I am an absolute wax noob.

I was out washing my car today. It had rained all week in Texas because we had hurricane Hermoine blow over us (wasn't much of a hurricane, just a whole lot of rain really).

Since my car was out in all that, and for the couple of months I had it, birds also did a number on it (yep, you guessed it, #2), I decided to give it a thorough washing and waxing.

I never waxed any cars before ever. I bought Maguires' Gold paste wax, followed the directions on the back of the can, but I do not know if I did it correctly.

It says to put a thin layer of wax over the entire car (I applied it only to painted parts, not the plastic or metal).
It said to remove the wax with terrycloth, but I used the microfiber car washcloths.
I did not wet the car after the wax was dry, I used the cloth to wipe off the dried wax. The instructions never said to use a wet cloth or to wet the waxed surface before wiping off the dry wax.

Did I do the right thing?
Also, I saw that the cloth I was using actually had some of my car's blue on it! Did I rub the dried wax off too hard?

I am a total wax noob, so someone educate me where I went wrong.

BTW, the car came out beautiful in the end. I did a final rinse and water pooled into bubbles and rolled off like rain off a duck's @$$.

First pic: This shows the dried wax, to the left where you can see the reflection of my leg, that is the part where I used a dry microfiber to wipe off some of the dried wax.


Second Pic: This is the microfiber cloth I used. Look at the small blue spot, that is some of the Kona Blue on my wipe cloth! Did I rub too hard? Did I use the wrong procedure to wipe off the dried wax?

 

applying wax is simple. Apply the wax to a clean surface. Wipe the wax off with a microfiber towel and that is it.
Here is some videos to educate you.
http://www.adamspolishes.com/t-videos.aspx

 

That wax looks a little thick, however depending on which wax you used, some dry a lot more cake like than others.

 

Thanks for the link, but it is quite hard to see the layer of wax he applied.
I cannot tell what thickness of paste wax he applied; I want to try to replicate that thickness of wax.

And Adam's does not have a still pic of what a proper layer of freshly applied wax is supposed to look like as you are wiping it on.
Can you link such a pic?

Also, not once does he mention about the paint coming onto the wipe rag.
All he mentioned was "...Use one of our true blue super plus towels, wrap it over the handle, and go right over; and this is a great and fast way to remove the wax, polish or whatever. I try to get about 80% of the residue off with the towel and polisher together, and then I like to wipe it off by hand..."
Also, he never showed what his towel looked like after he used the hand held power buffer and after he wiped the rest off by hand.

 

I used Maguire's Gold paste wax.
http://www.meguiarsdirect.com/detail/MEG+G7014J

The instructions say to apply the wax in the sahde for best results, and then wipe off after drying.

However, I noticed that the part of my car that was in the sun (I could not get the car under the shade completely), the wax was softer and easier to wipe off and actually felt like it worked on over the sealcoat smoothly.
That part of my car did not require any rubbing at all to wipe off the wax.
The otehr parts required rubbing to get off the execes dried wax. I felt like I might have been doing more harm to the sealcoat surface instead of applying the protective coat of wax.

Should I have ignored the shade recommendation and waxed under the hot sun so when wiping it off, it would have smoothed over flawlessly with no rubbing?

 

When applying the wax with a applicator you'll have enough wax to use on a 2x2 section. You don't have to apply wax to the same spot more than once in the same time. Paste wax is already thick, so rub wax on the applicator and apply to the surface. The reason you have paint on the towel is because your car is painted a single stage system. The new cars have a base coat clear coat system.

 

sounds like you're letting the wax sit for two long. once the wax is applied, buff it off with a microfiber.

 

Base coat clearcoat system? What is that and how is applying the base coat a clear coat?
I always thought the clearcoat was like a laquer that goes over the paint coats.

And since I did this rubbing, have I hurt the clearcoat or this base coat clear coat system?

 

sorry, forget what i just said. I thought you had a foxbody mustang. your car is a base coat- clear coat. That is really odd you're having the base coat on a microfiber towel. Have you polished your car before?

 

I'd like to kill the Maguires employee who wrote the damn instructions on the bottom of the can.

The instructions say to apply the wax over the entire car first, And then, to wipe off the wax.
Not once did this @$$-hat say that it is best to apply the wax on a section and then to wipe it off more immediately. Not once did he write any warning about leaving the wax on too long.