Initial Impressions: Autoglym High Definition Wax

This wax costs RM453 here in Malaysia, a freaking expensive wax that lies in the price range of entry level waxes from boutique brands such as Swissvax and Zymol. Thankfully, managed to get it at a cheaper price, thanks to the help of mankarat, a forummer on Autoworld, who recently came back from the states. But seriously, RM450??! My dad would say, "You crazy?? I could eat 3 meals a day for a month!!". But he doesn't know that :P

Before:

After machine polish and HD wax:

The wax also does not behave like waxes in the cheaper price range(M16,M26,Pink Wax).
Read about my initial impressions on HD wax here! --->

Since giving my mum's car the full detail, I have to wash the car myself, and at times look very neglected due to my chronic procrastination. Thought this mini-detail would make it up to her for not doing anything for Mother's day.

The car has collected a fair amount of dust.

With water spotting on the bonnet as it is exposed to rain:

Under all the dust, dirt and grime however, you could see the paint is still pretty much swirl free, except for some light ticks scattered randomly over the paintwork.



And that is with washing with a Lake Country Big Blue washing sponge and drying with a synthetic chamois.

The front bonnet is polished with Meguiar's #205 Ultra Finishing Polish on a Meguiar's Polishing Pad followed by a Lake Country Black Finishing Pad via rotary.
I was polishing under the hot sun(on black paintwork!), it stayed lubricated but had some areas where the polish baked onto the paint. Dried polish residue was easily removed with Isopropyl Alcohol diluted 1:1.

Ingrained dirt removed after polishing:

Although there was enough cut to remove the waterspots, it wasn't aggressive enough to remove some deeper scratches. I won't bother with those because maintaining a daily driver to be in perfect condition is just unpractical and will drive you mad sooner than you think!



The paint looks LSP ready from the sun shot above, but from a different angle, you could still see holograms.



So I followed up with Lime Prime on a Lake Country White CCS pad via ROB, which was also used on the rest of the car to clean and glaze the paintwork.

Now, may I present to you, its highness, its majesty, High Definition Wax!

This new pot had some excess oil on top, it will look matte after one use.



I didn't use the supplied applicator as I wanted to see how it feels like when applied with the Meguiar's foam applicator which I often use to apply paste waxes.

The applicator is put under running tap water(or use distilled water for the true OCD) and squeezed out repeatedly to get the every pores of the foam moist and damp.



Scooping out a small amount on to the pad and apply onto paintwork.










The two pictures above shows that it looks very oily and greasy but feels quite the opposite during application. Instead, it feels quite sticky and tacky when I'm trying to spread it over the paint. At times, my fingers start to get tired and have to use the palm of my hand. This is especially so when the applicator is less damp. So after waxing half the car, I would dampen my applicator again.

I was breaking the rule of not applying under a shade on a cool surface.

Under direct sunlight:

Now this is where my Meguiar's logic is challenged. Meguiar's teaches us on using the swipe test to judge whether a wax is ready to be buffed off or not.

If I applied any Meguiar's wax on a black bonnet under direct sunlight, it would have probably flashed off and dried in under a minute, or even after a few seconds!

The HD Wax however, stays oily for more than ten minutes on very hot paint.

I had to pull out my finger immediately after capturing the photo below:

Despite the hot temperature, the HD wax still stayed oily and the directions stated to leave it on for only 10 to 15 minutes. I then contacted my friend Jimmy from Golden Wax - Shine My Car detailing for advice as he is a frequent user of HD Wax. He says that it is oily during the removal of HD Wax and it is common and normal.

So I trusted him and walah! No streaks or patches. Thanks Jimmy!



Although I would also say that it could be paintwork dependent as the Lime Prime I used earlier did not produce and streaks or patches. On the times I've used it on my own car which is also black, it will tend to streak quite heavily. Will have to try HD wax on my own car to see.

So I proceeded and applied HD Wax over the whole car and buffed off after 10 minutes.

Removal wasn't the easiest. It was easy to break the wax film as it doesn't completely dry, but for the same reason, it is hard to pick up all of the wax residue. Even when you think you have picked it all up, look at it again under a light source and you'll probably see it requires more buffing.

Enjoy the pictures!

Before:

After M205 and HD Wax:

My final thoughts:
Every time you use something new or expensive(or something hyped), there is always this placebo effect that tells your eyes the results are actually better than it really is. I always try to keep this placebo effect in mind when doing a review, and it applies to this review as well, which isn't easy with a price tag of RM453(USD141).

Having said that, the paint looks dripping wet and reflections are deep and sharp. This could be attributable to M205 or Lime Prime, I do not know, what I do know is, it doesn't look bad! If you live in the U.S and have a Walmart near you selling this for USD35, grab it!

It rained 4 hours after application and this would kill any tight beading as waxes have not fully cured. The HD wax beads did appear less round on some areas but managed to stay tight throughout the whole panel that has been exposed.

Will give you guys a durability update when the time comes.

Thanks for looking! Any comments will be appreciated, both good and bad.

I probably won't be posting until July as I have one last final paper to prepare for and also gathering all the required resources to do a coating test(G'Z*x,G|T***niq,Aq**rtz,Pompo***zi,Op*i-Coat).

p.s. Again, HUGE thanks to mankarat for helping a few of us acquire the HD Wax at a bargain price. *bow*

Till then, cheerios! ^^V

Kenneth Tang a.k.a Fishbonezken

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Wheel Protectants: Waxes, Sealants or Coatings?

Good day fellas! Howdy howdy ho...yeeehaaaw!

So, it's a known fact that we hobbyist detailers loooove waxing our paintwork. Some love the satisfaction of looking at the shiny paint after the hard work. Others find that massaging the paint with a coat of buttery wax is as sensational as rubbing a coat of soft butter over their partner. Okay maybe not the latter, but you get the idea!

With the paintwork on the body getting all the loving, what about the wheels? It's a well known fact that wheels tend to be jealous attention-seekers. They wipe their face with brake dust just to get you noticed and have you clean them. Sometimes, this jealousy can be so bad that brake dust will just build up on your wheels so fast that it might be too difficult to wash off if you delay your wash routine.

Which is where wheel protectants come into the picture. There are many types of wheel waxes on the market, just have a look on Autogeek. The problem is, many of these wheel waxes in addition to making the wheels easier to clean, claim to *repel* brake dust. The only wheel wax I have is Poorboys Wheel Sealant, and it claims to repel brake dust on the directions, but I haven't found it to do so.

So I continued the hunt for a better wheel protectant. You may have recalled I used Carmate C19 SIV Wheel Coat, and from my test, it has outlasted Poorboys Wheel Sealant. However, it wasn't very durable either, as it was completely stripped off with only one clean with a degreaser.

Then I realised my application method could be wrong after watching this video by Carmate.

From the video above, it looks like the Carmate SIV Wheel Coat will dry to a clear finish without being buffed off. So I tried to do that and did a comparison with Finish Kare 1000P.



The wheels were pretty clean to start with.

Hosed down the wheel when it is cool to touch, and cleaned with Carmate PS60 Brake Dust Cleaner.

After cleaning and drying the wheel. Carmate C19 SIV Wheel Coat was applied to one half while the other half received Jeff's Werkstatt Prime:Acrylic and two coats of FK 1000P.

Ingrained dirt removed by JW Prime

Contents of the box for Carmate C19 SIV Wheel Coat.

Changing the used foam for a fresh one.

Clear liquid.

Applied it as per directions.

I also applied some on to the paint just to see what it would be like. Thanks for the suggestion Mobile Blogger!

Goes on wet

Dries off rainbow-ish?

I then took a spray bottle with water and sprayed the previously used foam.



The water was literally bouncing off the porous foam!







I left it on for 2 days but did not see it dry to a clear finish.



The area where I applied it on the paint also looked the same.



So I just buffed it off and took some beading shots.







Let's time travel 24 days ahead.



Both sides were not beading well anymore.







So I guess no matter what we use, it just isn't worth the effort applying a protectant on the wheels of a daily driver. It will offer protection no doubt, but probably only for a week or two. If the car isn't driven frequently, then protection will definitely last much longer, and maybe the effort can be justified.







But wait!

It isn't over...




I was lucky to have some high-end coating applied to another half of my wheel. The performance of the product is just...insane.





One half was applied with G'Zox Wheel Coat while the other with Carmate C19 SIV Wheel Coat.

Fast forward 44 days.

The wheel before cleaning.

You can already notice the difference in beading between both sides.

I then washed it with some Osren Bubble and Wax shampoo.



There was also a different feel when washing the wheel. The side coated with Carmate C19 SIV Wheel Coat had more friction to it. The side coated with G'Zox however, felt super smooth, the bristles of the brush just glides over the wheel spoke, feels as if I am scrubbing glass itself.

After washing.

It is still super hydrophobic after the wash and water literally bounces off the wheel as I spray it with water.



The side with Carmate is basically flat and dead.







Water behaviour on the wheel was the same as what you see in the Carmate video above.

This is seriously impressive. Too bad these products are not available for DIY use and can only be professionally applied. With the wheel coating being so good, you can just imagine what their paint protectants will be like. I can see why silgt from Absolute Gloss raves about it on his blog and Autoworld forum.

Anyway, this post is not to endorse G'Zox but it does sounds like it eh. I am an advocate for DIY detailing and am dissatisfied that these high performance products are not available to us end users. That's business I guess.



That's all and thanks for looking! Comments are always appreciated, both good and bad. Who knows, a tub of Dodo Juice Supernatural wax might appear on your desk if you comment below!

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