Wax Update - August 2007
I went through an intensive waxing program on both my car and my wife's SUV over Memorial Day weekend. I was inspired by a picture of a black Porsche on Chemical Guys' Website at http://www.chemicalguys.com/MIRROR_SHINE_p/gap_104.htm. I wanted to try their Wet Mirror Finish glaze, and I also wanted to finish polishing my wife's SUV, which I had started last summer. (In other words, I needed to start over.) This post describes my experiences with both cars.
Wife's SUV (black)
I started by buffing the SUV. The SUV's finish is in "good" shape, in that my wife keeps her vehicle pretty clean, but it wasn't in pristine shape, in that she doesn't wax it every other week like I do with my car! After trying several polishing products (including Griot's Machine polish 2 and 3 and Chemical Guys' (CG's) All In One polish, I settled on my old stand by, Meguiar's Crystal polish as producing the clearest, deepest shine. (You can get this stuff at places like Schuck's and Pep Boys.) The Griot's stuff just didn't seem to do anything (maybe because the finish was not clean enough to start with), and the CG polish actually produced some hazing. It definitely could have benefited from claybarring, but I wasn't that committed to working on the SUV.
I then tried all my new wax products on her car, and I ended up back up using Chemical Guys' Butter Wet Wax just as I did last year -- it just seemed to produce the deepest, most reflective black color. That stuff has also had amazing longevity on her car. I waxed it in July 2006 and it was still beading very well in May 2007. It might have something to do with her using the CG Extreme Bodywash with Synthetic Wax/Gloss Enhancer. Maybe there's something to their claim that that product actually adds a little wax to your car as you wash it.
My Car (Pewter, basically gray with a hint of tan)
I clay barred my car twice. I didn't set out to clay bar it twice, but after I claybarred it the first time I wanted to try claybarring it with a solution of a few drops of car shampoo in a spray bottle of water. I found that created some suds, which seemed messy, but it was way slipperier than the speed shine I'd been using as the lubricant, and I knew it was dirt cheap so I felt more comfortable using a lot of it, and I found the effect to be noticeably smoother than the initial claybarring had been. So I went ahead and re-claybarred my whole car.
I then tried various polishes on my car, and I can't swear that any of them made any difference. I kind of thought Griot's Machine Polish 3 made the car shinier, but I really couldn't tell. Then I tried the glazes and sealants, which is where the real action turned out to be.
1. CG Wet Mirror Finish also seemed to haze the finish a bit on my car, again, which I couldn't believe after seeing the pictures of the Porsche on the CG website, but that's what it looked like to me.
2. CG FS Pure Acrylic Crystalline High Gloss sealant -- seemed OK, but not the best.
3. Black Magic Wet Shine Liquid Wax -- this had scored tops in Consumer Reports recent ratings, but it didn't work well on my car at all. I couldn't get the stuff off my car! It was a lot like when you use too much Zaino. I wiped and wiped and wiped, and it just wouldn't come off. (I actually did this before Memorial Day weekend, so it literally got washed off my car before trying the rest of the waxes.)
4. CG Extreme Shine EZ Creme Glaze with Acrylic Shine II -- This was the clear winner for me. The shine was noticeably improved, and the second coat was even better than the first. After putting this stuff on, I was reluctant to put any kind of top coat over it because I didn't want to reduce its shine. Since Memorial Day weekend I've put on 6 more coats of this stuff. This is the only product I've ever used that truly seems to be layerable. Every application of it seems to bump up the shine another notch.
5. CG 5050 Wax. I ended up topcoating with this wax. I tried several other products on top of the EZ Creme Glaze, and this was the only one that didn't seem to dull the shine. I don't think this improved the shine in the indirect light in my garage, but it didn't hurt it, and I think it might have improved the shine in direct sunlight. With my light-colored car, shine in direct sunlight has become my holy grail. I'm not 100% sure whether the EZ Creme Glaze or the 5050 wax is responsible for the reflectivity under direct sunlight. Right now I don't have the 5050 on my car, and I think the reflectivity in direct sunlight is worse without the 5050 wax. In indirect light, I think it's better.
The main drawback with the CG 5050 wax is STATIC. Holy cow. You can almost see the dust getting sucked onto the car's finish after you put on this wax. My microfiber towel was literally crackling with static electricity as I removed the wax (and I am not making that up).
The EZ Creme claims to be anti-static. I don't know if it's "anti" static, but there isn't any static applying it or removing it. When I went out to the garage the morning after I'd put the 5050 on my car, my car had attracted a fine layer of dust already -- and that's just sitting in a clean garage.
Summary: One clear standout product for my car -- EZ Creme Glaze. And two clear standout products for my wife's SUV: Meguiar's Crystal Polish and Chemical Guys Butter Wet Wax.