[DeTomaso] Wanted - scientific car wax results

[Charles McCall]

Hi all

What now seems like a billion years ago, but was probably 20-25 years ago,
Consumer Reports did a full and impartial test of car waxes. 

 

They bought a dozen varieties and followed the instructions. The results
were classified based on categories such as "durability after 30 trips
through the car wash", "ease of application/removal", "gloss to the
untrained eye", "amount of powder produced" and I forget what else. The
winner was some exotic was that cost $80 a bottle, while the second place
wax, which was a mere 1 point behind, was a Meguir's product that I have
faithfully used for the past 20 years as a result of that study. 

 

It is easy to apply, it is easy to remove. It doesn't leave powder
everywhere. It leaves a nice shine and leaves the paint extremely slippery.
I don't have to apply it very often, as water beads up heavily for quite
some time after application. I have happily used the product for years,
confident that it is the best bang for the buck, based on an impartial and
scientific study. For me, this adds more value that anecdotal evidence such
as someone saying "I use wax X and it works well". Unless you compare X to Y
under the same conditions, how can you not know if Y works even better?

 

Anyway, over here in Spain I've run out of my favorite Meguirs. So I used a
100% Carnuba that I got for Christmas on the daily driver BMW, and am
horrified. It's the same brand that Johnny Woods uses on his Pantera (and
actually sells) so if you've ever seen his car then you know that it makes
things shiny. But it is a huuuuuge pain to remove. It requires a tremendous
amount of force and scrubbing millimeter by millimeter to get the stuff off.
I have wax powder everywhere - all the seams, it seems like the whole car is
covered in a fine powder. I'd guess it took at least 3-4 times longer than
the Meguir's due to the difficulty of removal - you really need to scrub
hard to get the stuff off. 

 

All that time trying to get the damn stuff off made it clear to me that I
need to buy more wax. But if I want to buy the best possible miracle wax, is
anyone aware of a study where they compare the various brands back-to-back
to determine which one is really the "best"? The study I saw recommended
some products if your goal was Pebble Beach as the product worked well but
lasted 24 hours, other products if you planned to wax the car once in its
lifetime, and another for "regular" waxing every few months. By rating the
various characteristics - durability, ease of application, price, ease of
removal, gloss, whatever, you could pick the best product for your use. 

 

Anyone still subscribe to Consumer Reports? Anyone know of another impartial
study? Thanks!

-------------- next part --------------
   Hi all

   What now seems like a billion years ago, but was probably 20-25 years
   ago, Consumer Reports did a full and impartial test of car waxes.


   They bought a dozen varieties and followed the instructions. The
   results were classified based on categories such as "durability after
   30 trips through the car wash", "ease of application/removal", "gloss
   to the untrained eye", "amount of powder produced" and I forget what
   else. The winner was some exotic was that cost $80 a bottle, while the
   second place wax, which was a mere 1 point behind, was a Meguir's
   product that I have faithfully used for the past 20 years as a result
   of that study.


   It is easy to apply, it is easy to remove. It doesn't leave powder
   everywhere. It leaves a nice shine and leaves the paint extremely
   slippery. I don't have to apply it very often, as water beads up
   heavily for quite some time after application. I have happily used the
   product for years, confident that it is the best bang for the buck,
   based on an impartial and scientific study. For me, this adds more
   value that anecdotal evidence such as someone saying "I use wax X and
   it works well". Unless you compare X to Y under the same conditions,
   how can you not know if Y works even better?


   Anyway, over here in Spain I've run out of my favorite Meguirs. So I
   used a 100% Carnuba that I got for Christmas on the daily driver BMW,
   and am horrified. It's the same brand that Johnny Woods uses on his
   Pantera (and actually sells) so if you've ever seen his car then you
   know that it makes things shiny. But it is a huuuuuge pain to remove.
   It requires a tremendous amount of force and scrubbing millimeter by
   millimeter to get the stuff off. I have wax powder everywhere - all the
   seams, it seems like the whole car is covered in a fine powder. I'd
   guess it took at least 3-4 times longer than the Meguir's due to the
   difficulty of removal - you really need to scrub hard to get the stuff
   off.


   All that time trying to get the damn stuff off made it clear to me that
   I need to buy more wax. But if I want to buy the best possible miracle
   wax, is anyone aware of a study where they compare the various brands
   back-to-back to determine which one is really the "best"? The study I
   saw recommended some products if your goal was Pebble Beach as the
   product worked well but lasted 24 hours, other products if you planned
   to wax the car once in its lifetime, and another for "regular" waxing
   every few months. By rating the various characteristics - durability,
   ease of application, price, ease of removal, gloss, whatever, you could
   pick the best product for your use.


   Anyone still subscribe to Consumer Reports? Anyone know of another
   impartial study? Thanks!