CR didn't really like Meg's products

[jfelbab]

In fact, their #1 and #2 were Black Magic Wet Shine Liquid Wax and Turtle Wax Carnauba Car Wax T6. Meguiar's Gold Class Clear Coat Wax ranked 6th. NXT Generation Tech Wax Liquid placed 9th and Meguiar's Cleaner Wax ranked 14th.

When it comes to paste, Nu Finish was their top pick and NXT TEch Wax was last. (OMG, gasp, are they serious?)

With the spray wax category Eagle One ranked on top and Meg's NXT Tech Spray wax ranked last.

Looks like Meg's has some serious work to do here.

To be fair, the testers didn't seem like they were very knowledgeable. They ranked durability based on water beading. We know many top waxes try to design their product so that water doesn't bead but sheets off to avoid water spotting. Water beading is not a good indicator of a wax's durability.

They didn't seem to draw any distinction between Carnauba waxes and polymer sealants.

Their review seemed designed for Joe Schmo who washes and waxes their vehicle every year or two.

Someone want to write to CR and explain where they went wrong with their review?

[rtr0id]

link?

[jfelbab]

No link but it is in the July 2006 issue at the news stand.

I sure can't understand the headers here. When I typed it it said "like" and when it appeared it said "kile". See what happens when you drink too much wine?

[kellyinkc]

I should be getting mine in the next day or two in the mail. I wonder if the cars they did had swirls?! Alos wonder how they washed, dried the cars etc.

[Michael Stoops]

I lost all faith in CR some 20 years ago when reading a comparison of home stereo speakers. They tested all of them hanging from the ceiling so that they were at least 6 feet away from any hard surface. This was a blatant disregard for the manufacturers placement recommendations, and if you know anything about home stereo you know that placement is everything when it comes to get the best out of your speakers.

I was just appalled that these guys couldn't bother to read the owners manual on the products they were testing.

Oh, and back in the early '80s they rated the handling of the Dodge Omni as unacceptable. Their test? Thrown the steering wheel 90 degrees to one side, keep your foot on the gas, and let go of the wheel. The car did not return to it's original direction. C'mon...that manuver has no real world use, it's just plain stupid. Even Road&Track magazine came to the defense of the poor little Omni, pointing out that it was faster through their slalom run than a Maserati.

I haven't so much as glanced at CR since those days.

[goldenturtle]

I lost all faith in CR when they tested cameras and they compaired the Nikon F-3 to the Pentax K-1000 and totally shot down the poor Pentax. CR had no reguard for the two different markets the respective cameras were aimed at. Thet do the same with bicycles. they cant tell the diff between a Huffy and a Trek. Oh well, I 'm off my anti CR soapbox.

[Setec Astronomy]

Originally posted by Mike-in-Orange


Oh, and back in the early '80s they rated the handling of the Dodge Omni as unacceptable. Their test? Thrown the steering wheel 90 degrees to one side, keep your foot on the gas, and let go of the wheel. The car did not return to it's original direction. C'mon...that manuver has no real world use, it's just plain stupid.

You forgot to mention that they did the steering wheel yank while driving on the highway at 55 mph. Another favorite of mine was when they didn't like the original Mazda RX-7 because one of the testers cut their head on the latch of the hatchback--always my number one criteria for sports cars. I suppose if one of them had closed the door on their hand Mazda would have been in Federal court for their "unsafe" vehicle!

To be fair, they seem a bit better in their car coverage these days...back in the old days they really had a bunch of car-haters there, and it showed.

[cydewaze]

I've always been annoyed by CR.

When I was younger, I worked at a sporting good store for a few years. We had this one running shoe that had been rated #1 in CR as "best shoe" without qualifying it as a running shoe. Old ladys shoed up to buy them in droves.

For the next 6 months, we had return after return because (being a shoe designed for running outdoors) they had carbon rubber outsoles that left black marks on the old ladys' kitchen floors.

Many of the ladies were convinced that the shoes must be defective (and demanded another pair), because the great CR would surely have mentioned this in the article. It was a HUGE pita, and I grew to hate CR.

CR drops the ball on lots of stuff.

[DaGonz]

Consumer reports wouldn't know what a dog was, even if it came up and bit them on the arse!

Wifey bought a Panasonic vaucum cleaner that CR rated as #1.

The damn thing would go through a drive belt for the beater bar in a month.

The cost of the drive belt was $5.

$60 a year to maintain an upright vaccum cleaner?

The piece of **** broke for good exactly two weeks after the warranty ran out.

I have zero faith in Consumer Reports.

To the Meguiar family..

Keep on doing what you do best.. make excellent car care products!

[Accumulator]

Originally posted by Gonzo0903
Consumer reports wouldn't know what a dog was, even if it came up and bit them on the arse!

Well put.

Every time CR tests something in a field where I have expert knowledge, I'm left shaking my head at their incompetence. I kinda at myself for continuing to subscribe...

Specifically, their detailing product advice has been questionable (at best) since the first test of theirs I read back in the mid-'70s. I ran out and bought the "Classic Car Wax" they liked best, tried it, and spent the next day taking it off so I could go back to my #7/#16 combo.

[miked2]

Every time CR tests something in a field where I have expert knowledge, I'm left shaking my head at their incompetence. I kinda at myself for continuing to subscribe...

This is the same feeling I've had with CR. Everything sounds so professional that I figure their opinions should be followed. But then every time they test something that I have expert knowledge in, it contradicts everything I know . . . I stopped by subscription.

[rusty bumper]

It was just a few years ago that they rated Meg's Cleaner Wax as #1...How could it have fell so low?

And they consistently rate Nu-Finish near the top.

Give me a link--I'm writing.

[grover]

Well, I guess that means that Nu-Finish puts more money into advertising in CR then. Like others have said, anytime I'm knowledgeable in an area and read their reviews, it's totally off base so I've learned not to trust anything they print.

[sneek]

Originally posted by grover
Well, I guess that means that Nu-Finish puts more money into advertising in CR then. Like others have said, anytime I'm knowledgeable in an area and read their reviews, it's totally off base so I've learned not to trust anything they print.

CR doesn't accept any advertising, but I dont think that Nu-Finish should be at the top!

[Rockpick]

It's always seemed to me that CR has an agenda and, I'm sure that this is no different.

Frankly, I'll judge for myself... while NXT is not my absolute first choice, it is high on my list...

Maybe their testing revealed that something else was better -- that's fine -- but, coming from a group of enthusiasts (many of which have tried every product mentioned in their test -- me included), it's hard to pull the wool over a group's eyes. We have a boat load of competent folks here... obviously, few to none are choosing "NU" products over other stuff.