darkside

P21S is an excellent wax. Very easy to use and no cleaners so you can layer it. Having said that, my favoite wax is Pinnacle Souverin Paste wax; I almost get high just from the smell. Sure it cost $55 for a jar, but I bet I get 30 waxes out of a jar. Is there a difference in waxes? Yes, but I'm not sure your would notice if you are not a detailing freak.

JDN

Me, too, Andy. Just finished putting a coat on my wife's spanking new Odyssey. It will never know anything else.

rjcastr

Can someone post a link of the article that rates these waxes. I hear that most people who do a 5 step wax detail on their car are wasting their time, that there are a lot of one step wax compounds that are just as great like Meguiars NXT that's just what i have heard, ive also heard that synthetic is not so great for your paint.

Can anyone confirm?

darkside

A 5 step detail would only have wax as the final step. The first step would be to wash the car. The second would be to go over the car with a clay bar to get out contaminants in the paint - no amount of polishing will do this and make the paint feel so smooth to the touch. The third and possibly fourth step is to polish. How aggressive the polish is depends on the degree of paint imperfections you have; swirling, light scratches, etc. The fourth step would be to use a paint cleaner. And finally the fifth step is to wax, unless one is using a sealant. If a sealant is used then a wax might be used later.

I became an obsessive detailer when I owned an e46 Jet Black M3. You could see every defect in that paint every time the sun came out. And no "clearner wax" along was going to keep that car up to autopian standards. When I sold the car after three years it looked as good or better than when I bought it.

My current e60 is silver. Here a lot of your effort goes unnoticed. But so do the paint defects. It is a breeze to keep nice, and after 6 months of ownership I have yet to polish this car, though I have used every other step including a glaze on my last detail

As far as P21S goes, this is a picture after serveral coats of P21S over several coats of Klasse Sealant.

subterFUSE

It's Consumer Reports, guys. You can't look at them as any kind of authority on any subject.

dgdoc

Consumer Reports did not test non-abrasive, non-cleaning waxes like P21S correctly. They should have pointed out that P21S is designed for cars with paint in excellent condition that do not need or want their finish ground away by abrasives. If the finish is in great condition already, I think P21S would do a great job - but apparently Consumer Reports didn't test this way.

Since most of the people who frequent this forum are enthusiasts, my guess is that they are not looking or needing anything other than a superb, easy to apply, non-staining wax like P21S.


The other wax I wished they had tested was Z-2P from Zaino -- it seems to be excellent as far as longevity and I haven't seen anything that lasts longer.

rjcastr

Hi Veteran,

quick question for you, since you seem to know a lot about detailing. Wouldn't the paint Cleaner go before the polish and then the actual wax goes last then a sealant?

rjcastr

My previous post was for darkside i don't know where i got the veteran part

darkside

The paint cleaner I use in most instances is Klasse All IN One (AIO). I use it as the last step prior to the wax or sealant to get the surface absolutely clean and free of any polish or old wax residues. I apply it with my Porter Cable using a polishing pad. There are also cleaner/polish combinations like Meguiar's #83 " Dual Action Cleaner Polish." But this is actually more of a polish than a cleaner though.

Recently I have been experimenting with using ClearKote Red Moose Machine Glaze in leu of the paint cleaner step. This product cleans and fills. It is supposed to be especially good on red and black paint, but I felt it helped on my TiAg as well.

Again, unless you have black or dark blue a lot of this is probably not necessary.

dgdoc

Sealant, then wax on top is a fairly popular technique. Most sealants provide protection but lack "depth". Applying a wax on top is supposed to give the best of both worlds.

I did this for a while with the Klasse stuff followed by P21S for the top layer. Recently, I've switched over to Zaino because it seems to be less work to get the same results.