He said he lives in Australia, over there Meguiar`s stuff is priced about what Gyeon sells for in the states. Since Meg`s has always been my go to reasonably priced brand. It just blows my mind to think about how different my product line up would be if I lived in Australia or somewhere that everything was imported. If Meguiars is that expensive over there, I can`t even imagine what Gyeon would cost.
Here in Sweden the prices for Gyeon products is about the same. And we have taxes included in the prices. Don`t remember if that`s something that`s added on the prices in the Autopia shop. It`s the same prices for Carpro and Polish Angel. Sonax many products is cheaper than the US prices. But the retail products from Sonax is OFC products and also some products from the Profiline here in Sweden. Meguiars is at autoshops and detailing shops. And compared to the whole Meguiars line we have very few products from them.
Talked to a swedish Meguiars rep at a car show about a month ago. I`m interested to get the #7 and try it out on an old SS paint. They could not order it for me or any else of the products they don`t have offered here. It can be that either there are chemicals in the products that are not allowed here or the sales is thought to not go well here and also the bottle descriptions needs to be written in swedish and gets an extra cost. So it`s not so easy with any imported products if they are not designed to be sold global. No fault or bash on Meguiars from me. Just how it is here in Sweden product wise.
Think when you order Meguiars products next if you where to pay at least the double of the price and also tripple of the price. Saw one product that where the fifth of the price here IIRC it is D115 rinse free and wax in the gallon. And also at the retail price these prices is compared to. I see many sales here and on AGO now days that makes the prices even lower. Sure we have some sales here and there but far away less than here.
And it is a little strange as I think that Meguiars has a manufacture plant in the UK. We have their ceramic coating topper Top Coat M699 which is the same price as Fast Finish and comes in a 16oz bottle. That I have thinking on buying and since the HCW is sold out every where and not even the Swedish Meguiars has it in stock. And would be fun to do a little review for you guys too. The Deep Crystal Ultra Paint Coating M688 I think is only for certified detailer here. It`s their second coating and the previous where the M188. So they have been in the SiO2 business for some time outside of the US strangely. TiO2 they use a small amount in the Ultimate liquid wax. Don`t know why they don`t offering the coating or at least the Top Coat in the US . Since they have the product and the coatings has been very popular. Just look at the HCW and how good that seems to be. They have also just released the Ultimate Snow Foam in the EU. And some discontinued products is offered here too as Meguiars Wash+.
Otherwise we don`t have so much of US brands. A few products from Poorboy`s the glazes and Adam`s have quite a good offering here with their own webshop and Collinite and Mothers and Chemical Guys has also good offerings from their lines. The same with them that the prices is around the double of the price. And also some of the Ultima line which I have a few products from and like them a lot. I have been on the shop where I buy it from why they don`t have the new versions of many of their products. It`s still the solvent based products as UPGP and Interior protectant and the Plastic and Trim protectant. Seems like they bought up the old versions when they switched to the water based ones. The Ultima Interior Schampo Gel is a top notch product which I like very much.
To the OP. Look up if you can get the Finish Kare 1000p Hi-temp paste wax. Fk1000p will get you many applications and has a good price here in Sweden so maybe you can get it at a good price too. That`s a little sad drawback with most SiO2 based products which you get many applications from but the shelf life is not so long if you only have a car or two. Solvent based products like paste waxes/sealants stay fresh for many years. So some products it`s more worth in the longrun to buy the smaller products. As coating lite products like Gyeon CanCoat and Carpro Lite where you get up to 10 applications plus minus some. And they last on the paint more than 6 months. With 4 applications you are up to 2 years and even longer many times and definitely with Gyeon Primer Polish and Carpro Essence as primers they last very long. CanCoat has quite a good shelf life as what I have heard and Carpro Lite is too new to know how it is. But if you only have 1 car I think that it`s getting too old before you use it up. The same is it with some liquid sealants. So you can go with a topper and use as often as possible and if it`s able to be used so. If you where to go with CQUK 3.0 and 2 layers and maybe Essence as primer. You will get over 2 years with good maintance. And a 30ml bottle will be great for your Polo and maybe even the wheels. Sure there are cheaper options but you use up all of the product and get an easy car to wash and it looks great. I have used Gyeon Wet Coat and Carpro Hydro2 lite and Sonax Spray and Seal on some cars as the only protection. With an off label use where you spray it on with a spray or two on wet paint per panel and wipe it in and PW rinsed off thoroughly or a strong water pressure from the hose. A 500ml bottle will reach you a year easy and a 1L bottle up to 2 years. So the jump up to the CQUK coating is not much more. Just a more thorough prep work with a coating. Then you always benefits with a thorough prep work. But sometimes it`s not works with time and all. So a decon wash and clay and use something like a spray on rinse off product is an easy way to go with.
The problem is often when get cought in the testing different kind of products. Then the budget gets easy blown away LOL. Also sometimes it can be worth to buy a knowned and tried product in the higher price range. Like polishes and pads where you can get products on the cheaper prices which dust a lot and are hard to remove and also don`t cut enough and finishing as good as you want to. Pads that shreds and wear out too fast. Here I would go with the more known products. Than if you get unlucky and gets you more work and you may be doing it once again and get new products that time.