Are these old waxes still OK to use?

[stonemonkey]

Hi all,

Was doing a bit of a cleanup in the garage and found these two old containers of wax. One Megs #26 and also some Zymol Japon.

No idea how old they are, but likely more than 10 years.

The #26 has some small brown flecks on the top that could be rust dust from the edge of the tin - they are just on the surface though and can be easily scraped off. Some cracks but they don't appear too dried out... the #26 is quite soft compared to the Zymol.

Think they can be re-used ?

Also what product in the Megs range is the Zymol similar to ?

[Garage Troll]

Re: Are these old waxes still OK to use?

It's hard to tell for sure without actually testing it. Although most waxes probably don't have a shelf life of 10 years or more you just never know. Try it out on a small inconspicuous test spot.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Are these old waxes still OK to use?

Both of these appear to be fine, but it's pretty easy to double check that. The products should smell as you would expect them to smell - the M26 may still have the slightest scent of banana to it, but neither should be present an offensive odor. If they do, they're most likely shot. Now, get those specs off of the M26, regardless what they are, then take a clean foam wax applicator and rub it lightly, but quickly, over the surface of the wax. It should very slightly liquefy the surface of the wax and transfer some onto the pad. The product on the pad should be very thin and only slightly moist to the touch. It should spread readily on the paint (apply thin remember!!), dry in a matter of minutes, and wipe off quite easily.

Some waxes are much harder than others while in the container and that's due to the formulation of the wax, not an indication of anything else unless the hardness (or lack thereof) is vastly different than the wax should be (ie, if that can of M26 had the consistency of cottage cheese it would not be "normal" for M26).

But again, just from the pictures, both look to be perfectly fine.

As for which Meguiar's product is most similar to that Zymol - currently it's our M26, although the discontinued M16 may well be closer to it.