How to do a LSP Comaprison

[Andrew C.]

I was thinking of claying my hood to remove all the wax and then do a comparison of M16, M26, and NXT 2.0 (Paste). What I am wondering is if I tape off individual squares on my hood for each wax, how do I go about protecting the areas where the tape was covering?

Should I just go over that area by hand very slowly and accurately as to not invade into the next waxes space?


(also any other LSP's you want to see in this? I have Color-X and 21, but 21 is the same as NXT)

[Tuck91]

Re: How to do a LSP Comaprison

I guess if you would have to be careful when waxing the areas the tape was covering but it is not something you have to do. If you are going to do it then use the same wax you used for that specific square to wax the tape covered area. But i doubt anything bad will happen itf you did not wax the tape areas. Or do really big square sections on your hood to make it easier.

As for your wax comparison, I would like to see Gold Class Liquid Wax thrown in the comparison test. If not, it would still be a good comparison.

good luck.

[RaskyR1]

Re: How to do a LSP Comaprison

I was thinking of claying my hood to remove all the wax and then do a comparison of M16, M26, and NXT 2.0 (Paste). What I am wondering is if I tape off individual squares on my hood for each wax, how do I go about protecting the areas where the tape was covering?

Should I just go over that area by hand very slowly and accurately as to not invade into the next waxes space?


(also any other LSP's you want to see in this? I have Color-X and 21, but 21 is the same as NXT)

Is this going to be a durrability test?

[Andrew C.]

Re: How to do a LSP Comaprison

Is this going to be a durrability test?

Initially it is going to be a test of appearance, but after time I will test durability and how well they still look. I'm debating whether to do the test within the next few week or wait until mid May because right now my truck primarily sits in a parking structure all of the time, but when Mid May hits, it will be outside and be used a lot more.



I think I'm going to wait until May just because of lack of exposure to the elements.

I would test out GC too, but I currently don't own any, and I don't think it would really be worth buying since I have plenty of 26, 16, 21, and NXT, which I would use before GC

[Mike Phillips]

Re: How to do a LSP Comaprison

What I am wondering is if I tape off individual squares on my hood for each wax, how do I go about protecting the areas where the tape was covering?

Should I just go over that area by hand very slowly and accurately as to not invade into the next waxes space?

You can do it either way, (tape, no-tape), the tape way gives your very distinct breaks between test sections which helps you to know while viewing when you've moved out of one section and definitely moved into a new section. This can come in handy if two adjacent waxes are close to the same in appearance after wipe-off, which can happen when you're testing different and usually high quality products.

As for the paint that is left without any wax due to the tape? Clear coat paints are pretty durable, they're easily scratched but still very durable even with only normal suggested care. Since you're into detailing, it's likely that after your testing you'll clean and polish the entire hood again and throw a coat of something on it and the time between when you start your test and when your finished with the test won't be enough time to cause any major problems to these small areas of unprotected paint over the service life of the car.

Make sense?

[RaskyR1]

Re: How to do a LSP Comaprison

I'd agree with Mike. You should be fine leaving the untaped areas without wax for a while.

In my testings I have found the differences to be more noticable in the early morning and late afternoon hours when the sun is lower in the sky. At mid-day I found it very hard to see differences between them.

Be sure to let us know your findings after you finish your testing.

[Andrew C.]

Re: How to do a LSP Comaprison

Another question on the subject, will it disturb the testing if I do QD wipe downs to get dust off my truck every few days or so? What I was thinking is cleaning off with Last Touch and not following with anything else like UQD/135 because I don't want to give an unfair advantage to NXT by boosting the polymers. Does this make sense? Would M34 also be fine to use to clean and not boost polymers at the same time?

[Tuck91]

Re: How to do a LSP Comaprison

Another question on the subject, will it disturb the testing if I do QD wipe downs to get dust off my truck every few days or so? What I was thinking is cleaning off with Last Touch and not following with anything else like UQD/135 because I don't want to give an unfair advantage to NXT by boosting the polymers. Does this make sense? Would M34 also be fine to use to clean and not boost polymers at the same time?

Well, I would go with M34 Final Inspection if you have it. I would think something like M135 or UQD would ruin the comparison.

[Andrew C.]

Re: How to do a LSP Comaprison

Well, I would go with M34 Final Inspection if you have it. I would think something like M135 or UQD would ruin the comparison.

Last touch doesn't have polymer boosting capabilities though does it?

[10degreesbtdc]

Re: How to do a LSP Comaprison

Thought I'd mention one way I did it recently with D151 and M80. I taped off a section, used D151, then removed the tape and moved it over the just polished area by the width of the tape so the edge is now directly adjacent to the next panel to be done. After I removed the tape for good I wiped with 50/50 IPA. IM KIDDING! I wiped the reside left by the tape and any splatter with QD. If I have the tape separating the panels it's more difficult to see the side-by-side. Make sense?

[Tuck91]

Re: How to do a LSP Comaprison

Last touch doesn't have polymer boosting capabilities though does it?

Not sure if it does or not, But if you cannot get M34 then maybe just use Quik Detailer.

[Bunky]

Re: How to do a LSP Comaprison

What I did on my Dakota was to divide the hood in 5 sections and ran blue tape from to rear. I figured each wax should have equal in terms (flat vs angled). Each section was about 1 ft wide average (smaller at front edge, larger at windshield). I can post a pic later.

[akimel]

Re: How to do a LSP Comaprison

I have never tried to do a LSP comparison, so take the following suggestion with a grain of salt. If the test is an appearance comparison, then I would suggest that you restrict yourself to two waxes. Wax one half of the hood with one wax, the other half of the hood with the other wax; in fact, why not wax the entire front end, vertical and horizontal panels, half and half. I do not believe that the small square comparison tests that are sometimes done have sufficient surface space to allow one to identify and distinguish objective differences between waxes, if in fact objective differences do exist. I suspect that the eye and brain need more surface space to look at. We need to look at the car from different angles and distances, as well, as Rasky has noted, at different times of the day.

[3Fitty]

Re: How to do a LSP Comaprison

I have never tried to do a LSP comparison, so take the following suggestion with a grain of salt. If the test is an appearance comparison, then I would suggest that you restrict yourself to two waxes. Wax one half of the hood with one wax, the other half of the hood with the other wax; in fact, why not wax the entire front end, vertical and horizontal panels, half and half. I do not believe that the small square comparison tests that are sometimes done have sufficient surface space to allow one to identify and distinguish objective differences between waxes, if in fact objective differences do exist. I suspect that the eye and brain need more surface space to look at. We need to look at the car from different angles and distances, as well, as Rasky has noted, at different times of the day.

Totally agree! When I did my 9 wax test there was NO way I could discern much difference because the areas were so small (or maybe there just wasn't a difference), but also keep in mind the color of the car you are using as a tester. I did it on silver and that is obviously not the best color to be working on.

[Ivan Rajic]

Re: How to do a LSP Comaprison

I'm with Aki on this one... maybe 3 max... also, I agree with Mike as far as tape goes... if you leave the strips unprotected it'll be easier to see the different waxes as well as unprotected paint..

Lastly, I highly suggest you take notes and photos on how the paint sheets/beads water when it's bare, then also note and photograph the same thing when each wax is applied... the reason I'm saying this is because way too many time I've heard people saying that if the paint beads it has a layer of protection on it, but that's not always true... many paints will bead quite nicely when properly corrected after a IPA wipedown...

It's very hard to test durability but the best ways I've found is noticing the difference between how the paint reacts to water (flowing stream, straight spray, rain, etc.) as soon as the wax is applied, then do the same testing every 2 weeks or less... if the wax makes water bead nicely, you'll notice the beading getting 'sloppy', larger and scarce as the wax is on its last legs after some washes...

Another way I've used is to check if the paint squeaks when rubbing it by hand during washing... if it does it's always a good indicator of wax being present