Fizzboy7

Had something happen to my 2023 IS350, that I've never seen before. Car was new in April, I waxed it last month, then we had tropical storm Hilary dump four inches or rain in one day. Unfortunately, I had to go to work and could not park it inside. So a day later when I cleaned it, I noticed there was wax build up around all the crevices, or at least some sort of white build up in the nooks and crannies. Now, I always pull out all wax from these cracks after waxing, and there was absolutely nothing visible on the car after the wax. But after this heavy rain, all this white stuff appeared where I mentioned above. Also, wax that I had got on the wiper blade arms, then removed, also re-appeared. What the heck? How can all this wax land itself back on the car from a rain? Or perhaps it was some protective coating they ship with the car, that was hidden underneath trim, then ran into everything when it got wet? I've never had this happen before, then again, I have only let my car be in the rain a small handfull of times over the decades.
Any ideas, I'd be interested in learning...

LeX2K

What product exactly?

Maybe the heavy rain pushed the "wax" off the surface and into corners and gaps.

Fizzboy7

I use McGuires carnuba wax, and did it by hand. No wax was left on the surface when I was done. Although I do think your theory of the rain pushing something took place. Just don't know what was pushed.
I will say however, trying to get these new build ups off is much harder than trying to get wax off. Either the rain solidified it or the substance itself is not wax...

cremaley

I use only spray wax on my new cars so I don't get any wax build up.

chinee

That's normal. After waxing, it is easy to leave residue that is not visible or noticeable to the naked eye. After a few days or weeks, the residue combines with contaminants and become visible. And if there's a chemical reaction between the wax and contaminant, it can "grow", similar to oxidation. I was reminded of this last year when I waxed my son'd dark bluue GR86 and saw the residue appearing weeks and months later in the crevices that I thought I had buffed cleanly.

Get a few toothpicks and your microfiber out, it will be quite a detailing job but you paint should be no worse off.

Fizzboy7

Thank you. That is exactly what seems to be happening. It rained a second time and the white build up appeared again and in some new spots as well. I thought someone was playing tricks on me, as I've never had this happen on any car I've owned and waxed. I have to conclude the rain is activating shipping/factory residues or lubricants, combined with wax residues, and creating the build up. I don't mind, but the dried substance is much harder to rub off than just wax residue. Hope it works its course over time and becomes less frequent.