Does wax and other car cleaning supplies expire/go bad?

[LS1MONSTER]

Might be a stupid question.. but I do have quite a few liquid and paste waxes that have been in my garage for over 3yrs. Would they be safe to use? One of them happens to be a bottle of Gold Class..and it doesn't look "good"

[Mobilejoe]

I would say there must be some sort of shelf life on the waxes but the looking bad could be from the chemicals separating or moisture has gotten into the bottle to cause a mold, my bet would be if you don't like the look don't trust it on your vehicle. I hope one of the customer service people from Meguiar's responds because it is a good question.

[LS1MONSTER]

I have pretty much a full bottle of Gold Class liquid wax.. but even after I shake it, it's pretty chunky looking. It's about 3 yrs old if not a tad more. My mothers paste and turtle wax past waxes still look fine and they are 3 yrs old as well...but I would like to know whats the deal on their shelf life.

[the other pc]

The general question of shelf life comes up quite often. Here's Mikes response from an earlier thread.

Originally posted by Mike Phillips
...From our FAQ here,

http://meguiars.com/faq/index.cfm?fa...ection=_22#_22


You can typically expect Meguiar's surface care formulations to retain their full effectiveness for three to five years, as long as the container has been sealed tightly, and has not been frozen.

If you do a search for threads with words like life or shelf in the titles you'll find a bunch more discussion on the topic.

I think Meguiar's is being very conservative with their statement. I've used products that were more than ten years old and worked perfectly.


PC.

[LS1MONSTER]

Cool thanks for the info...I'll read up on it! I was searching under expired

[Accumulator]

As long as you avoid temperature extremes most detailing products will last a very long time. Just keep them tightly closed.

The can of #16 I'm finishing up is over 10 years old and I use plenty of products that are even older than that. My "interior wood wax" (a Zymol/Germany product made for BHMA) is 21 years old and it's still fine.

Stuff that does *not* keep: QDs and leather treatments. #34 turns transparent and orange-colored and loses its lubricity. Leather treatments get dark, gooey, and "gamey smelling".

[miked2]

I've found that Meg's products keep better over time than competing products. My stash stays in the garage, which ranges from an absolute low of around 40 in the winter to an absolute high of around 85 in the summer. Typically it's 50-75 in there. My Gold Class bought six years ago maybe is still perfect, as is my DC2 (though both are running low and will require replacement bottles soon).

I have had two products go bad, both non-Meg's -- some P21S all surface finish restorer (or something like that). Used it once in the fall, and then in the spring, it was separating badly. Because it's in a tube, there's not much you can do to mix it back up. Also some "wheel wax" from Tire Rack. It sat in an air-tight container, but it separated, and I tried to mix it up, but it just wasn't going along.

- Mike.