Is Zymol Concourse the BEST wax?

If the durability is anything like Vintage then I would definatly rate it with a thumbs down. I can actually feel the difference between the P21S side of my hood and the Vintage side. This is after only 1 week and 1 wash on the car. It looks really good, but its definatly not for a daily driver. I highly doubt that Vintage would last 2 weeks on a car in normal winter conditions around here.
 
by many concours and show car 'philes for its terrific shine. In my experiences, Zymol's high end waxes like Vintage, Atlantique, Destiny, which I have personally tried, look great for 1-2 days after applying. That's all a show car really needs.



Having said that, Z waxes are not user friendly, not suited for daily drivers, not long lasting, expensive vis-a-vis their competition.
 
Ray said:
I'm still baffled why a sales rep at Zymol would tell me all automotive paints need to breath, like your skin.
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It's for the same reason Zymol and Meguiars like to tell you that their products "feed" your paint, and EagleOne used to tell ppl that their waxes contained Teflon for durability, & Klasse touts its AIO/SG products as "not a wax...and not a polymer".



I'm not saying these statements are false....because I can make a case for the partial-validity of each one. What your Zymol rep told you is hardly surprising...it's the age-old tactic of making embellishments from the cold, hard-truth. Nothing wrong with that....but as an intelligent consumer, it's good to see that you're taking these kinds of statements with a grain of salt instead of believing 'word-for-word' every marketing pitch you hear. :xyxthumbs
 
I opened this thread again because I have no idea why it got closed... I'm just reading it for the first time and thought it was a good discussion.



I spent a lot of time this week investigating wax making and learning about various ingredients. I was amazed that some of the same ingredients listed in Zymol products are also listed in high-end cosmetics. I also found a lot of similarity between Zymol's marketing and that of expensive ladies cosmetics. You really have to hand it to Zymol founder Chuck Bennett for applying cosmetic packaging and marketing to the car care industry. It worked!



Some of the Zymol marketing has always intrigued me. For instance, why does Zymol tell you to apply their waxes with the palm of your hand? I found out from a Zymol insider that hand application was the only method that worked... regular applicators caused the waxes to streak. When warmed to body temperature, the Zymol waxes apply evenly and do not streak. Too bad the solvent (which Zymol claims is not an ingrediaent in their wax) makes my hands chap.



Personally, I have achieved great "show" results with Zymol Concours. I never cared about durability, because you don't buy a show car wax for durability... you buy it for looks. Once I found Souveran and P21S, my Zymol waxes collected dust on the shelf. I finally gave them away last year.



I do have to laugh about the whole "paint breathing" thing. What clever marketing, eh? Can you think of a better car care myth than "paint breathing" and "feeding paint with natural oils?" I can't. But people buy into it. Hell, I bought into it for the longest time. Fool me once...
 
David,

F355 was kind enough to send me about 8 oz of his unused Zymol Vintage which costs about a $1,000. I'm sneding half of it to Bret so he can try it out.



I tried some of it side by side on my trunk deck vs. P21S, and here's what I found:

-the P21S was FAR easier to apply

-there was a VERY minor appearance benefit in favor of the Zymol Vintage, which MIGHTmake a difference in a show

-the P21S lasted MUCH longer, about 2 months vs. 2 weeks.



While the Zymol Vintage is great for a "show car" that only has to look it's best for a few hours, the reality is that my bimmer is a daily driver. And while I want it to look like a show car all the time, I have to be practical, even as an Autopian!

The cost difference ($1,000 vs. $25) and the ease of application makes it a no-brainer for me.

Granted, if I had a true show car that was in a competition, and needed the best looks for a few hours, I'd use the Zymol Vintage. But that's not MY reality. And if I did have a show car, the grand I'd spend on the Zymol Vintage would be a drop in the bucket. Again, not my reality.
 
This is a closed & re-opened thread. The claims and discussions will never end. The expensive wax is probably best for some and not quite for others. As long as one finds it satisfactory, one deserves to be happy about it.



Plenty Aloha!
 
I don't know maybe it's just me, but I always thought that dead things doen't eat or breath. Paint is definately a dead thing, what the heck is all the eating and breathing stuff about, could it be marketing hype, maybe?? I've never used Zymol but I have seen cars waxed with it and they looked great, about like cars waxed with Blitz, Pinnacle, or P21S. It's just a matter of whether you want to spend $20 or $150 for similar results. From what I understand Pinnacle, Blitz, and P21S are easier to apply and remove.
 
I think if you ask any winning concours/show car owner their secret they will tell you that it's not the wax. The secret comes long before the wax. The secret is in how well you level, polish and glaze the paint. If you're relying strictly on the wax, you're not going to win.
 
Wow,

Many folks in this thread seem to be quite cantankerous with regards to their opinions on "wax" and the myriad other options one has for waxing in of itself. It's WAX people, nothing to be waring about in my humble opinion.



However, POLISH is what I always thought brought out "shine", wax is a protectant to be applied AFTER the polishing phase (forgive my sarcasm). My two cents for whatever it may be worth is as follows.



My family owns two car dealerships here in NYC, and we've used an abundance of differentiating products over the years for the showrooms and auto shows. I do indeed agree with those that say its all a matter of personal preference and therefore can never truly be a science, and or fact.



With that said, I really don't think any wax on the market OUT PERFORMS Zymol. However, you will need to apply it at least once a month in my opinion, and the proper technique for maximum effect is a required practice. Once those habits are acheived, the results are phenomenal noting all my years of experience. Zaino, Blitz, Pinnicle, P21 ECT. ECT...are absolutely NO BETTER than the Zymol, but i'm not claiming they are any worse either. However, stating these products are out performing the Zymol in its specified purpose is impossible.



Are the results worth the cost? well that is again a personal perspective. You can pull up to a light in a brand new Ferrari and have your *** handed to you by a guy in a Mustang. Does that mean the Ford is a better car? of course not, but it does prove that cost is a relative aspect, and it depends on your perspective. I use Zymol on my personal cars because it works well, and I trust its performance. My cousin swears by Pinnicle because it works well for HIM, and who am I to try and refute that claim?



In the end, use what you wish but TRY many things for a true, overall accumulation of knowledge and experience. All the "haters" in here claiming that Zymol is all "hype" are insane, and in my opinion lack the true knowledge of the product. Remember, shine and an automobiles appearence depend on a SET of factors and ultimately if you don't take CARE of your car properly, in the end rubbing liquid diamonds on it won't save its looks...:)
 
B.Stolz said:




In the end, use what you wish but TRY many things for a true, overall accumulation of knowledge and experience. All the "haters" in here claiming that Zymol is all "hype" are insane, and in my opinion lack the true knowledge of the product. Remember, shine and an automobiles appearence depend on a SET of factors and ultimately if you don't take CARE of your car properly
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Have you done a side by side test of Concourse vs s100 or any other waxes on your car?
 
If theres one thing Autopians do, its try lots of products. Plenty of us have used Zymol and are speaking from experience not assumption.



We are all entitled to our opinions, just as you are.
 
I have tried many products, including the Zymol product in question. Personally, I was not impressed. Is Zymol a bad product? No. However, I have tried products that IMO provide equal (in many cases better) results, apply and remove easier, and cost a fraction of Zymol. Based on that criteria there are simply better choices available above Zymol. That is my opinion, not "hype".
 
Exactly, it is YOUR opinion and nothing more. I personally have tried side by side tests on oh roughly 100 plus car waxes from about 40 countries, and on many varying degrees of paint application (after all, no wax will make ANY car with 4 coats of wax appear as well as a car with 10 coats guys!).



If you say you think Zymol is overatted no problem, I defy any of you to PROVE it to me because you cannot, THAT was my point. Re-read what I wrote, some of you seem to be looking for an argument about something that is silly to argue about. I don't think there is a wax any of you have tried that we have not, your results may differ but you can look at the mona lisa and see an ugly *****, but some will see a masterpiece. You eye is not mine, nor is it any more accute....cheers!
 
See, this post makes me believe you DIDN'T really read my post, otherwise you'd have had the answer to that question already....;)
 
This is why the thread was closed. Opinions start flying and people start getting defensive. Don't ask for proof when you admit up front that its all in the eye of the beholder. Asking someone to prove something to you suggests that you are able to prove the contrary. Let's not ask for 'proof' on this. How bout we ask for personal experience and examples of what was observed and not proof.



I agree that some Zymol products (you can't just say 'Zymol' because there are a dozen waxes that produce different results) look just as good as any other wax you can buy. I ran a test on Vintage against P21S and found that they both looked pretty much the same. The Vintage darkend the paint a little, but that's not neccessarily a bad thing. Since the Vintage and the P21S appeared to both be equal to my expectations in the appearance area then it came down to which was more affordable and which lasted longer. P21S won that one hands down. I expect a carnauba to only last a max of 6 weeks so reapplying it every month doesn't bother me. I didn't find Vintage to perform for 6 weeks though. That is just my experience and my opinion of the product. I don't think I need to prove it to anyone because I don't have a financial interest in either product and could really care less if someone pays 20 times the money for something that doesn't last as long. To each their own.



We don't use wax for shine. We use it for the depth and glow that a good carnauba creates. Nobody here is naive enough to think that they can wax their car every month and get the results they see some of the professionals get.



And Zymol is out performed by a number of waxes in the durability area. You admit as much. It just depends on what your definition of performance is. The appearance is equal to any other high quality wax I've used. They stay equal for a couple weeks too. Its when the Zymol starts to fade and the others continue to impress me when I decide between the two.
 
Many months ago, before I’d discovered any detailing forums, I decided to do some product comparisons to help me decide on a product to use on my new roadster. I used an old hood as my test bed and begged and borrowed several kinds of carnauba as well as what I had in my garage. I was also given some Z-1 and Z-2 so that I could try a polymer. At one point I lost my head and bought both Zymöl Carbon and Zymöl Z3. It didn’t take long to eliminate several of the carnaubas, but Zymöl was still in the running. After about a month of playing with the hood my choices were narrowed down to Meguiar’s, Mothers, and Zaino - and I started using them on test areas of my Jet Black roadster. Narrowed to Meguiar’s and Zaino. Meguiar’s had better depth and Zaino had better shine and was much harder. High speed bug hits are easy to get off of Zaino!



BTW, I’m not one of Zaino’s “dogs of warâ€�, nor was I seduced by Zaino’s advertising. However, I was seduced by Zymöl’s advertising. In a couple of days my Blackfire order will arrive and go toe to toe against Zaino. May the best polymer win!



Anybody want to buy either (or both) of my barely used Zymöl Carbon or Zymöl Z3? Priced way under dealer cost - make <A HREF=mailto:[email protected]>me</A> an offer!
 
What I've learned when comparing products is that you almost have to go at it Car and Driver style and that is to give points to each wax in several catagories and then average them out. Their grading system is a little different than what I just said, but similar. Zymol may beat Blitz in the appearance area but Blitz will win in the longetivity. I'm sure there is another product that will beat Blitz and Zymol in price and not be able to compete against them in the other two areas. Its all a matter of what you are looking for. If looks are what you are looking for then it will be really tough to determine which wax is the "best" out of them all. When you add the other factors in then it becomes easier.
 
When I first got my bimmer, I bought ALL the Zymol products because I was lead to believe, and eager to believe, that they were the best.



Then I found met friends like GeekySteeve, ALBoston, NYDetailer, BretFraz, RedCarGuy, 4DSC, TaxLady, BJWebster, ScottWax, and many others.



And I learned to try new products that they recommended.



I think that one of the reasons this topic remains HOT is that there remains substantial clout surrounding various Zymol products. Some of that is deserved because they do make a good product. MOST of it is because most people have no experience with the top of the line Zymol product- they're out of most people's price range. Thus the curiosity.



As David B. said, what you do BEFORE you wax is what counts. Again, it's 90% process, 10% product.
 
As Jngrbrdman correctly said, “Its all a matter of what you are looking for.�



Given a lab, test equipment, and sufficient skills, we can objectively and accurately measure shine, depth, gloss, reflectivity, durability, etc. But, there is no way to objectively and accurately measure our own personal tastes!



Some people prefer to put catsup on their aged Omaha steak while others think that it ruins the steak. Ask either side of this dichotomy to explain their position and you’ll get little more than subjective answers; 'I prefer it that way', 'it brings out the flavor', 'it covers the flavor', etc.



When someone says that product ‘A’ is best, he really means that product ‘A’ is best for him in his particular application.



Another Jngrbrdman quote, “The perfect finish isn't a product. Its a process. You need lots of products to make it happen and not all of them are going to do the same thing on every car.�
 
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