Today, I will be reviewing several car cleaning products. These products are over the counter and are not proffesional quality but get the job done. Not all products on the store shelf are on here but the ones that I have used on my own car are shown. Lets begin.
Waxes give your car that extra shine and protect your clear coat. They also bead water when it rains and makes the car easier to clean and dry.
Mothers Caranuba Cleaner Wax
This is by far my top pick for this category. It works well, gives a car a very brilliant shine, and beads water flawlessly . I have used both Paste and Liquid types. The paste wax is easier to clean off as you can easily apply too much wax to the car making it hard to rub off. That said, I dont mind putting on a bit extra as it gives me assurance that I am not wasting 20 min or so for nothing. Like most waxes, its recommended that you wax it in the shade. This wax can last for about a month or so and maybe more if you clean the car every few days... or I you are like me and make it a daily ritual to go down to the garage every night and clean the car.
9/10
Zymol Cleaner Wax
This wax claims to work well for some. For me, it didnt. I applied this to my car after I claybarred half of it and decided I needed to apply the wax to both sides. I found this sitting on my shelf of car cleaning products so I tried it out(The packaging made it look like a proffesional product even though you can buy it at most over the counter places). It is liquid based so it is harder to apply. However, it was much harder to take off and required some real hand buffing(I buff out the wax by hand as it is much safer). Once it was dried and my arms were tired, the result seemed moderately good but didnt wow me that much. What was more dissapointing was that over the next couple of days, the car seemed to have gotten dirtier than it should have been, compared to the Mothers Caranuba Cleaner Wax.
6/10
This Product is more of a paint sealeant but their website claims that it works just like wax... but lasts longer. So I went out and made the biggest mistake in car cleaning purchases I have ever made, and bought a bottle for $11. This product claims to last a year. So I tried it out on my car. Applying it is somewhat easy but be careful not to get it on any trim pieces (Especially the black plastic variety), or Nu Finish will turn your trim into White Finish. The shine after applying the wax was moderate. Some say that it has a plastic look to it. To me it wasnt that bad. That said, I already had a layer of wax underneath that was nearing the end of its life. Overall, the product did a decent job at beading water but still didnt keep the car as clean for long compared to the Mothers Wax. I even applied a second coat to it , but then decided to add yet another layer of Mother's caranuba cleaner wax on top. This is how my car stands for now( Yes its a bit excessive but thats just how I keep my car). Some say that proper paint prep is required for nu finish to work. I consider this a bit of a flaw because Mothers did not require any real paint prep except for washing the car before waxing.
Also the once a year thing is BS according to many and the product itself is mediocre compared to other sealeants out there. Some claim to use it for years and be satisfied. Ofcourse, the formulation of the sealent may have changed over that time.
5/10
Verdict: Go for the Mothers Caranuba Cleaner Wax. You wont regret it. Or If you have more money to spare and want a proffesional quality wax/sealent, go for DuraGloss or Collinite ( to be reviewed by me soon).
