Chemical guys hydro slick

Wattie

Member
Messages
8,640
Thanks very kind comments. I spent about 100 hours machining it and then with a friend we gave it a 2 staged ceramic coating and then I’ve just waxed it ever since to keep the wetness up that white deserves. Coatings are great but always give a sterile look and reflection


In regards of price - Collonite is a wax of champions. Its heavily laden with solvents (you can smell it) but it is a bulletproof product and ive used it for over 15 years and still do to be honest.
Ive collected wax for around 12 years. I used to have one of the largest collections in Europe I think when it was all Zymol, Swissvax, Chemguys etc before all the home brews started and many many companies shooting out from their bedrooms with waxes all manufactured at the same chemical companies with their own labels on.
I found it a little sad if I'm honest and at that point about 6 years ago I stopped collecting because the value of new waxes just wasn't there, or the quality if im honest.
Its very hard to understand wax and the formulations. Carnauba being a palm in the Brazilian rainforest secretes carnauba to protect itself from the rain, when extracted and pulped your left with a rock solid yellow by product stronger than concrete in hard raw form. Its only when it bleached it becomes white and this is when the manufacturers start adding their ingredients with %.
When a company states its 100% Carnauba it can be misleading.
Its better to have 10% by volume of pure carnauba in a wax than a company portraying they have 100% carnauba, because that 100% they state is 100% carnauba of the 1% actually in it and that 1% is not mixed but pure. I see it all the time, or when you read the ingredients they are using Carnauba SAP, like comparing a coffee bean with Mellow birds, the dust coming off the beans.
Here is a small part of my collection. Ive some waxes I formulated and asked to made for me also,. metallic waxes in Gold with metallic flake as I've been asked to prepare some dark cars for competition and they wanted a gold flake on a solid black colour so they stood out.View attachment 73462View attachment 73463View attachment 73464View attachment 73465View attachment 73466View attachment 73467View attachment 73468View attachment 73469View attachment 73470View attachment 73472
Wow, what an incredible collection!
To be fair, that’s a stunning finish, your car looks amazing and I’m not usually a fan of white.
 
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Wattie

Member
Messages
8,640
Hahahaha - I take it you never saw my Astra VXR thread that made me the largest villain on the Internet 12 years ago, Its still I think the largest viewed thread on Detailing world at just under a million views. Pistonheads loved me for years.. I didn't sleep for ages :p

Jesus, i’ve Just browsed through your link.
The time and effort is incredible.
You are without question a perfectionist :excellent:
 

Felonious Crud

Administrator
Staff member
Messages
21,013
Could you abbreviate your extensive wax knowledge to a useful short list? Maybe 2 or 3 recommended products in maybe 3 price brackets (e.g. cheap, reasonable, silly).

Good idea. And for added simplicity (for us, if not for you), maybe a pointer as to whether a particular wax is better for a light car, dark car etc.
 

Scaf

Member
Messages
6,512
Hahahaha - I take it you never saw my Astra VXR thread that made me the largest villain on the Internet 12 years ago, Its still I think the largest viewed thread on Detailing world at just under a million views. Pistonheads loved me for years.. I didn't sleep for ages :p


Nah, all that looks fake and photoshopped, the only way I would believe it’s true and you can get results like that is if you come to mine and demonstrate on my GTS. :p
 

mjheathcote

Centenary Club
Messages
9,033
I think, if the clearcoat is clean, decontaminated, and pretty much swirl free, you can put what you like on top at that stage and it will look good.
I have been using Maguires ultimate fast finish on the daily drivers.
Aerosol can, spray onto microfibre cloth, wipe over panel, that's it done!! Amazing shine and water beading. Don't know what's in it!
 

Heavenly

Member
Messages
164
Could you abbreviate your extensive wax knowledge to a useful short list? Maybe 2 or 3 recommended products in maybe 3 price brackets (e.g. cheap, reasonable, silly).

Hey for sure, but its obviously not as simple as that. There are so many variables to a wax and its not also always finish.
It can be down to better looks with a show finish but 3 months durability,. A cheap wax heavily laden with solvents and smells like a can of fuel like Collonite, but incredibly cheap and can last a good year and through winter, and obviously there are some expensive waxes that last well, have absolute clarity and just give an edge on wetness.
From personal experience I actually don't think waxes sit in coloured camps,. Ive done so much testing over the years and on training days 1-1 with guys and I just cant see massive differences, I was a printer for many years so my eyesight for colour was absolute. I worked with Storm Thorgesson on Pink Floyd albums advising about colour and doing the first runs of albums with him, Division Bell was one, and this all had to be done under specific lighting. The guys is absolutely the greatest perfectionist I've ever met, pulled no punches on what he wanted and I learnt a lot from him and respect him highly and im sure he will be sorely missed now he has passed. I judge colour and juxtaposition of colour really seriously from my experiences.
I think if we just look at waxes as all rounders you don't need to spend silly Money.
I have Zymol Royale at £8400., Chemical Guys Kore Dark which is around £1800, My own Heavenly Gates was about £2500 to formulate and its a one off, but designed for exactly that.
A good friend of mine, Paul Daltons Crystal Rock is about £850 but possibly the easiest wax ive ever used.
They all do something but to the average person maybe not neccessary.

Low end: Dark Car good wetness.

I would always opt for Petes53. Ive had it over 10 years,. Pete worked with ChemicalGuys and when he passed they formulated this wax. High content and subsidised in price so for £40 its a brilliant product



Low end: All colour good wetness.

R222 has been around for years and ive used it for over 12 years, The wheel cleaner is also brilliant and one of the only ones ill use on ceramic brakes and to stop hubs rusting on Porsches



Low end: Light car good wetness.

Soft99 won't last months but with synthetic polymers it gives brilliant results on lights cars and magnifies flake so for the money you cant go wrong



Medium: Brilliant all rounder - promoted as darker colours but all colours for me personally.

Celeste Dettaglio my own wax formulated and Italian for the name of my company.

For the record I make no financial gain on sales, so I recommend this because I believe in it, and its chemistry is worthy of a £500 wax.
Its incredibly easy to use, and gives excellent finishes. Durability is also good on it, "but" I made this wax to last 6 months only because gloss and wetness were more important to me than longevity., My philosophy is people that want a product to last a year, don't value the car as much and don't enjoy the whole pampering process of enjoying time outside with their car, don't attend meets as much so someone that does enjoy all this, will wash and wax their car at least every 3 months.
The easy part of waxing a car is putting it on, the hardest part is removing it again after 20 minutes, and this was formulated to come off easily.
Lots of info in this link and an old shot of me with bleached hair years ago when I prepped Bugatti's Veyron Press Car when it first landed at Jack Barclay in Mayfair :)



Medium: One of the best waxes of all time and amazing smelling.

Zymol Concours - used by many concours competitors and a nice wax to work with. Gives brilliant wetness and a good durability



Medium: Italian paintwork is its USP, regardless its finish is excellent and gives good beading and longevity also

Swissvax Scuderia.



High End - My favourite wax and finish.

Zymol Royale, I just love this wax and have for years, Its gone on some amazing cars and some amazing cars have won prestigious Salon Prive and Pebble Beach trophies with it.



High End - Best wax ever for Red and Black cars in my opinion

Chemical Guys Kore Dark



High End - Best wax allrounder
Paul Daltons Crystal Rock. I learnt to detail with Paul 15 years ago when he trained me up and we became best friends.
His wax is renown world-wide to be one of the best ever created and ive probably gone through 5 tubs in the last 10 years its so good.



Hopefully that helps a little and apologies to the OP as it has hijacked the thread a little.

One small bit of advice although im sure people are aware. Waxing is not easy. Less is more in the waxing world.
If you imagine painting a radiator with gloss paint in nice thin brush strokes you are allowing the air to dry the solvents and as you brush you will get a perfect finish. softy slow strokes with minimal paint to get the desired effect,. This is waxing. Wax in straight lines and with very little product. Not overloading a pad and laying it on thickly.
Wax works from solvents evaporating out of the product, leaving the base to dry., Imagine wiping a large amount on, the surface will skin and underneath will have no air contact. You "believe" you are then wiping off the hazed surface and through placebo you see an amazing finish..Not true. Timing and thickness are critical, what you are actually doing is wiping away the surface skin and also the uncured wax on the bonnet leaving an almost invisible smear that looks wet, but will actually just wipe off.
It needs to be thin layers, left 10-20 minutes and gently buffed off.
The second critical mistake people make and I see it every day is "Ive just applied 2 layers and it looks Dang!" No you have applied a 2nd layer and the solvents from the wax have just removed the first layer that has not cured properly yet so actually you are back where you started.
So always leave a wax a good 12 hrs before applying a 2nd layer, unless you layer like I do with freezing water and spit shine to stun and solidify the solvents but this can be challenging if never done before. Theres a reason military personnel spit shine their boots.
 

Heavenly

Member
Messages
164
Jesus, i’ve Just browsed through your link.
The time and effort is incredible.
You are without question a perfectionist :excellent:

There were so many threads on the web and spoofs posted it was actually quite crazy at the time.
This one someone did replicating my thread was excellent. it took me 4 months to write the Nurburgring post in total, and this guy did a brilliant job on a Parka Jacket

 

Wattie

Member
Messages
8,640
Can I just point out I don't just detail Cars, if you have a lonely old household appliance im up for anything :)

Household appliances??
H3ll no, I'm thinking a couple of coats of that Gold flake stuff you have, professionally applied to my suntanned bonce, will enhance its magnificence rather aptly!
Do you do dangly bits in the same flake for the ultimate Golden bol1ocks look?
 
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rossyl

Member
Messages
3,312
Hahahaha - I take it you never saw my Astra VXR thread that made me the largest villain on the Internet 12 years ago, Its still I think the largest viewed thread on Detailing world at just under a million views. Pistonheads loved me for years.. I didn't sleep for ages :p

**** you... That's the next 2hrs of my life gone..

I try to avoid DetailingWorld, as I enjoy it too much and it always ends up hitting my wallet! Haha
 

outrun

Member
Messages
5,017
I use Mitchell and King wax which i see in your collection. Does a good job to my eyes and isn’t crazy expensive. I’d like to have the patience to do a better job but.....
 

safrane

Member
Messages
16,748
Storm Thorgesson... he used to frequent Black and Blue when my GF was the manager there at Hampstead... gave me a signed copy of his book of PF album covers. Nice guy
 

mjheathcote

Centenary Club
Messages
9,033
Everything these days is clear coated, however my Stag is a single stage 2 pack sprayed 30 years ago.
I would like to go over it with my DA polisher, but fear I would remove too much paint unlike hard clearcoat. I just know my pad would go green instantly, the colour of the car, well actually it's Mallard Blue!
There isn't much I can find on polishing a single stage paint.
 

Felonious Crud

Administrator
Staff member
Messages
21,013
Hey for sure, but its obviously not as simple as that. There are so many variables to a wax and its not also always finish.
It can be down to better looks with a show finish but 3 months durability,. A cheap wax heavily laden with solvents and smells like a can of fuel like Collonite, but incredibly cheap and can last a good year and through winter, and obviously there are some expensive waxes that last well, have absolute clarity and just give an edge on wetness.
From personal experience I actually don't think waxes sit in coloured camps,. Ive done so much testing over the years and on training days 1-1 with guys and I just cant see massive differences, I was a printer for many years so my eyesight for colour was absolute. I worked with Storm Thorgesson on Pink Floyd albums advising about colour and doing the first runs of albums with him, Division Bell was one, and this all had to be done under specific lighting. The guys is absolutely the greatest perfectionist I've ever met, pulled no punches on what he wanted and I learnt a lot from him and respect him highly and im sure he will be sorely missed now he has passed. I judge colour and juxtaposition of colour really seriously from my experiences.
I think if we just look at waxes as all rounders you don't need to spend silly Money.
I have Zymol Royale at £8400., Chemical Guys Kore Dark which is around £1800, My own Heavenly Gates was about £2500 to formulate and its a one off, but designed for exactly that.
A good friend of mine, Paul Daltons Crystal Rock is about £850 but possibly the easiest wax ive ever used.
They all do something but to the average person maybe not neccessary.

Low end: Dark Car good wetness.

I would always opt for Petes53. Ive had it over 10 years,. Pete worked with ChemicalGuys and when he passed they formulated this wax. High content and subsidised in price so for £40 its a brilliant product



Low end: All colour good wetness.

R222 has been around for years and ive used it for over 12 years, The wheel cleaner is also brilliant and one of the only ones ill use on ceramic brakes and to stop hubs rusting on Porsches



Low end: Light car good wetness.

Soft99 won't last months but with synthetic polymers it gives brilliant results on lights cars and magnifies flake so for the money you cant go wrong



Medium: Brilliant all rounder - promoted as darker colours but all colours for me personally.

Celeste Dettaglio my own wax formulated and Italian for the name of my company.

For the record I make no financial gain on sales, so I recommend this because I believe in it, and its chemistry is worthy of a £500 wax.
Its incredibly easy to use, and gives excellent finishes. Durability is also good on it, "but" I made this wax to last 6 months only because gloss and wetness were more important to me than longevity., My philosophy is people that want a product to last a year, don't value the car as much and don't enjoy the whole pampering process of enjoying time outside with their car, don't attend meets as much so someone that does enjoy all this, will wash and wax their car at least every 3 months.
The easy part of waxing a car is putting it on, the hardest part is removing it again after 20 minutes, and this was formulated to come off easily.
Lots of info in this link and an old shot of me with bleached hair years ago when I prepped Bugatti's Veyron Press Car when it first landed at Jack Barclay in Mayfair :)



Medium: One of the best waxes of all time and amazing smelling.

Zymol Concours - used by many concours competitors and a nice wax to work with. Gives brilliant wetness and a good durability



Medium: Italian paintwork is its USP, regardless its finish is excellent and gives good beading and longevity also

Swissvax Scuderia.



High End - My favourite wax and finish.

Zymol Royale, I just love this wax and have for years, Its gone on some amazing cars and some amazing cars have won prestigious Salon Prive and Pebble Beach trophies with it.



High End - Best wax ever for Red and Black cars in my opinion

Chemical Guys Kore Dark



High End - Best wax allrounder
Paul Daltons Crystal Rock. I learnt to detail with Paul 15 years ago when he trained me up and we became best friends.
His wax is renown world-wide to be one of the best ever created and ive probably gone through 5 tubs in the last 10 years its so good.



Hopefully that helps a little and apologies to the OP as it has hijacked the thread a little.

One small bit of advice although im sure people are aware. Waxing is not easy. Less is more in the waxing world.
If you imagine painting a radiator with gloss paint in nice thin brush strokes you are allowing the air to dry the solvents and as you brush you will get a perfect finish. softy slow strokes with minimal paint to get the desired effect,. This is waxing. Wax in straight lines and with very little product. Not overloading a pad and laying it on thickly.
Wax works from solvents evaporating out of the product, leaving the base to dry., Imagine wiping a large amount on, the surface will skin and underneath will have no air contact. You "believe" you are then wiping off the hazed surface and through placebo you see an amazing finish..Not true. Timing and thickness are critical, what you are actually doing is wiping away the surface skin and also the uncured wax on the bonnet leaving an almost invisible smear that looks wet, but will actually just wipe off.
It needs to be thin layers, left 10-20 minutes and gently buffed off.
The second critical mistake people make and I see it every day is "Ive just applied 2 layers and it looks Dang!" No you have applied a 2nd layer and the solvents from the wax have just removed the first layer that has not cured properly yet so actually you are back where you started.
So always leave a wax a good 12 hrs before applying a 2nd layer, unless you layer like I do with freezing water and spit shine to stun and solidify the solvents but this can be challenging if never done before. Theres a reason military personnel spit shine their boots.

Thanks, Marc, that's a very insightful response from which I learned many things, not least of all that yours and my definitions of low, medium and high end are quite different! I just spent large on a pot of R222, which at a bit less than £40 including the VAT and postage is more than I've ever spent on waxy stuff before. To be honest, I suspect my prep and application talents wouldn't be worthy if anything more expensive than that. :)