Removing Wax from Pock-Marked Hood

Most of the wax residue can be removed with a mild solvent used to prep/clean surfaces for painting. Test anything you use in an area that is not critical. Having said that, there are waxes that have a color tint. these leave residue that is hopefully less noticeable than the normal white residue. (Or you might consider a White Miata!)

Washing the car with Dawn should strip all the wax with little effort. But have you tried just buffing them out? Those speckles are usually a sign of having used too much wax, especially if the sheetmetal wasn't cool.

The benefits of white Miatas besides good looks are countless.

Leon :)

I can tell you on a black car they are a sign of rock / sand chips in the paint. At this point, the only wax I can really use on the nose / hood and leading portion of front qtr panels, is black wax and thank goodness for it!

Here in Houston the problem is horrible. I avoid the big gravel / sand hauling trucks like the plague but they drop so much that regular vehicles pick it up and swirl it around till the next truck comes by and drops some more (not too long!).

Chris

That's not wax, it's the light-gray primer showing where the black is chipped away. Hit them with a Sharpie.

I tried this last night with a red Sharpie and had some color matching issues, so I just kept going.

Chris, be sure to use a Black Sharpie, very important. ;-)

Pat

Lanny, come on man, please don't insult me with a comment like that! Do you really think I'm so stupid as to not know what it is that I'm looking at? I would have thought I'd have earned at least that tiny bit of respect but, apparently not.

Ya, after the initial rock / sand chip, you are looking at primer. The original poster mentioned he just waxed the car, remember? What he's now done is fill those minute chips / pits with the (white) wax.

Your sharpie trick might make the car look better temporarily (if there's a matching sharpie color) but if you then at some point, wax the car (with the typical light colored wax) you'll have the exact same problem because the sharpie won't "fill" the pit, it only colors it. The black wax works WORLDS better because it fills the pits (with black wax) and it takes a shine! It's not perfect but as the owner / maintainer currently, of 4 black vehicles and previously of several more, I'm VERY familiar with the problem.

Actually, the OP never mentioned what color his "pock-marked" car was but as previously mentioned they make a couple different colors of the colored waxes. I've found that the black works great on most dark colors. I have had good results with it on dark maroon and dark green. I wish him good luck or, should I say, good results!

Chris

What do the say, 'your results may vary'? They'll vary alright!

Chris

Just for what it's worth, A " Q-tip " works very well to remove the "white wax" from the rock chip in the paint. :-)

Bruce Bing '03 LS