Owner reviews for car wax

"Poor man's" alternative to ceramic coating might be to use eg Meguiar's NXT Tech Wax after a proper clean. Gives the car a beautiful finish, and bugs stick much less.

wax makes the car shinier; it's that all the little things that can slowly abrade the clearcoat over time will mostly damage the replaceable layer of wax instead. It's even kind of like sunscreen to protect against UV fading the paint (red is particularly susceptible to that). Ideally I'd recommend hand washing and using an easy spray-on wax like the Meguiars hybrid ceramic stuff

I prefer chemical guys wax. That way you'll have at least 6 months of only having to push dirt off your car with water

If you use a synthetic polymer wax like Tech-Wax 2.0 it will last even longer.