[DeTomaso] Wanted - scientific car wax results

[doug351c]

I too remember using a mid-priced Meguiars product 8 years ago or so I
dearly loved and they no longer make.  It had a mid percentage of carnuba in
it but not so much that it was difficult to remove.  Don't be so sure that
the product that Charlie likes so well is still available.

What's the Meguiar's wax number you're looking for Charlie?

Doug Braun
blue 73L #5505

-----Original Message-----
From: DeTomaso [mailto:detomaso-bounces at poca.com]On Behalf Of Julian
Kift
Sent: Sunday, April 06, 2014 12:53 PM
To: Charles McCall; De Tomaso List
Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Wanted - scientific car wax results


Charlie,
I think your e-mail speaks to the fact you already have the answer! It's
what you have been using the past 20 years and been perfectly happy with,
but unfortunately run out of. The question you need to ask is can someone in
the US send me some of my favorite Meguiars!
And yes I can do that, but I'm heading out to Canada for 2 weeks here in a
couple hours, so it will be later in the month.
I actually use the Harley wax that Johnny now sells and have not had any
issues with it.
Julian

From: charlesmccall at gmail.com
To: detomaso at poca.com
Date: Sun, 6 Apr 2014 20:04:04 +0200
Subject: [DeTomaso] Wanted - scientific car wax results

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!