Like many of you, I have a huge collection of car care products. Over the years I have tested literally dozens of waxes, polishes, and sealants. I've used everything from waxes bought at Big Lots to exclusive sealants available only from their manufacturer.
My attitude toward "store bought" waxes is they are developed and produced to meet a price point, and to gain shelf space at mass retailers. The actual product in the bottle is compromised to a certain degree in order to meet these marketing parameters. From a business perspective, it is hard to argue with this philosophy. If you want to sell your products to WalMart and the national auto parts chains, you must have a product that meets their criteria in order to get into their product mix.
As serious car enthusiasts, however, sometimes our desire for class-leading products causes us to dismiss retail products simply because we assume they are inferior in performance and technology. In my testing of car care products, I can tell you that within certain price ranges, there is a great sameness to products. Occassionally, one or two stand out and when they do, I like to report on them.
Recently, Mothers sent me a pre-production sample of a new paste-style version of their FX Synwax. They asked me to test it on my vehicles and let them know what I thought. About the same time, I received a sample of a paint sealant that had received many positive reviews. I thought I would do a torture test on my truck to see if the new Mothers product could hold its own against a more expensive, mail order paint sealant.
The sealant I am testing against the Mothers product is Blackfire Wet Diamond All Finish Paint Protection. You can read about it here: http://www.properautocare.com/blacallfinpa.html I've played with this product off and on for a few months until I decided to see how it stacked up against the new Mothers product.
The test vehicle is my 2004 GMC Sierra. I applied two coats of each product to the hood and front fenders, with the drivers side coated in Blackfire and the passengers side in Mothers. I prepped the paint by claying and polishing with Meguiars M205, followed by an IPA wipedown.
It has been about 6 weeks since I first applied the products. Since then the truck has seen only hand washes. No QD, no spray waxes or spray sealants, no "freshen up's". My goal was to compare them fairly, side by side, to see if a product which will be sold at mass retail can compete with a boutique-style paint sealant.
In this first pic, all I did was lightly spray water onto the hood. The goal was to replicate a light rain shower, to show if the products were still beading after 6 weeks.
I then decided to hit each side with a strong spray of water. This really shows off the differences of the two products. First, the Mothers Synwax side:
Next, the Blackfire Wet Diamond side:
You see that? The Mothers Synwax is sheeting water, while the Blackfire Wet Diamond is beading water. While I have not spoken to chemists from either company, it seems to me these products were designed to do this.
When I stopped spraying water onto the hood, I watched to see how the water would react to the products. Look at the Mothers side (passenger's) versus the Blackfire side:
Note that the Synwax sheeted water until most of it ran off the surface. The Blackfire side continued to bead water although the bulk of it ran off, too. The time elapsed from the first to the last pic is approx 45 seconds.
Finally, I trickled water on the hood to remove most of the water droplets. I wanted to see how dry the hood would be, a good sign of surface tension and a way to see if the wax is still holding up:
As you can see, each product is different in how it reacts to water. However, the end result is virtually the same. Both sides show equal gloss after 6 weeks, the slick feel is about the same as well. My experience is Blackfire holds up for about 3 months. If the Mothers Synwax paste can hold its own against an expensive paint sealant, it might be worth checking out and recommending to friends who will not pay big bucks for a mail order paint sealant.
I am extending this test to other parts of my truck. I did some polishing today with Meguiars Ultimate Compound (review coming soon). I applied a coat of Blackfire Wet Diamond to the rear half of the truck bed, and a coat of Mothers FX Synwax paste to the front half:
I'll torture test these products throughout the winter to see which holds up better to rain, dirt, and road grime.
Hope y'all found this interesting. Feel free to hit me with comments, questions, and suggestions.
My attitude toward "store bought" waxes is they are developed and produced to meet a price point, and to gain shelf space at mass retailers. The actual product in the bottle is compromised to a certain degree in order to meet these marketing parameters. From a business perspective, it is hard to argue with this philosophy. If you want to sell your products to WalMart and the national auto parts chains, you must have a product that meets their criteria in order to get into their product mix.
As serious car enthusiasts, however, sometimes our desire for class-leading products causes us to dismiss retail products simply because we assume they are inferior in performance and technology. In my testing of car care products, I can tell you that within certain price ranges, there is a great sameness to products. Occassionally, one or two stand out and when they do, I like to report on them.
Recently, Mothers sent me a pre-production sample of a new paste-style version of their FX Synwax. They asked me to test it on my vehicles and let them know what I thought. About the same time, I received a sample of a paint sealant that had received many positive reviews. I thought I would do a torture test on my truck to see if the new Mothers product could hold its own against a more expensive, mail order paint sealant.
The sealant I am testing against the Mothers product is Blackfire Wet Diamond All Finish Paint Protection. You can read about it here: http://www.properautocare.com/blacallfinpa.html I've played with this product off and on for a few months until I decided to see how it stacked up against the new Mothers product.
The test vehicle is my 2004 GMC Sierra. I applied two coats of each product to the hood and front fenders, with the drivers side coated in Blackfire and the passengers side in Mothers. I prepped the paint by claying and polishing with Meguiars M205, followed by an IPA wipedown.
It has been about 6 weeks since I first applied the products. Since then the truck has seen only hand washes. No QD, no spray waxes or spray sealants, no "freshen up's". My goal was to compare them fairly, side by side, to see if a product which will be sold at mass retail can compete with a boutique-style paint sealant.
In this first pic, all I did was lightly spray water onto the hood. The goal was to replicate a light rain shower, to show if the products were still beading after 6 weeks.
I then decided to hit each side with a strong spray of water. This really shows off the differences of the two products. First, the Mothers Synwax side:
Next, the Blackfire Wet Diamond side:
You see that? The Mothers Synwax is sheeting water, while the Blackfire Wet Diamond is beading water. While I have not spoken to chemists from either company, it seems to me these products were designed to do this.
When I stopped spraying water onto the hood, I watched to see how the water would react to the products. Look at the Mothers side (passenger's) versus the Blackfire side:
Note that the Synwax sheeted water until most of it ran off the surface. The Blackfire side continued to bead water although the bulk of it ran off, too. The time elapsed from the first to the last pic is approx 45 seconds.
Finally, I trickled water on the hood to remove most of the water droplets. I wanted to see how dry the hood would be, a good sign of surface tension and a way to see if the wax is still holding up:
As you can see, each product is different in how it reacts to water. However, the end result is virtually the same. Both sides show equal gloss after 6 weeks, the slick feel is about the same as well. My experience is Blackfire holds up for about 3 months. If the Mothers Synwax paste can hold its own against an expensive paint sealant, it might be worth checking out and recommending to friends who will not pay big bucks for a mail order paint sealant.
I am extending this test to other parts of my truck. I did some polishing today with Meguiars Ultimate Compound (review coming soon). I applied a coat of Blackfire Wet Diamond to the rear half of the truck bed, and a coat of Mothers FX Synwax paste to the front half:
I'll torture test these products throughout the winter to see which holds up better to rain, dirt, and road grime.
Hope y'all found this interesting. Feel free to hit me with comments, questions, and suggestions.
