If there's a significant amount of time between washing and waxing, is just using a detailing spray to remove dust good enough to clean it before waxing?

In other words...
If I'm going to wash my car today, and it needs waxing, but I don't have time to wax it now, but maybe this weekend, can I do that to wax it? I really don't want to wash it again in that case.

 

Since your car is light in color (silver right?) you should be fine to use a quick detail before waxing over the weekend... so long as it is put away in the garage and not driven till you wax it. IF you keep is outside or will be driving it, I would wash it over again. Do use your judgement on the dust, if it really heavy just wash it over again.

 

I vote yes, you will be just fine regarding the spray wax as an interim measure...
Unless it is truely "clean", I would wash it prior to "wax-on / wax-off".

 

Yeah. It will be garaged between washing and waxing. I'd use Meguiars Final Inspection to clean the areas just before waxing.

When I wax now, I still do that because of the amount of dust and/or pollen in the air. So, my plan was to wash today. Then in a few days, use the Final Inspection to prepare each area before I wax it. The car should be clean because I'm not going to drive it between times.

Make sense?

The real reason behind this question is that I'm so pressed for time these days that I can't put aside enough time to wash and wax all at once.

 

Well, I just spent 4.5 hours on my car almost. I took off from work slightly early and washed and waxed most of the car. I waxed the whole front of the car, the roof, and the 'hips' (rear quarter panels only on top). I still need to do the rear bumper, the doors, and the lower half of the 'hips' behind the rear wheels.

Good news. I forgot I had a car cover. I put that on there. It was my first time to use it. I generally don't like using them for fear of scratching, but on a clean car and in the garage, it's no danger, so I used it. That means it should be plenty clean when I have time to do the rest of the car. Woohoo. What a day....

I wish I trusted someone else to do this... I'm getting tired of it actually. It's fun when you have the time, but when you have to make time, it's just work. Much like when you're forced to read a book for school as opposed to just reading for fun.

 

Do you have a Porter Cable Polisher?
It makes waxing a snap.
I usually put the wax on, go have a beer and watch some TV, then come back and buff it off with the PC.