Wax / Sealer Recommendations

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Mar 2, 2004
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Kentucky
I've been waxing my cars with regular $5 synthetic or carnuba waxes as long as I can remember, but I notice there's a lot more product offerings out there-- so I'm looking to step up to something a bit more premium that might last longer than 2-3 weeks which is all I get from the standard fare.

So many products to choose from, I don't even know where to begin. Ceramic coatings seem pretty popular but not sure how they work or if there are better products out there. I could spend an afternoon reading about the stuff, but hopefully you folks can save me the trouble and point me in the right direction. Hoping to stay under the $20 mark, best bang for the buck is what I'm after. I don't need the best stuff on the planet, just something decent quality I can pick up on Amazon or locally.
 
You're going to get a different answer from pretty much each poster, but heres my 2 cents. Lets assume two different scenarios...
1) You simply want to wash your car then wax, no other steps. Is this situation I suggest a cleaner wax: NuFinish, Meguaris Cleaner Wax, or my favorite Klasse All-in-One (Red Bottle)
2) You are going to wash, clay, iron decon, polish, paint prep: Turtle Wax Seal-n-Shine (improved formula version), Meguairs Ultimate Fasts Finish, Turtle Wax Ceramic Spray Coating.

Truthfully you cant go wrong with any product, they have all gotten very good. My suggestions are based on easily available locally, cost, and easy of application. Most of the above products are a wipe on wipe off.
 
Assuming the car's paint is fairly clean, I just spray it liberally with Turtle Wax ICE with UV Protectant. Then wipe it off. Easy since it's a clear liquid. No rubbing. About $8
 
Originally Posted by Matt1980
You're going to get a different answer from pretty much each poster, but heres my 2 cents. Lets assume two different scenarios...
1) You simply want to wash your car then wax, no other steps. Is this situation I suggest a cleaner wax: NuFinish, Meguaris Cleaner Wax, or my favorite Klasse All-in-One (Red Bottle)
2) You are going to wash, clay, iron decon, polish, paint prep: Turtle Wax Seal-n-Shine (improved formula version), Meguairs Ultimate Fasts Finish, Turtle Wax Ceramic Spray Coating.

Truthfully you cant go wrong with any product, they have all gotten very good. My suggestions are based on easily available locally, cost, and easy of application. Most of the above products are a wipe on wipe off.

+1 to this comment. esp about multiple suggestions. Everyone's goal and comfort level are different. My cars are under the sky 24/7. My goal is 2-fold, not just to protect the paint but help me go through brutal northeastern winter and road salt. I don't do paint correction due to the lack of equipment and facilities in the parking lot.

I was in your shoes 2 years ago. Read a lot of time on AutoGeek and settled on Klasse twins (AIO and sealant). AIO is a breeze to apply and a good chemical paint cleaner but sealant is tricky to apply, so I am planning on switching to FK BWM-01 as a sealant because it lasts a longer than sealant, and not as much pain to apply. I am still going to use Klasse Sealant but not to top AIO with, instead, I plan to mix it with a quick detailer to apply after washes.
 
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I've recently started using Turtle Wax Hybrid Ceramic spray coating. It left my car with a beautiful shine. So far I would say it is every bit as good as what I get with Collinite 845. The plus side is it is so easy to apply, even easier than 845. Another plus is that is seems to repel dirt very well.

There are some cautions that need to be followed with TW Hybrid Ceramic. First, like most waxes and sealants, never apply in the sun. You will have problems. Second don't apply too heavy. The instructions recommend leveling the coating by following coating with a damp microfiber towel. This method really helps.

The instructions describe following the first coat with a second coat to increase the longevity. I highly recommend this method.
 
After a few years of intensive detailing spending a lot of money on high end waxes, coatings and whatnot, I settled on Menzerna (Jescar) Powerlock for my daily driver - gives a good beading and sheeting with a good endurance for a great price as well as CarPro Reload as sealant, especially when mixed with their Ech2o waterless wash.
 
I've been a "durable" rather than "show" wax user for years. First Blitz then 845.

I recently gave one of the "ceramic" spray coatings a try, and while durability is still an open question, these conclusions were easy to reach:

-Much easier application. Spray on, wipe off. No need to avoid plastic, chrome, glass. Won't leave dried crusty deposits in crevices or white residue on black plastic.

-845 gives a decent shine, but the coatings have more pop.

-Too much, or too hot, and high spots will develop, and need to be rectified with a damp towel. Not unusual for any wax, but that's how these sprays manifest user error.

I refer to the spray and wipe coatings applied to dry surfaces. The ones applied when wet, which are either then buffed, or rinsed off don't make much sense to me.

TW makes a couple well-regarded versions of these spray coatings, one ceramic and one not. Griot's and Mothers as well. All readily available off the shelf at the parts chains and don't have to be ordered from a detailing vendor.
 
TW Ice polish and TW ICE spray wax or Wax n Dry after each hand wash. It'll bead like crazy and shed water like mad.
 
Originally Posted by Matt1980
Truthfully you cant go wrong with any product, they have all gotten very good.


I used to think that too until I tried a new spray wax today. Eagle One All-Surface Nanowax-- the stuff is garbage. I spent an hour detailing the car with it and afterward we had a brief rainshower-- no water beading, rub your finger/hand over the car and you can't even tell you waxed it.

I read the bottle and discovered it's intended for "multi-surface," I missed that when I bought it. So it's intended to spray on anything; no thanks I want something intended for body panels that will provide a good coating. You should be able to feel the smoothness of the finish after you apply it, not so with this product. I bought it because I've had good luck with Eagle 1's wax-as-u-dry product, but this one is junk in comparison.

Originally Posted by bhopkins
I've recently started using Turtle Wax Hybrid Ceramic spray coating. It left my car with a beautiful shine. So far I would say it is every bit as good as what I get with Collinite 845. The plus side is it is so easy to apply, even easier than 845. Another plus is that is seems to repel dirt very well.



I settled on Turtle Wax Hybrid Solutions Ceramic, for $13 on Amazon. Thanks for the suggestion, the reviews I found online were too good to ignore and the price is right. Going to use it on our new van (2015 Sedona) this week before we take it on vacation, anxious to see how it shines up.
 
Since you have a small fleet maybe you can rationalize the purchase of a random orbital polisher. I got a used Griot's Garage model off eBay for $50. It had actually never been used. Using it with Griots One Step Sealer makes a huge difference, especially on a vehicle that have just had traditional wash and hand waxing. You can add one of Griots many wax's on top of the sealant if you are after a show car shine. The sealant alone looks good for months and can be easily freshened up by one of the many spray wax's on the market.
 
For longer lasting I would go with NuFinish. Just keep it off black trim at ALL COSTS. It does not come out.

Next in line would be a Meguiars product. I like the Ultimate wax line but the cleaner wax and gold class are good as well. You might look at the Meguiars ultimate spray wax for in between hard waxings. it works really well for my truck.

If you are truely paying $5 stepping up to $10-15 will make a difference. You have to pay a lot more to get much better performance that these. Walmart has everything you need.
 
Originally Posted by 92saturnsl2
Originally Posted by Matt1980
Truthfully you cant go wrong with any product, they have all gotten very good.


I used to think that too until I tried a new spray wax today. Eagle One All-Surface Nanowax-- the stuff is garbage. I spent an hour detailing the car with it and afterward we had a brief rainshower-- no water beading, rub your finger/hand over the car and you can't even tell you waxed it.

I read the bottle and discovered it's intended for "multi-surface," I missed that when I bought it. So it's intended to spray on anything; no thanks I want something intended for body panels that will provide a good coating. You should be able to feel the smoothness of the finish after you apply it, not so with this product. I bought it because I've had good luck with Eagle 1's wax-as-u-dry product, but this one is junk in comparison.

Originally Posted by bhopkins
I've recently started using Turtle Wax Hybrid Ceramic spray coating. It left my car with a beautiful shine. So far I would say it is every bit as good as what I get with Collinite 845. The plus side is it is so easy to apply, even easier than 845. Another plus is that is seems to repel dirt very well.



I settled on Turtle Wax Hybrid Solutions Ceramic, for $13 on Amazon. Thanks for the suggestion, the reviews I found online were too good to ignore and the price is right. Going to use it on our new van (2015 Sedona) this week before we take it on vacation, anxious to see how it shines up.


You will not be disappointed. As a fan boy of Collinite 845, I've always had high expectations of auto waxes. The TW Hybrid Ceramic spray exceeds those expectations so far.

It makes me a little sad for Collinite. All their auto finish products are heavily based on carnauba, 845 included. The performance of these new sealant products is outstanding, and exceeds any carnauba based wax I've used. Unless Collinite starts engineering newer products, they will eventually be left only with those customers that have never tried the new sealant type products.
 
BLACKFIRE paint sealant.
 
If you want to take better care of your car but don't want to spend a lot of time or money it's hard not to look at the new Turtle Wax products as mentioned above. Just a few years ago TW was a joke but their new line of products is legitimately good and worth a look.
 
BLACKFIRE paint sealant.

It should be known that Blackfire and Autogeek are one and the same ownership. You will likely not see much if any negative comments about it over there.
 
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