Recently purchased a 68 SS. The previous owner told me that the person who painted the car advised him not to wax the car but to only use a polish. Just throwing this out to the experts for an opinion. The car has a great paint job with little to no swirls. Any opinion on what to use to protect this finish?

Thanks in advance.

One word: Zaino. (http://www.zainostore.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc)

I also religously use Zaino.

I have never waxed my car.

RACE GLAZE POLISH Only

Wax is a protectant that places a thin barrier on the paint surface. In the days of old, laquer paint required a lot of time for the solvents to evaporate and many painter gave "Do Not Wax" orders. These orders were not ment to be life of the paint but you know how that goes... Most modern paints cure very quickly and are not expelling solvent vapors for very long like the paints of yesterday did.

Polish is an abrasive, that means it removes a thin layer of what ever you are polishing, leaving a fresh new surface.

Typically you only polish when the surface has imperfections and blemishes in it. Typically you wax after polishing to protect the fresh surface left by polishing.

Mike doesn't realize it (most folks don't) but he is not just polishing his car when they use products like "RACE GLAZE POLISH". Mind you Mike's correct that he doesn't use wax, but his polish has an acrylic sealer in it that does what wax does. In fact Race Glaze has a chemical cleaner in it, an abrasive and the sealer. 3 products in one.

Modern times have led to many new products but the basics really have not changed. In the old days after washing and drying you used used a chemical to remove bugs and tar. Then you polished to remove light scratches and stains from hard water and bugs that sat too long. Then you waxed to protect the new surface left from polishing. In modern all in one products the chemicals are not as strong, the polishes are finer and the sealers are not always wax based any more.

It's all just a new twist to doing the same thing. Everyone finds a product or products they prefer, there are a lot of good ones out there. Just remember, there is only so much paint on the surface of your car and every time you polish you remove some of it. Before 2 stage paints you use to see the polish cloth turn the color of the paint and it was a good reminder of what polish does. Todays base/clear if you start seeing color it's a bad sign...

My recomendation, polish only when needed, clay bar before polishing and keep your paint protected with a good wax or product with a sealer in it.