[Moto44]

I washed and waxed the car this weekend and I am embarrassed to admit how long it took. Admittedly, my new California edition with painted grills added a lot of time. But still, for such a small car, is anyone else dumbfounded by how long it takes to wash and wax all of the surfaces on the Elises and Exiges?

 

[dasmoofler]

YES! It would go a lot easier if I had some 3' tall ramps to drive it up onto.

 

[alil'britdifferent]

Starlight Black here, so I have to do it every other day!

 

[MikeinAlexandria]

I have an Elise and just started waxing it using Zymol. I am doing one section at a time, over a period of days. Makes it much easier to do. There are alot of varied surfaces on the Elise, making it a little trickier than a traditional car. But I would say it is not overly difficult. Haven't decided what to do about the Starshield covered surfaces yet.

 

[Moto44]

YES! It would go a lot easier if I had some 3' tall ramps to drive it up onto.

Good point! I find it more comfortable to lie back/side to remove the wax for the lower portions of the side panels.

 

[delise]

I use Zaino so it is a breeze for me, the only bad parts are the doors and bottom sills, I usually wear a knee pad and old clothes so I can lay on my side and get leverage. But luckily with Zaino you just need to let it dry for a 2 hours and it comes of easily, no buffing or polishing needed, just wipe it off....... I used to Wax my pickup truck which had about a 7 foot long matching painted tonneu cover , that was fun... that took hours.

I can get the Zaino on my car in about 15 minutes and I can get it all off in about 30 and yeah it would be MUCH faster up on ramps !

 

[Moto44]

I usually wear a knee pad.

Same here!

 

[kestrel74]

hmm..........with the McGuires NXT 2 .........by the time I'm done applying, the start point is dry. only takes me about an hour to wash / wax. :shrug:............so..........NO Problem mon.

 

[slaughtr]

On the one hand, I say pain in the butt 'cause I'm a naturally lazy person. On the other hand, it's taken me weeks to put my new clam hinge on because now that I have the clam off, I'm cleaning everything.:shrug:

 

[qu1Z]

I used meguires nxt2... took me 2 hours to do the car.. worked great. used my fingernail to get the wax off the edge of the starshield. no toothpicks around.

 

[delise]

I used meguires nxt2... took me 2 hours to do the car.. worked great. used my fingernail to get the wax off the edge of the starshield. no toothpicks around.

Careful the starshield gets damaged easily with fingernails ! How do I know this? Once after washing there was a stubborn bit of pollen or sap on the fron star shield, thinking it was soft vinyl and would not scratch easily I scraped it off with my fingernail, leaving huge permanent scratches in the star shield, pissed me off !

 

[Bane]

I just hate the static buildup when waxing. Otherwise it takes about as long as any other car (which is strange because it's smaller).

 

[JoshS]

YES! It would go a lot easier if I had some 3' tall ramps to drive it up onto.

I hire a little person, and get it done in no time

 

[ItsThaMonsta]

It takes me damn near 1.5 hours to wash the body, wheels, and use quick interior detail on the inside... and windex the windows.

 

[agirls]

When I clean the car inside and out, it takes HOURS. It looks great when I'm done, but it sure is a pain. I wish I knew a detailer to use every once in a while so I don't have to do it and to see how much better my car comes out when a professional does the work.

 

[Dave111]

Yes, the Lotus took me longer than any other car to wash and wax, but this helps.
Eagle One, Wax As-U-Dry.

~Dave

 

[Conrad]

washing and waxing and inside (but not the wheels) 3 1/2 hours.....







....... on a 2-11


ok beemer csl 7 hours including in/out/wheels


On that basis 2 to 3 times a year is a max....

 

[Gizmo3000]

Considering how small the car is,
no car on earth has so many crevices and [email protected]%!

I use the ICE stuff, too many black plastic parts to avoid.

 

[Bgwilly31]

Considering how small the car is,
no car on earth has so many crevices and [email protected]%!

I use the ICE stuff, too many black plastic parts to avoid.

painters tape is your friend.

 

[the1sen]

I too Zaino my car, and I get wonderful results in a short period of time.

No dust, no fuss, no muss... When I want to go overboard, I can. longest it ever took on the Elise was 13 hours. Took out the interior, Zaino'd everything, took off the wheels, cleaned wheel wells, took off undertray and cleaned it as well, and a used acetone to clean all the aluminum parts with great ease.