The 9 wax showdown!

[RaskyR1]

Re: The 9 wax showdown!

Rasky,

I went to that civic forum to look at your work... all I can say is that aside from the legend (Mike Phillips) there are about four other guys here that I would LOVE to give my car to for the day (you, Nick C, Superior Shine and Derrick). Just sick work dude!

Well Thank You!

[Wolf-Strong]

Re: The 9 wax showdown!

One car, same panel (hood). I'll have pictures up soon enough but I will say this...

So far there it is very hard to notice any difference in looks (as to be expected when this many products are cramped onto a panel). However when inspected against bare paint there some products definetly darken the paint more then others. Past that appearance is very close to a wash.

Also initial water beading in the rain seems to be about even, I even video taped the water running off the hood.

I had the EXACT same experience which is why I now am so adamant about people looking into other factors (like the ones Mike listed) instead of 'looks'. I also found that the bead was so similar with freshly waxed surfaces that it wasn't even worth really looking too much into.

Glad your test is proving so far what I found in my test and I'm not just crazy

[3Fitty]

Re: The 9 wax showdown!

I did a similar test last weekend and found the change in darkness to vary depending on the time of day. Early afternoon and evening showed the difference more noticeably, especially for capturing it in pictures.


I will be looking for the post on your results.

Rasky,

I went to that civic forum to look at your work... all I can say is that aside from the legend (Mike Phillips) there are about four other guys here that I would LOVE to give my car to for the day (you, Nick C, Superior Shine and Derrick). Just sick work dude!

[3Fitty]

Re: The 9 wax showdown!

then it comes down to all the other factors, like

Appearance: That includes gloss, shine, clarity, richness of color or darkness.

For what it's worth there's a certain group of people that repeated the mantra that any wax that changes the color of a paint is a bad thing for years... (they're wrong of course, if you want the blackest paint then you want the darkest black color, not gray and this applies to any color, it's called the full richness of color which most people just use the term darkness or darkening effect as that's how they see it and that's how they know how to use words to explain it but I digress...


Longevity: Back to water beading

Ease of use: This includes application and wipe-off

Cost: Goes without saying

Availability: This would include how easy or hard it is to obtain the product, retail or online in most cases.


And after all is said and done, regardless of all the test people do the only test that really matters is the one each one of us does on our own, on our own car.

It is our individual experience that will cause us to purchase a second bottle or can if and when the first bottle or can runs out.

So best of luck to you on your testing and we look forward to your results.

Just to be clear we will NOT allow anyone to bash our forum members, other companies or Meguiar's. So please keep this in mind as you participate on this forum.

Thanks.

Mike,

This is truly great info and exactly how I look at things. I suppose that is why I remain a Meg's junkie that occasionally has an affair with another product, only to always come crawling back to Meguiars!

[3Fitty]

Re: The 9 wax showdown!

Actually I just started a test that consists of testing the following products and I will have pictures up in a couple days..

BulletProof Platinum
Collinite #476
Collinite #845
Collinite #915
ClearKote Vanilla Moose Wax
Meguiars #16
Meguiasr #26
Meguiars NXT V2.0
Lusso Oro
Pinnacle Souveran
P21s 100% Carnauba Wax
Rejex
Ultima Paint Guard Plus
Werkstat Acrylic Jett
Zaino Z2 Pro
Zaino Z5 Pro
Zaino Z-CS Clear Seal
Zymol Vintage Estate Gauge

But to answer your question, I haven't found that NXT 2.0 is making it past the 5 week point with out a significant reduction in gloss, slickness, and water beading/sheeting ability. Is this longer then I found for NXT 1.0? Yes. Is it far from the normal as to other people who have been using it? Not from people who I have spoken with.

I have seen with my own eyes Collinite #476 and #845 look fresh 3 months after application and still bead like (or near like) new 6 months out. Not even close. I have taken everything into account for this test and tried to be as fair about surface prep as possible. We will see....

Awesome! Can't wait for the pics and video and results. I've only tried a couple on your list but I won't say what I thought/found from them before you start posting results. Unfortunately, I've never done a side by side comparison so I kind of had to use memory to determine what I thought looked better. Add to that that I haven't really owned a car that was a good color for testing a waxes appearance since 1993. Since then, I'll my cars have been either silver or white (yes - not to diverse).

The only product from the list I will mention in particular is Pinnacle Souveran, which I thought was pretty terrible. I thought it looked flat and had very poor durability IMO. I've tried every Meg's product on your list, along with P21's 100% and the CK moose wax also.

[RaskyR1]

Re: The 9 wax showdown!

One car, same panel (hood). I'll have pictures up soon enough but I will say this...

So far there it is very hard to notice any difference in looks (as to be expected when this many products are cramped onto a panel). However when inspected against bare paint there some products definetly darken the paint more then others. Past that appearance is very close to a wash.

Also initial water beading in the rain seems to be about even, I even video taped the water running off the hood.

I did a similar test last weekend and found the change in darkness to vary depending on the time of day. Early afternoon and evening showed the difference more noticeably, especially for capturing it in pictures.


I will be looking for the post on your results.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: The 9 wax showdown!

One car, same panel (hood). I'll have pictures up soon enough but I will say this...

So far there it is very hard to notice any difference in looks (as to be expected when this many products are cramped onto a panel). However when inspected against bare paint there some products definitely darken the paint more then others. Past that appearance is very close to a wash.

Also initial water beading in the rain seems to be about even, I even video taped the water running off the hood.

More power to you...

I've watched R&D test products as well as others here at Meguiar's, of course I've done my own testing of most of the waxes on the market including most if not all the ones you listed.

Besides how long a product will bead water, (which is the criteria most enthusiasts go by), there's also "real protection" which you can't measure realistically because you would have to somehow duplicate real-world conditions over time and that starts to get kind of difficult.

Besides that, I've posted this many times but here it goes again...

Anything that lands on a modern clear coat finish that is nasty and corrosive enough to etch or eat into the clear layer of paint, (resin), is going to be strong enough to eat through the micron thin layer of whatever wax you're using and still etch or eat into the paint.

Can't think anything worse that can happen to the paint that happens in the real world that the owner usually isn't around to or able to prevent and must rely upon their choice of wax protection to do the job for them.

In most cases, the most you can hope for is that the protection ingredients will slow down the offending contaminant.

That being true and no one has ever proved it isn't, then it comes down to all the other factors, like

Appearance: That includes gloss, shine, clarity, richness of color or darkness.

For what it's worth there's a certain group of people that repeated the mantra that any wax that changes the color of a paint is a bad thing for years... (they're wrong of course, if you want the blackest paint then you want the darkest black color, not gray and this applies to any color, it's called the full richness of color which most people just use the term darkness or darkening effect as that's how they see it and that's how they know how to use words to explain it but I digress...


Longevity: Back to water beading

Ease of use: This includes application and wipe-off

Cost: Goes without saying

Availability: This would include how easy or hard it is to obtain the product, retail or online in most cases.


And after all is said and done, regardless of all the test people do the only test that really matters is the one each one of us does on our own, on our own car.

It is our individual experience that will cause us to purchase a second bottle or can if and when the first bottle or can runs out.

So best of luck to you on your testing and we look forward to your results.

Just to be clear we will NOT allow anyone to bash our forum members, other companies or Meguiar's. So please keep this in mind as you participate on this forum.

Thanks.

[TH0001]

Re: The 9 wax showdown!

Are you testing them all on the same paint system or paint panel?

Or multiple different paint systems and/or cars or paint panels?

One car, same panel (hood). I'll have pictures up soon enough but I will say this...

So far there it is very hard to notice any difference in looks (as to be expected when this many products are cramped onto a panel). However when inspected against bare paint there some products definetly darken the paint more then others. Past that appearance is very close to a wash.

Also initial water beading in the rain seems to be about even, I even video taped the water running off the hood.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: The 9 wax showdown!

Are you testing them all on the same paint system or paint panel?

Or multiple different paint systems and/or cars or paint panels?

[TH0001]

Re: The 9 wax showdown!

TH0001,

Do you have any long term comparisons with pictures you could point us to? I always love reading such tests.

Also, are they recent, so that they include NXT 2.0? I know that most will probably agree that 2.0 is longer lasting than the orginal, so I would be curious to see what you found. Thanks.

Actually I just started a test that consists of testing the following products and I will have pictures up in a couple days..

BulletProof Platinum
Collinite #476
Collinite #845
Collinite #915
ClearKote Vanilla Moose Wax
Meguiars #16
Meguiasr #26
Meguiars NXT V2.0
Lusso Oro
Pinnacle Souveran
P21s 100% Carnauba Wax
Rejex
Ultima Paint Guard Plus
Werkstat Acrylic Jett
Zaino Z2 Pro
Zaino Z5 Pro
Zaino Z-CS Clear Seal
Zymol Vintage Estate Gauge

But to answer your question, I haven't found that NXT 2.0 is making it past the 5 week point with out a significant reduction in gloss, slickness, and water beading/sheeting ability. Is this longer then I found for NXT 1.0? Yes. Is it far from the normal as to other people who have been using it? Not from people who I have spoken with.

I have seen with my own eyes Collinite #476 and #845 look fresh 3 months after application and still bead like (or near like) new 6 months out. Not even close. I have taken everything into account for this test and tried to be as fair about surface prep as possible. We will see....

[Markus Kleis]

Re: The 9 wax showdown!

I used Zaino products on my red 2002 Ranger back in 2003~. I got my Zaino about 2 weeks before the first NXT was released. (I had been using a combo of Gold Class and Mother's stuff at that point).

My buddy had a 2003 Silver Explorer sport, and he went with the NXT.

We used to do a spot-free rinse of our vehicles 2-3 times a week, at the same time and place...and when compared the results seemed very comparable. BUT, we did agree that the Zaino beaded up a little longer than his coat of NXT. Granted, we both did our own waxing and I think I clayed first, and he didn't...so it isn't a great test.

BUT, in the end I ended up switching to NXT because the pre-mixing and measuring of the Zaino was a serious pain. I felt like a damn chemist, and it was just too much work.

Now I would say 95% of my detailing arsenal has a Meguiar's logo

[3Fitty]

Re: The 9 wax showdown!

Well, Zaino has a very loyal core following. Probably not too different than Meg's, just on a smaller scale.

From what I gather about Zaino is that *some* swear by its durability. Some *claim* it lasts for 1 year on a daily driver (which I think is total nonsense) but who knows. I've also read that some thinks it makes a car look "plastic like" (although I'm not quite sure what that means).

I'll never use it for the simple reason that I live in NJ and NJ is one of three States they don't ship to and the hoops they want you to go through is just too much. Plus, in my 18 years of detailing (as a hobby), I've learned that most of the hype associated with products and companies, is exactly that; hype.

Meg's on the other hand continues to churn out solid performing reliable staples that don't promise the world, just excellent car care products.

[Wolf-Strong]

Re: The 9 wax showdown!

Well at this current point in time I am still using NXT V2 as my main wax, but keeping M26 close at hand for when it is either really hot out or really cold at NXT starts acting up. I've found ways around this, but M26 is still probably the easiest wax I have ever used. I have little interest at this time in trying Mother's

I've always wanted to dry Zaino and Zymol though. The thing that attracts me to Zymol is that I could apply it by hand, and that just seems like it would be a fun, relaxing thing to do every once in a while (not every time) if I wanted to burn some steam or something. Zaino on the other hand from what I have read is nothing special like some make it out to be, rather is just another paint protectant. One day I will end up buying both.

Black Magic on the other hand may be one of those waxes that I buy because I am in the store looking for something else, pass buy, finally get swayed by the misleading advertisement or pushy sales guy, and buy it =P

[3Fitty]

Re: The 9 wax showdown!

Gasti,

There is a great online comparison between Meg's and Zaino that really compares, swirl correction and shine (not durability) and the author's conclusion is that they were pretty similar with maybe a small edge (in looks) to the Meg's stuff.

His methodology for swirl removal wasn't great, but overall, I thought he did a pretty competent job. Do a search on google and you'll find it pretty easily.

[3Fitty]

Re: The 9 wax showdown!

TH0001,

Do you have any long term comparisons with pictures you could point us to? I always love reading such tests.

Also, are they recent, so that they include NXT 2.0? I know that most will probably agree that 2.0 is longer lasting than the orginal, so I would be curious to see what you found. Thanks.