Best way to remove wax/surface finishes

[PoleDriver]

I'm progressing with the refurb of my old Astra and need to strip wax and other surface finishes off parts of the exterior before using new treatment. Any suggestions for the best way?

[randlemarcus]

Fairy Liquid and elbow grease, but make hugely sure you rinse every single trace of it away.

[PoleDriver]

Funnily enough, that was going to be my preffered method if nothing turned up here.
Will water be sufficient to clean off the excess elbow grease?

[JulesB]

Get yourself a clay bar and clay the whole car, dont use fairy liquid!!

Edit..

Especially after all your hard work with the polishing, would be a shame to mar it all with fairy liquid. Fairy liquid is for women and dishes

Edited by JulesB on Thursday 24th May 10:48

[trashbat]

Polish will remove, but to do it properly you should use a cleanser. Autoglym make one that comes with the HD wax kit IIRC, I use that. Claying is only good once you've removed it.

NO FAIRY!

[JulesB]

In fairness after all the polishing you have already done there should be no polish/sealant on the car, just fresh paint?

[PoleDriver]

There were a couple of panels that didn't need it!

[JulesB]

Id carry on polishing as before, it can only improve the paint (I say this lightly!) and do what you need it to do

[Craikeybaby]

I use Meguiars APC diluted 10:1 before I clay to get rid of as much product build up as possible.

[PJ S]

What "polish" did you use, and did you wipe it down afterwards with a quick detailer or anything?
If no wipedown, and no application of wax to protect the paintwork, then a slow-flash panel wipe will remove any polishing oils.
That'll give you the cleanest/squeakiest panel, ready for the new product.

Many users, experienced ones included, may talk about diluted (slightly) IPA (isopropanol/isopropyl alcohol), but having been there and done that, it's nowhere near as effective as panel wipe.