Look at this nonsense

[cydewaze]

Someone on the bicycling forum I frequent started a thread about using furniture wax on bikes to make them easier to clean. This was one of the responses:

Most wax made for cars is MUCH too abrasive for the amount of paint on a bicycle. Don't try it if you don't know how abrasive it is.

Abrasive wax? Me thinks he needs to find a new brand of wax.

[showtime]

I've given up trying to correct people who are trying to be internet information heros. Especially with automotive forums, people want to be the "guy who knows things" so they post totally off the wall stuff hoping they'll get a following of mindless sheeple.

[Mike Phillips]

I've seen waxes in my live that are in essence... rubbing compounds with some type of Carnauba wax in them.

I know it's hard to believe but it is true, in the past and probably even today there are products available that fit the above description. I think you can find products like this in the Marine industry because some people want to remove oxidation and leave behind some type of wax protection in one step and they want an aggressive product even thought at some level they are probably doing more damage than good over the long haul. Of course some people would purchase a product like the above because they don't know any better and they would assume that if the product exists in a company's product selection that it must be good.

That's why sometimes if your not sure about a product you need for a certain task it's always nice if you can simply put your trust in the name on the bottle. Trust that the company has your best interest at heart and therefore the ingredients in the bottle are there to help you not hurt you or the surface you're applying the product to.

[BookBoy]

I don't....OK, I do know why someone would want to apply wax their bike. But, there's so many litte places for the wax to get trapped it's more work than it's worth. Not that I haven't thought about it, but w/ 9 in my quiver I'll stick to the quick, easy & fast furniture polish. I've been doing it for years and it's never produced a problem, only solid results.

[cydewaze]

I waxed the bare frame of my bike before assembly. Road grime that I used to have to scrub off now wipes off with one swipe of a dry cloth. It makes cleaning MUCH easier.

[gb387]

When I was more into biking I too waxed mt bike for the same reason cydewaze does, seemed to work well for me.

[the other pc]

Sounds downright silly to me (most wax for cars? bike paint is intrinsically less than car paint?) but since I haven’t examined the paint line of every bike maker in the world I can’t exactly argue from a standpoint of absolute authority. (I’m guessing he can’t either.)

You could always skirt the issue of his accuracy by simply posting that all of Meguiar’s waxes are more than gentle enough for any paint finish and that the pure waxes like #26 and DC step3 contain no abrasives whatsoever. And, unlike furniture wax, they’re formulated for finishes that are supposed to be used outdoors, in real weather, with the sun shining and miscellaneous road gunk flying about.

In my statistically irrelevant survey of all the bikes in my garage I find lots of paint that’s thicker and tougher than OEM car paint.

There’s one bike out there with an “amount of paint” that’s definitely less than a car’s. But I don’t think bare metal counts.

I usually use #6 on bikes. Since bikes don’t live outside a one-step lasts a long time. It cleans well and looks great.


PC.

[Michael Stoops]

Lemon Pledge was my best friend in my cycling days. Two road bikes, a track bike and a full suspension MTB - they always smelled of lemony goodness and after an 80 mile training ride all the road grime would just wipe off.

But after 10 years of racing, training 400 miles a week and sharing a hotel room with 3 other guys every other weekend, it just started to feel like work! I've still got all the bikes, but I haven't ridden in almost 7 years now.

Hmmmm......maybe a weekend bike detailing project will rekindle my interest again. I'm either going to be really happy I found this thread, or just a wee bit ticked off!