Did A Wax Comparison Yesterday, Suprising Results

Max-man, from your last post, it seems like you are QDing your car daily, and washing your car weekly. When doing a daily QD routine on your DAILY DRIVER, isn't it a given that you are going to get dirt on your MF towel? Also, when doing a QD right after washing, do you still get your MF towel dirty? I certainly don't. :)



BTW, I agree that whenever we simply just "add" a layer of wax or sealant to existing layers, we run the risk of sealing in embedded contaminants. But if you are QD-ing your car on a daily basis, I think you are doing everything to can to minimize that risk.



Jaim,



You say that wax doesn't bond to the paint substrate....instead it "sticks". My understanding is that by definition, those are the two of the same things. :) If wax didn't bond to our car (ionically???? or is it cationically???? who knows...) , it would just slip right off..... Remember, even water sitting on our car is there via bonding....albeit a much weaker type of bond (hydrogen bonding).
 
Intermezzo said:
Max-man, from your last post, it seems like you are QDing your car daily, and washing your car weekly. When doing a daily QD routine on your DAILY DRIVER, isn't it a given that you are going to get dirt on your MF towel? Also, when doing a QD right after washing, do you still get your MF towel dirty? I certainly don't. :)





BTW, I agree that whenever we simply just "add" a layer of wax or sealant to existing layers, we run the risk of sealing in embedded contaminants. But if you are QD-ing your car on a daily basis, I think you are doing everything to can to minimize that risk.



Jaim,



You say that wax doesn't bond to the paint substrate....instead it "sticks". My understanding is that by definition, those are the two of the same things. :) If wax didn't bond to our car (ionically???? or is it cationically???? who knows...) , it would just slip right off..... Remember, even water sitting on our car is there via bonding....albeit a much weaker type of bond (hydrogen bonding).
Click to expand...





When I do my daily qd(with a fresh MF), it does get dirty. But does that mean I captured all the dirt and nothing is left imbedded on the paint?



After washing, no dirt on the MF when I qd. But does that mean the surface is dust and dirt free? I think, microscopically, there is imbedded debris on the surface that a wash or QD will not be able to take out. In time, I think, they do build-up. Especially if we apply a non-cleaner wax on top of it. Then after sometime, we have to use a clay and/or a cleaner to cleanse the surface.



The whole point I was trying to make at the start was on the cleaners we find in waxes. In this case, the cleaners in GC. It may not be all that bad. Maybe it has a purpose. Everybody seems to have a bias against waxes with cleaners (mild or strong). I am guilty of that too since joining this group. I gave away my GC after joining this group. My initial question is if a wax with 'mild cleaners' strips off half a layer of wax from a previous coat,wouldn't that also strip off a layer of imbedded dust build-up with it? And by taking away a layer of dust build-up, wouldn't that increase the shine or reflectivity or glosiness or appearance of the car? Now you have a layer and a half of wax or sealant on your paint as opposed to two layers. But it is contaminant free. Or close to that. As opposed to two layers with a thin film of debris imbedded in it. I am just expanding on the thought that MBZ 500 brought-up in this thread. Perhaps that is what MBZ 500 is seeing after applying GC and comparing it to S100. It shines better because it gave it a partial cleaning.
 
But by the same token, does the mild cleaners in GC clean out ALL of the dirt and contamination. My guess is no. That's why we still have to clay a couple of times a year. The only way to clean the paint every week would be to clay and polish down to the clear coat every single week, and I think even Autopians would think that was excessive.



I think the bottom line is that your paint is never going to be 100% dirt free. So if you are cleaning it every day with QD and washing every week, I do not think it would make any difference whether you use a cleaner wax or not.



If, on the other hand, you are washing only once a month, then I would think that a cleaner wax would work better.
 
max_man_94_01 said:
When I do my daily qd(with a fresh MF), it does get dirty. But does that mean I captured all the dirt and nothing is left imbedded on the paint?



After washing, no dirt on the MF when I qd. But does that mean the surface is dust and dirt free?
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No, I completely agree......there's always the risk of sealing in embedded contaminants when simply 'adding' a layer of non-cleaning sealant or wax.



Not to be argumentative, but if you ask me, there are a lot of variables involved in just how much of an effect on final shine we will see. Since you do a daily QD and weekly wash, any contaminants you seal in will IMO have a negligible effect on final shine, especially if you spot-clay your car regularly. I always try to keep my cars as clean as possible, and since I live in Los Angeles, I'm able to do this year round. I also spot-clay certain areas of the car regularly. When I do, do I notice a significant increase in shine? Not really. The same can be said with using an abrasive or paint cleanser on my car. The surface might feel smoother, but I think I notice a bigger increase in shine by simply adding another layer of sealant (in my case, Zaino) than by doing a two-step polish/wax job.



Although what MBZ500 saw could very well have been seeing was the combined cleaning effects as well as gloss agents of GC that allowed for the superior shine, I think ultimately GC just had a better shine overall than P21S in this scenario. What would be interesting is a head-to-head comparison of GEPC + Wax vs. 2 applications of GC using the same car. I'd be willing to bet GC would win again.
 
2wheelsx2 said:
I think the bottom line is that your paint is never going to be 100% dirt free. So if you are cleaning it every day with QD and washing every week, I do not think it would make any difference whether you use a cleaner wax or not.



If, on the other hand, you are washing only once a month, then I would think that a cleaner wax would work better.
Click to expand...



You just perfectly summed up in three sentences what I was trying to say in long ramblings of my previous post! :up
 
Well I had a bunch of junk typed up, but my computer just crashed :mad: so here's some things, shorter this time:



After a CCD and QD session, my MFs usually come back pretty clean too. If your MFs get really dirty and grimy I think the dirt you're removing is stuck on (usually from getting wet) and the CCD isn't able to just sweep it off like it otherwise could. I'd call for a wash at that point.



As I understand it, QDing actually extends the life of whatever you have protecting the paint. All QDs have at least some wax-like stuff in them, and some have carnauba too to "boost" the existing wax which has usually worn off to some extent. This is just what I understand, and not what I've observed though...



I wouldn't worry too much about wearing away wax as long as you don't scrub too hard at it, since MF is a great cleaning material when wet...



As for the GC vs S100 thing, it may not have anything to do with its cleaners at all - maybe GC, as a wax, simply looks better? :nixweiss In the past I'd read a lot of threads by people who said that GC did indeed look great, but it just didn't seem to last very long.



Last note: I don't think that normal dirt and grime from the road is the type of "cleaning" that cleaner waxes should be doing anyway. I save that for the realm for actual cleaning products like shampoos, QDs, clay (sometimes) and bug/tar removers. The "cleaning" that cleaner waxes do are by abrasives and anything that the solvents just happen to be able to dissolve. JMO



EDIT: okay, there is NO WAY this was shorter than the original! LOL! :p
 
Regarding GC, as far as I'm concerned, and I've heard some Autopians mention the same thing, I'm not really concerned with durability in a wax, because I wax so often. If a wax shines better but only lasts 3-4 weeks I'm not worried with that because I wax every week or every other week. Like some have said they have multiple cars and need a wax that lasts for detailing time's sake. So everyone is looking for a product that suits their situation or preference. I applied GC to my hood yesterday with a yellow Meguiars applicator by hand. It seemed to spread easily and evenly with no problems. (I remeber last time I applied it with a terry pad which may have contributed to the problems I was having with it) It also buffed right out with little pressure, so if GC proves to have the best shine, that's what I'll go with. Maybe I'll try S100, Zaino, etc one of these days, but now, I'm just not into ordering stuff online.:nixweiss
 
Here's another thought:



"Not all paint is created equal"...



My son has a black '91 Pontiac with clearcoat. I have tried Zaino, S100, Meg's Quik Wax, and Meg's Gold Class.



Gold Class is, BY FAR, the best wax for this car.



It really makes the black paint POP!!!



Zaino and the others were merely average.



And I swear by Zaino for my 2001 Grand Prix.



I feel that Meg's GC is a very good product and I will continue to use it on older paint finishes.
 
So today I went back into the garage and reapplied GC to just a quarter of my hood. Visually I could not find any difference between the wax applied 7 days ago vs the fresh coat. Depth, clarity and reflection were all the same. I did note that GC spread much easier than it did before.



BTW I didn't drive the car all week and I didn't even QD it, just a quick swipe with the CCD before applying the wax.



Next weekend I might try adding a coat of S100 on top of the GC to see if it affects the appearance. If the S100 doesn't change the appearance then I believe I have a new three step process that will not only look great, it will be easy to maintain.:xyxthumbs



Has anyone else had a chance to play with GC? I think Luster's point is correct, there is always one particular wax that works best with a particular vehicles paint. :)
 
Since I just got my PC, I thought I would start by waxing until I get more pads for polishing, ect...



I had been more or less sporatically waxing my black, non-clearcoat, non-original paint. A hood here, a fender there...you get the idea.



I thought the paint was in more-or-less good shape, and thought that most of the appearance was in the prep, not the wax...I didn't think I would gain a lot of appearance, just the security of having a new coat of wax on.



Boy, let me tell you, I was wrong! I don't know if it was the fact that the paint wasn't in as good of shape as I thought or if waxes really do make significant difference on good conditioni paints, but I was impressed! The paint looks really smooth and shiny, and I even went up and over my non-porous plastic mirror and plastic piece behind the door windows. It shined everything up well.



Another possible factor is that the paint was vigorously rubbed, something I hadn't been doing too much of by hand. Most of the time, I keep the speed down pretty low, unless there was a flaw I wanted to try to work out. I should also note that this was done with the original Porter Cable pad.



Here is a quick note,,,,,,,,,, I have, and have used S100, and while it sure is easy to use, I think I can put a coat of liquid wax on by machine quicker...I'll do some more experimenting with a yellow meguiars applicator, though. Only used IT [the grey "applicator" that they send with the S100...maybe it is just to keep the chunk of wax from rattling inside the jar:confused:].



Anyway, here is a bump to the top for this thread...I'm curious to see if there are any new findings...:confused:
 
I got a jar of P21S paste wax, Blitz paste wax and GC liquid wax and a Black 96 civic that has been screaming for detailing for a couple weeks now. I'll try to offer some feedback.
 
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