I apply it to bits and bobs in the garage every winter, chrome etc, as it can get damp in there sometimes. Then in the spring, just polish it off. Are tins of Simoniz still available?

RJ
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[mikeC]

[kevin2306]

I use Harly Wax, natural stuff with no nasties that hinder future paint work should it be needed.
Bit expensive but one tin is going to last years.


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HARLY-WAX-car-polish-PURE-NO-1-YELLOW-CARNAUBA-WAX-/370355728382?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item563aebeffe

Kev

[baconsdozen]

My car has stood outside fifty yards from the sea for years. I use Eureka Fluid film,put on a rag and wiped over paint and chrome.
Now it lives under a car port but the fluid film did a good job of protecting it.
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Thirty years selling imperial hand tools for old machinery(Now happily retired).

[Ronniej]

An open car with no heater in Orkney over the winter!
You are indeed a hardy soul Ka.
By comparison, the climate here in central Scotland must be almost tropical but round about now I put the toys away for the winter.

Best wishes,

Ronnie Johnston,
Glasgow.

[colwyn500]

I'm with Ka and take mine out on sunny, dry winter days in The Highlands too. It helps against the inevitable condensation that sometimes builds up in a unheated garage and helps with preserving the car.

[norustplease]

I don't lay up my cars either, I am just careful with the days that I drive them, to avoid salt.
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1953 Citroen Traction
1964 Volvo PV544
1957 Austin A55 Mk 1
Boring Tucson SUV

[natboy]

Thanks for the advise chaps,I have just bought a immaculate 13/60 Herald and im a bit paranoid about taking it out in the winter. i suppose i could take it for a spin on a sunny cold day once of twice a month as suggested by one of the posts.

[Rick]

[ka]

I am not quite as hardy as its seems, when we lived in Nottingham, we always used to meet up with friends on Boxing day just outside Chapel en la Frith, and the A515 From the Via Gellia to Buxton often was covered in snow, where the ploughs and passing traffic left a sympathetic path for the front wheels, the back wheel had no such luck, but having driven on the "Irish Dual Carriageways" (the tracks that are considered roads with grass and crud down the middle) it was just business as normal. Back to being hardy, well, with the Gulf Stream wrapping around the Island, we get little snow, now wind and rain, that is a different issue!
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KA

Better three than four.

[Phil - Nottingham]

I used to use all sorts of waxes on my dad's chrome in the 1960's as he used his car every day in all weathers and was never garaged (as I do but we have 7) - nothing worked very well and I applied it every week even Simonize wax. What was better than average though was Britax a clear cellulose varnish. It did wear off in places but a fresh application softened it and it was almost invisible even though it was applied with a soft rag.

It is NLA now but just as good is ignition sealer like Damp start - it is an aerosol - it builds up but cellulose thinners removes it quickly with just a wipe.

I use it on our Rover P5B Rostyles which rust at the slightest hint of dampness eg Autumn mists

I gave up waxing the coachwork in the 1970's but use it in Summer occasionally to give it a shine.

Needless to say the chrome and panels on our cars is far from concours - its worth the work of respraying and patching renewing panels every so often though to be able to use them every day. In really bad weather I use on of the Land Rovers which live outside anyway - even alloy corrodes in salt spray but especially near steel (more so with stainless fixings)
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Rover P2
Rover P4
Rover P5 & P5B
Land Rover S2 & S3
Morris Mini Traveller Mk2

[Richard H]

My 1959 A35 is out in use for this winter again! And the feeble heater has decided to finally expire. I don't expect I'll be using it through much bad weather though, where I am in Canterbury I usually walk or cycle everywhere, but it does have to sit out on the driveway.

Planning to remove the hubcaps before the road salt starts appearing again though! After last winter I had to spend quite a long time scrubbing rust off them
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Richard Hughes