Why wipe on/wipe off is not going to save you time...

I'm going to give you a very simple reason why this wipe on wipe off thing that people talk about is NOT going to save you any time. That is the reason people do it and it is absolutely flawed logic. If they aren't doing it to save time then they are doing it because it is easier to buff off, which is also flawed. Products streak when they are wet and they dust when they are dry. I'm not going to explain that one because it should be self explanatory, but I will explain why it doesn't save any time and actually may cause you to spend MORE time on the job.

I am all about processes. There is an order to doing things that makes them work. Take cooking for example. If you made cookies and forgot the salt but decided to sprinkle a little salt on top of each one to make up for it after they were baked, would they taste the same? No. It isn't about having the right ingredients. It is about the order. Here is another thought... What would a cheeseburger taste like if you put it in a blender and liquefied it? Would it still taste like a cheeseburger? I promise you that it wouldn't. (first hand knowledge on both of those) There is even a process that your taste buds go through to enjoy something and making it faster to eat doesn't get the same results.

So you are applying a wax and you are tempted to just wipe it off right afterwards. Let me give you the single best suggestion to why that is not necessary. Wax (or seal) your entire car and then when it is covered in wax, go around and dress the tires, trim, clean the glass, wiper cowl, chrome, etc. Any overspray from those processes will be wiped up when you buff off the wax. If you are able to do all of those things without getting a single drop on the paint, then you are too good for this world and should be expecting to get called home any minute now. lol I for one have never been able to dress the rubber around windows without getting something on the paint. Nor do I have much success perfectly dressing tires without getting something on a fender or bumper. Buffing the wax off as the final step enables me to complete the job with an absolutely perfect looking vehicle and no additional final detailing steps required. I think any detailer would agree that it is the final detailing that seems to take the most effort sometimes. I'll cut and buff all day long, but if I had my druthers then I'd have someone on staff to clean up anything I missed or caused by spraying something after I buffed the wax off.

You will use the same energy to buff the wax off right after you apply it as you will if you wait. The difference will be the energy you don't have to spend cleaning up overspray from final detail tasks like rubber, glass, and trim. Does that make sense? Forget the fact that some products actually NEED to dry on the paint before they will properly bond, and forget that wiping a wet wax off may just leave the oils on the surface and remove a lot of the protection you are trying to lay down. Think about the WOWO technique as something that will cause you more work at the end of the job. It is an enemy to an efficient process.

The only defense anyone married to this technique could give is that they do all that final detail stuff BEFORE they wax the car, so when they are done with the WOWO they are actually done with the car. If that is the case, then I give up. Whatever floats your boat I guess, but I just wanted to offer up the idea to anyone curious about process that they can actually save time at the end if they wait till after they have done everything that risks overspray before they buff the wax off. You'll be amazed at how much time it saves.

Even if the instructions don't tell you that you have to let it dry, listen to what I'm telling you about saving time at the end. If efficiency isn't your goal, then that is fine. If you want to save yourself an extra half hour or an hour of trying to find all the spots you missed after you dressed the trim and everything, then that is fine. I'm not trying to tell people to be lazy. I'm telling you to be efficient. The WOWO process is lazy. It has no practical purpose in proper detailing other than the perceived savings of time, but if you are dressing trim and glass after you wax, then it will actually not save you anything.

Sealants are supposed to go on thin, like loudog2 said. If you apply it thin then dry or wet makes no difference to the effort it takes to remove it. It will be easy either way. Waxes can be a little more effort when they dry, but if you are using a good wax like Souveran or P21S or something like that, then there isn't any real effort involved there either. If there are a load of fillers in the wax then it will be difficult if it dries too long, but that should be reason not to use waxes like that.

Bottom line is, how hard is wax to remove really? It isn't like you need an ice scraper to remove it if you let it dry. Sure it might take a little more bite to buff it off, but it isn't going to add more than 90 seconds to your job even if it is 'harder' to remove. You'll save more than that by not having to clean up tire shine overspray on the fenders or rubber dressing on the doors.

Sure it might be a little tougher to get some waxes off after they have dried, but not that much harder. Use the WOWO method for polishes if you want since those actually do get harder. Those aren't laying down any protection either, so there isn't any concern that you are negating the effectiveness of the product. Charles and I will probably disagree on the protective nature of AIO, but the WOWO method may be encouraged on that product because it isn't meant to be the LSP. That is what SG is for.

On LSPs I just don't see the harm in waiting. Sure you can WOWO on some LSPs, but again... listen to what I'm saying. You can save yourself cleanup time if you let it dry. Apply the wax and then take off the tape, clean residue out of cracks, dress the tires, wash the windows, have a beer, whatever you want. Then buff the wax off and enjoy a perfect vehicle. Maybe you won't save or spend any extra time, but the efficiency gained in an effective process is something that will eventually pay off for you. Don't just WOWO because you can... Think about why you are doing it. Doing something for the sake of doing it is no process at all.