battle of the heavyweights wax test: how to set it up?

[extrabolts]

With the temperature rising in the south, I think its time for a side-by-side battle of the heavyweights wax test. This will be a durability-only test on the hood of a black car that sits outside.



What do you all want to see? Right now I`m going to test 845, 476s, and FK1000P. Should I do one coat or two of each? I`m also thinking about entering AG HD into the test since it seems to last a long time.



I don`t want to buy more products, but if anyone wants to send me a small amount of something that can hang with 476s and FK1000P I`ll throw it on there.

[mikenap]

With the temperature rising in the south, I think its time for a side-by-side battle of the heavyweights wax test. This will be a durability-only test on the hood of a black car that sits outside.



What do you all want to see? Right now I`m going to test 845, 476s, and FK1000P. Should I do one coat or two of each? I`m also thinking about entering AG HD into the test since it seems to last a long time.



I don`t want to buy more products, but if anyone wants to send me a small amount of something that can hang with 476s and FK1000P I`ll throw it on there.



If I could make a request, split the hood in half, then in thirds. That way you can do your 3 waxes with a single layer, then with a second layer on half. I`ve always wondered how much adding a second coat really helps with durability on these "heavyweights."

[Accumulator]

What do you all want to see? Right now I`m going to test 845, 476s, and FK1000P. Should I do one coat or two of each?



Depends what you`re trying to test. No, I`m not trying to be a smart-@$$, it`s just that *for me* the three products behave differently whether layered or not and that`s one reason I choose one over the others.



With 845 and FK1000P, the big benefits seem to come from layering them. Gotta watch for solvent-action with the FK1000P though or you`ll get pseudo holograms.



Layering 476S is kinda tricky as it really does seem susceptible to pseudo holograms. IME this is such an issue that I`ve finally relegated it to jobs where I can only do one coat.



So...I think it might be a little tricky to compare all three in a way that everyone will consider "fair"...somebody`s gonna cry "foul!" if you compare a few layers of a sealant with one layer of a wax, but that`s a big part of why some people`d use the sealant in the first place.

[Accumulator]

I`ve always wondered how much adding a second coat really helps with durability on these "heavyweights."



With the 845 the diff was so extreme that I`d written it off with one coat, but am very happy using it on the beater-

Audi with more than one. If somebody here (who *was* that?!?) hadn`t suggested layering it I wouldn`t be using the stuff at all and it`d just be sitting on the shelf.



Ditto for the FK1000P but my experiment with it went the other way; I first tried it layered and loved it. Then I tried just one coat and was amazed how soon it needed redone. One coat is just soooo similar to 476S IME (well, the look is different, but cleaning, durability, etc. is similar), with the exception that the FK1000P holds up better to strong cleaners (which means that while I generally say "476S for one coat jobs", I still prefer FK1000P, period, for use on wheels).

[TedFred]

Make I suggest that you do a blind looks test. Get sombody that knows about wax and finish to give an opinion on the looks of each wax at the different intervals. I think that there are a lot of wax snobs that say a wax looks better than Gold Class for example but if it were a blind test they couldn`t tell the difference. I for one have never seen a blind test in the looks department on this forum. While you are at if you should do the whole test blind including the beading and durability.



Check out my wax collection on the LSP rating thread and if you want I can some wax to you that I already have in my collection.

[extrabolts]

Yes, I will split each product into a one-coat section and a two-coat section. Good suggestion!



I`d like to test long-term durability of these popular waxes/sealants against heat/sun. I`ve seen a few comparisons of these against each other through rain and snow seasons, but that doesn`t help me too much since I`m in the south (thankfully!). Maybe just those three products is enough to test.



Accumulator - I know you layer FK1000P after every other wash to give it plenty of time to cure. I could do that - wash, apply the first coats, wait a week, wash, apply the second coats. I`m flexible.



I have seen pseudo-holograms on a black car with 476s, but I cheated and only waited about 12 hours between coats because the owner needed the car back. When I pulled it out into the sun and humidity it looked like a few sections were sweating. So I was thinking I`d wait 48 hours before putting on the second coat, but I could also give everything a full week and wash.



I`ll probably strip the hood next weekend and do the first coat. It has two 14 week old coats of 845 on it, about an 8 week old CG XXX, and a two week old coat of FK1000P on it. Heheheh - I`m going straight to APC to strip all of it.

[extrabolts]

Good call! I don`t really know anyone around me though that has good base knowledge about waxes and finishes. When it comes to detailing, I pretty much only have internet friends, and a bunch of neighbors who think I`m weird.



I took a look at your list and nothing jumped out at me as a super-durability type wax, but thanks for the offer! If I`m missing something let me know though.



Some things I`ve never tried but been curious about: BFWD, Wolfgang sealant, Menzerna PowerLock. But, I`ve promised to be good and stop collecting additional products for now.



One other thing to add: my hood has some very minor wash-induced marring when looking directly at the sun`s reflection. So this will be a filling test also.

[Scottwax]

I think it would be better to use the roof instead of the hood to take engine heat that isn`t distributed evenly out of the equation.

[Accumulator]

Scottwax- That`s good idea, sometimes the hood really can be a wildcard in that regard.



extrabolts- OK, sounds like you have a good idea what to do.



Waiting until the next wash for the additional layers is probably a good idea across the board. When I got issues with 476S I had waited a little longer than a full day.