Feel for you man, stage 3 glaze in an old colonial is a whole different beast. Had one like that last winter where the stuff was like black glass, dry scraping just polished it instead of removing it. We burned through two poly brush sets and half a day before admitting defeat. Spraying first would've softened that shell up and saved us hours, no doubt. Four hours dry on that mess sounds about right, and your arms probably feel it today. Sometimes the old school way just costs you time when the glaze is that far gone.

$15 a week at a wash on Lamar sounds like a full detail job, not the basic $8 rinse most people get. If you were paying for the works every time, that $12 monthly pass probably gives you way less, like a single basic wash a month or just the outside. So you saved money, but you may also be getting a weaker wash and your car could end up with swirl marks or road grime sitting on the paint longer. The real fix is washing it yourself in the driveway for about $2 in soap and a bucket, which beats both of those deals by a mile.