I don't spend much time in this forum, so what I am about to bring up is not intended to start an emotional thread. My search of this forum revealed no other threads of this nature.

Yesterday I waxed the 06 Sport with "Mother's California Gold Carnauba Cleaner Wax". WHAT A MIRROR-LIKE SHINE!! I doubt that there are any other one-step products out there that can do any better! I'm impressed.

Now it will be interesting how long it will last on this black paint. The "Turtle" wax jobs on my black 95 TBird didn't last a week in the summer sun.

Thanks for posting this. I was getting ready to was my girlfriend's car tomorrow with Turtle Wax. now I'm thinking I should spend the money and get the good stuff LOL

IMHO, I wouldn't use a cleaner wax on that 06's brand new finish unless you already have some light swirls or fine scratched. You can possibly get some light swirls by using this type of product, especially depending on your application technique.


If you're looking for a single step product, Meguiar's Cleaner/Wax, or ColorRx are good choices if you need some cleaning power, both are comparable to the Mother's you used but ColorRx will boost the gloss of your black a little more and has slightly stronger abrasives.
Since your paint is so new, though, a normal wax like Meguiar's Gold Class would be more than suffucient and has less chance of causing swirls or micro-marring like a cleaner/wax or the ColorRx - both of which are typically used for paints in a little rougher condition. You want as little abrasives needed to accomplish your goal, so for you waxes comparable to Gold Glass or NXT are a good choice.

If you're willing to put in just a little more effort, but still want an easily found consumer product, the Meguiar's Deep Crystal system is for you. It has a paint cleanser (step 1), pure polish (step 2), and pure wax (step 3) which are formulated off comparable proffessional Meguiar's products for great results, with easier application.


Zaino is another option, but requires additional steps and multiple products to be effective. It does last a long time, though.

Klasse All-In-One and Sealant/Glaze were recommended to me by Embassy, these are some of the best bang-for-buck products I've seen. As long as your finish is in relatively good shape, a coat or two of the A-I-O followed by a coat or two of the sealent/glaze will provide excellent gloss, depth and shine - comparable to the Zaino IMHO, but at a much lower initial cost, easier and faster application and removal, and less prep. They cleaning power of AIO is very light, which is why I feel it is better for use on paint finishes in very good condition. Which, hopefully, your '06 is
The best part is this acrylic paint protection system will, like Zaino, last a LONG time. Often over a year depending on conditions and application.

This product is so easy to use, and effective, even Metroplex liked it!

I was was more impressed with the Klasse AIO than the Zaino products, IMHO.




.....anyways, good to hear you had a positive experience wit hthe product! You should take some pictures

dRock: sounds like you know your waxes. I go by the statement, "Safe for clearcoat finishes". However, it does have to be abrasive to some extent in order to clean oxidation.

I didn't see any swirl marks despite the fact that I had to rub hard to get the haze off the hood which tells me that there was some kind of buildup. The trunk lid and top weren't easy either, but not as hard as the hood. The sides were a piece of cake (no build-up of any kind).

Okie Hick,
You may perhaps want to consider claying your car, especially the horizontal surfaces to remove the contaminant build-up you mention. This process provides an ultra-smooth/pure surface for your top coat and goes a long way to enhancing your final shine.
My process consists of: wash, clay, 1 application Klasse AIO, 2 applications Opti-Seal.

I don't do a "formal" wax job that often on the cars. I usually use the quick spray-on stuff like the Turtle Wax Express shine. It doesn't last very long, but at the same time, it is sooo easy, looks OK and smells good. It's almost worth it to use it every other wash.

If it is an 06 it shouldnt need a clay bar yet.

Brand new cars usually need claying to remove embedded rail dust picked up during transport.

Well, that may not be true Ryan.


As I recall, Okie found that gem of an '06 in a dealer lot, sitting left over. The car has been sitting outside, somewhat neglected for possibly a year or more. Add to that a few quick and dirty dealer car washes and you have a high probability of not only contamination, but also light swirling.

Using the claybar before the wax leaves the paint free of above-surfaces contaminants, a 'clean slate' for the wax or polishes of your choice. Even a BRAND-NEW car will have plenty of above surface contamination by the time it hits the dealer lot, a mild claybar works great to remove all this to get the finish back to how it was before it was shipped out There are now claybar kits sold just for this, removing contaminents on new/like-new cars.


I was unaware he had any build-up issues, it would have been a good idea to use clay before hand. BUT, if he doesn't want to spend the time doing that, a cleaner/wax may have been OK for him as the light cleaning abrasives will help to remove the same contaminants the clay bar would. In this case, the light cleaning ability works to his benefit - not only to remove the dirt but also help to remove some of the larger swirls and light scratches, if any.



Yes, it is definitely safe for clear coats - it will not damage or deteriorate the clear coat. And you're right-on about the abrasives, which are why there is a possibility of swirling the hard clear coat paint finish. This has nothing to do with it being safe for use, rather, solely the abrasives used in the formulation. Any cleaner/wax has some abrasive/cleaning power, with that means virtually any cleaner/wax can leave micro-marring of the paint finish.
To remove a defect in paint, you have to remove paint surrounding to make it level with the defect. A cleaner/wax uses it's abrasives to very lightly remove a small amount of the clear coat finish to level fine scratches and large swirls and remove oxidation. This is fine, and effective, however these light abrasives will also leave their own very very fine scratches from doing their 'work'
If this is not followed by a finer abrasive paint cleaner, the very light scratches will remain. The scratches are so small, they cannot be seen from even just a few feet away, it is commonly referred to as micro-marring.

So... Would you notice this? Unless you have a showcar finish - Probably not. Especially after just one time. But if you did this every detailing session, the finish will slowly get duller as the micro-marring gets worse. IOW, you won't notice any immediate effects, or even if you did it numerous times in a row. But eventually, over a few years you will slowly notice the paint getting duller. This is why you shouldn't use a cleaner/wax unless you need to. At this time this won't apply to you, but even if it did happen this can be removed using simple paint correction techniques, products a DA.


Now, don't think by using a cleaner/wax you're destroying your paint lol. For the typical consumer, a cleaner wax application every so often is good to help remove light defects which a pure wax, or one with lighter cleaning power cannot. It has it's place and time, but on such a new car it shoiuldn't be needed every time you wax from now on unless needed. Think of it like a scratch remover, you wouldn't use the remover all the time, only when you had to remove a scratch, right? Do the same with a cleaner/wax when detailing your basecoat/clearcoat finish.

Note: That is not too say you should use a wax with NO cleaning power each time (a pure wax)
The paint will get some contamination and dirt build-up, so some light cleaning is needed each detail to remove this, and depending on severity stronger cleaners or clay. Another option is a pre-wax paint cleaner (ie Meguiar's deep crystal #1), these contain no (or very little) abrasives, their job is to remove dirt and contamination, but NOT defects.
Most consumer waxes not labeled as a pure wax (ie Meguiar's deep crystal #3) or a cleaner wax will have some very fine abrasives. This is perfect for routine use, as it removes only what it needs to to maintain the finish. Basically, you want just enough to get the job done


Can you further describe the build-up you encountered?
Was it like poorly removed wax residue? or.....?

i have been very impressed with Meguiar's nxt wax.

it does not dry white. you can actually was your plastic without residue!

I've been using Klasse AIO and the High Gloss sealant, and to be perfectly honest, I'm not sure the High Gloss sealant works very well. It's harder to remove (even harder when it is dry) and multiple applications don't seem to improve the shine or feel of the paint.

One or 2 applications of Klasse AIO seems to work very nicely though. I keep a small spray bottle of the AIO and water mixture which seems to do the job as a spot detailer.

Has anyone found the High Gloss sealant to actually make a difference over the initial AIO application?

Seeing as how you and Embassy recommend it, I consider it gospel. You guys probably have two of the cleanest Panthers I've EVER seen.

Metro,

Its been my experience that the Klasse SG produces a great shine but only after several layers (7-8). I have also had nice results mixing water with SG 3:1 as a quik detailer to continue the layering but with less effort. But I recently applied Optimum's Opti-Seal over the AIO and it produced a beautiful, wet, deep shine..far greater depth than the Klasse shine which in comparison, is more "plastic" like. The Opti-Seal is comparable to the Zaino Z-CS in that you simply wipe on and walk away. No removal necessary. I applied it to the plastic trim, glass, essentially the entire vehicle and the result is outstanding.

Last week I used the spray-on quick shine stuff. On the hood, I couldn't get the film off. It was shiney, but there was always this "wipe" film that would change with every stroke. Not so on the sides of the car.

With the Mother's, wiping the haze would leave behind pin-head sized "dots" of wax. It took some extra rubbing to get these dots off. Not so on the sides. They wiped clean with 2-3 strokes.

The dealership in Grand Prairie TX where I bought the car is right on I-30 between Dallas and Ft. Worth. There is heavy traffic almost 24-7 on this road. After a year of sitting in that environment coupled with the hot Texas sun, I'm not surprised at the build-up on the paint.

I started using the http://www.griotsgarage.com products on my classic cars and stuck with them for the daily drivers. After claying, their Best of Show wax makes the paint look wet.
Everyone has their favorites, though. Okie, how bout some pix of the wax job?