Martin Senour paints which are avaible at NAPA came to college and did certification testing (which I passed!!). We asked on how long to wait after painting a carfor wax. They responded to never wax your car. wax makes water bead up and the beads act like a magnifing glass which will bake the hell out of your paint eventually causing fading. also it can dirt and other crap in your paint. I know what you are thinking wax has been around for ever and so has automotive paint. BUT paints have changed due to the government and tree huggers and the enviroment so paint isnt as tough as it used to be due to regulations on high solids and solevents.
They said the effect you want is like jet dry for the dishes which has sheeting action and falls off of the car.
Take this how you want, just relaying what i was told by a major automotive paint corp

So what are we gonna use?

A good wax job is supposed to sheet off. I think this will only apply much if the car is sitting outside with spots on it..... If it'* wet, either you washed it, and you're going to dry it, or it'* raining and the sun is normally away.....

When it rains, my car is spotless afterwards. Washing my car is hard after fresh wax.... I can't keep it wet!

Exactly. Noone has had any problems, I don't think theres anything to worry about.

Water falls right off my car after I wash it, or when it rains. I still get beads now after this crappy winter with all the salt, and several car washes. My paint sure hasn't faded.

After a new paint job, usually 30 days is a good time to wait until you wax it.

Maybe this paint company wants people not to wax their cars so they'll get more business from those who need new paint jobs, because their paint won't be protected.

After I wash, I usually go out for a speed run. The combination of the wind at Mach 7, and the heat generated from the wind friction at that speed dry the car. If I really nail it, Time Warping leaves the water a day behind.

Seriously, the idea posted here has merit. There are Polishes out there that provide 'sheeting' action.

My 91 was washed on a weekly basis, and waxed at least three times a year for 13 years, and the paint was still amazing on it. I only had it repainted last year because of a few minor scratches and because I was having some rust repaired.

A good wax job, IMHO, will cause the water to stream off your car and not bead. Maybe with the older waxs that might have been the case. (or the cheaper ones)

And if we aren't supposed to wax our cars, because of the beading effect, how do we achieve the water streaming off our cars and not beading?

I'm all for coating my car in teflon.. as long as it doesn't hurt the paint

I'll second that kinda like the looks of the bottom of the pan wonder how that would work on a car, as for the wax issue I think its all in how the person wax'*

I think that waxing has more benefits to it than not. There'* a right way to wax and a wrong. Doing it the wrong way would cause damage to your paint. But until I see some hard proof benefits of NOT waxing, I'll keep using wax.

Ill keep on waxing, IMO you have a better chance of getting water damage to your paint than sun damage. If you think about it, when it rains the sun isnt even out, so the magnifying glass thing isnt much of an issue. I wash the car before I wax, so the dirt is off the car. If you are really worried about sun damage, garage the car when its not in use, and park underneath trees (just watch out for birds).