Beading Pics: Beta wax #25 vs 4 month old NXT vs Unprotected

B

BlackElantraGT

New member
Test subject is a 2000 Grand Marquis in Tan/Gold. The car was clayed about 4 months ago and due to time constraints, only the hood and roof received protection (NXT Tech liquid x 2). Last week I applied the Perfecar beta wax #25 batch on the hood after a wash, so no proper prep was done. The trunk has been unprotected now for 4 months or so.



I've never understood the fascination about beading, but I think that was because I have never really seen a car bead like this before since I'm only familiar with NXT. I have to admit now that it looks pretty sweet.



Even after NXT was newly applied, the beading was never this tight. I also have a feeling that because I used the #3 Machine Glaze under it, it compromised the durability because a few weeks after it was applied, the beading/water sheeting didn't look any different from an unprotected car.



Sorry for the lousy pics, I used a ultra-compact point and shoot and the sun was going down.



1 week old Perfecar beta wax #25 batch

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4 month old NXT Tech Wax liquid x 2

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Unprotected

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Although I love the beauty of tight beads, I personally would rather have sheeting action on my personal vehicle, which is why I usually like to top my carnauba (if I use one) with Aquawax.



Those results do look great though! :2thumbs:
 
BigJimZ28 said:
yea but what did the ntx look like at one month?
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for me, NXT's beading even when new never compared to how the beta wax is beading so far. After 2 washes, it seemed to have loss it's "just waxed" appearance. I guess we'll have to see how the beta wax will look like in a month.



the only reason why I decided to post this was because I was curious as to whether there was any protection from the beta wax since I wasn't sure if I had applied it correctly. It was my first time using a hard carnauba paste wax, and the beta wax was so hard that I decided to spritz some NXT Speed Detailer to possibly help get some of the wax onto the applicator. After swirling the applicator pad really hard against the tin, the pad didn't seem to be loaded at all with any wax so as I applied it to the car, I could see that something was being applied onto the surface, but I wasn't sure if it was the wax or the QD. It applied easier than I had expected (I don't have enough experience to compare to anything else). In fact, I would say the application of it was a lot easier than the removal, which was simple enough, but not as simple as removal of NXT.
 
Scottwax said:
Very nice beading pics. How does the beta wax look compared to what else you've used, beading aside?
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It's kind of hard for me to provide feedback when I don't have much experience with other products, so the only thing I can base this on is my experience so far with NXT.



1) Slickness - The waxed hood was just a tiny bit more slick than the rest of the car, but to be fair I didn't properly prep the surface. The hood was clayed, compounded, polished, glazed and protected with NXT 4 months ago, but it probably could have used some claying again.



2) At first glance, I couldn't really tell much of a difference when comparing the hood to the rest of the car. But when I went to sit in the driver's seat, I immediately noticed a reflection and a shine that was more pronounced than NXT ever was. I don't have a trained eye like many of you and I couldn't figure out the difference between #16 vs Souveran in the recent thread, but from a noob's viewpoint, this was what I saw. I've used NXT on black, white, and gold and each time it darkens the color by just a shade or two. The beta wax on the other hand didn't darken the paint at all and the metallic flakes had a slight pop to them that NXT didn't bring out before.



It's hard to say which looks better at this point without me applying it to the rest of the car. NXT to me adds a little richness to the color of the paint, but that look doesn't last very long at all.



The beta wax on the other hand, I was really impressed by it's initial beading and protection. I could clearly see there was something on the car doing it's magic because it was like watching water magnetically pull together and sheet off the car. In all the pictures, I used the "mist" setting on my sprayer to see what the beading would be like. But when I rinsed it, that was when I saw this amazing sheeting action that NXT has never produced for me. In the few rainstorms we've had so far this year in SoCal, with NXT my car never looked any different than the rest of the unprotected cars in parking lots. But if I were to apply this beta wax, there would be a clear difference between a protected and unprotected car, without a question in doubt.



I posted this not because I wanted to do some long term durability test, but simply because I was amazed at what I saw. With my little product experience, I'm sure I'm more easily impressed than the rest of you but when all I've had to use so far is NXT, this product produced that WOW factor, not necessarily in terms of the looks, but more because of the beading/sheeting I see going on. Some of you will argue about the beading vs. the sheeting, but NXT hasn't done neither better than the beta wax so far.
 
I'm thinking I just might start over and maybe do some comparison of a few different things I now have. I can at least prep the paint better next time so each product can be fairly compared.
 
Well, it looks like I won't be able to test the newer #33 batch against #25.



I decided to try it on my neighbor's white Buick Regal today. It was probably in the mid-60's, low 70's and partly cloudy. I put it on my whole hood and I let one side sit 10 mins before I removed, only to find out it wouldn't come off. I did my best to remove the rest from the hood so the other side sat on the paint for 5 mins at most, but I still had the same problem. Using ONR as a QD and an MF, I wasn't able to remove ANYTHING. Then I mixed up a batch of 50/50 IPA and the same thing, NOTHING came off.



I took out the PC and tried to buff it off with an MF bonnet, and that did nothing either. Next came Duragloss PBA... same story. I finally had to use Klasse AIO on a Meguiar's yellow polishing pad on the PC set at speed 6, and even then some areas needed 2 pass.



For me, this version is junk. I'm tossing it out. It was definitely a step down from #25.



BTW, I applied Duragloss Total Performance Polish #105 on the hood after the AIO, and the rest of the car received some AquaWax yesterday. It started to sprinkle and here's what I noticed: Duragloss 105 beaded very tight, better than AW, but I still think the beading on #25 was better than the Duragloss 105.
 
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