What is The Best Car Wax?

I have often wondered this question, 'what is the best car wax?', when I go out to buy a car wax, and have never researched this before.

I do wax my car a number of times a year, so I decided to do some looking into this, and wasn't able to find anything close to specific enough for me.

I am, however, a member of a number of car communities, and what better place to find out.

I additionally took a poll to see what other enthusiasts use, and a number of whom responded are detailing fanatics, to use that term loosely.

The findings weren't at all what I expected. There are quite a few opinions about what the best car wax is.

* You can skip right ahead to see the list of the best car waxes here *

...which consists of the results from polls and votes - along with comments added to this page.

...or skip ahead and vote for the best wax and place your vote here

...and see what other people voted for.

*If you don't see your favorite wax on my list, I'd like to hear from you, so please leave a comment.

Photo credit Amazon

I would like to hear from you, even if you are not sure.

Which kind of car wax do you use?

Is there a car wax that is clearly the best for you?

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This is the whole point here, to gather experiences from people who wax their cars and find out what everyone is using, and then for anyone who visits this page, they can see what everyone is voting for.

1. Meguiar's NXT Generation Tech Wax 2.0 Liquid
2. Zymol Z503 Car Cleaner Wax
3. Zaino Show Car Polish
4. Turtle Wax T-223 Super Hard Shell Paste Wax
5. Meguiar's G-7016 Gold Class Clear Coat Liquid Wax
6. Meguiar's Ultimate Liquid Wax
7. Meguiar's G17516 Ultimate Quik Wax
8. Meguiar's A-2216 Deep Crystal Liquid Carnuba Wax
9. Mothers 05550 California Gold Pure Brazilian Carnauba Wax Paste (Ultimate Wax System, Step 3)
10. Pinnacle Liquid Souveran Wax
11. Auto Glym High Definition Wax
12. Meguiars Hi-Tech Yellow Wax #26
13. Turtle Wax T-6A Carnauba Liquid Wax
14. 3M Performance Finish Synthetic Wax
15. Turtle Wax T477 ICE Synthetic Spray Wax
16. Kelly's World Famous TPS - Total Polymer Sealant
17. Jax Wax
18. Griot's Garage 11171 Best of Show Wax
19. P21S Concours Carnauba Wax
20. Turtle Wax T-412R Ultra Gloss Liquid Wax
21. Collinite No. 476 Super Doublecoat Auto Wax
22. Collinite 845 Insulator Wax
23. Mothers 05750 California Gold Pure Carnauba Wax Liquid
24. Collinite Marque D'Elegance Carnauba Paste Wax # 915
25. Liquid Glass
26. Adam's Americana Premium Carnauba Paste Car Wax
27. Raindance Premium Liquid Wax (02510)
28. Rejex Car Wax
29. Malco Banana Creme Wax
30. Blue Coral Wet Shine Car Wax
31. GoTreo
32. RJ Brown Fast Wax
33. Meguairs #16

Meguiars Hi-Tech Yellow Wax 16 ounces

Mothers California Gold Carnauba Liquid Wax

Zymol Z503 Car Cleaner Wax

16 oz.

Turtle Wax T-223 Super Hard Shell Paste Wax

9.5 oz.

Meguiar's6 Deep Crystal Carnuba Wax. 16 oz. liquid

Turtle Wax T-6A Carnauba Cleaner Liquid Wax

16 oz.

Meguiar's Ultimate Quik Wax

Meguiar's Gold Class Clear Coat Liquid Wax ,16 oz.

Turtle Wax T-468R ICE Liquid Wax

14 oz.

Turtle Wax T-477R ICE Spray Wax

20 oz.

Griot's Garage 11171 Best of Show Wax

16 oz.

Adam's Americana Premium Carnauba Paste Car Wax

What I have found during research for the best car waxes, is that there is an unusually varied number of different opinions of favorite waxes, from all sorts of car enthusiasts.

I did notice a number of interjections from some contributors claiming that there is not a 'best car wax', but rather it is the choice depending on the need of the individual.

Of the more named brands were Mother's, Meguires, and Zaino, although only by a few extra mentions.

Overall, it was surprisingly even, each person claiming that such and such is their personal favorite, clearly through experience, and some even said they sometimes switch brands.

My consensus at this point is that there are a number of great brands out there and it is genuinely a matter of preference and need, or perhaps with how easy it is to apply, or even to the smell.

There seems to be a few people that swear by Zaino, so I've decided to create a Zaino discussion.

Have You Tried Zaino?

I asked a professional in the auto detailing industry to create a post for everyone to read about the best car waxing and washing methods and any other helpful tips he has to offer.

Washing And Waxing Is Good, But Is It Proper Maintenance For Your Paint?

by Casey Schletz

Photo, © Casey Schletz

A very common practice in car maintenance is washing your car regularly and applying wax a few times a year. While this will keep your paint rust free and protect your clear coat for the most part, the problems and imperfections will start surfacing to your attention sooner or later. My devoted passion to protecting and caring for my clients cars has given me a wealth of information I would like to share with you, on your car's exterior.

To start with, I'm going to review the 'Wash and Wax' principal. For those of you familiar with how a zamboni works on an ice rink, the zamboni first shaves off a thin layer of the old ice to level out the ice's surface. Then it lays fresh water over the top of the ice to replenish the depth.

This leaves a solid, clear, smooth sheet of new ice. Now think if the zamboni didn't cut off the old cracked ice, and just applied water over the top. The ice quality wouldn't be as solid and the clarity wouldn't be the same smooth, solid, glassy look because of all the cracks in the base layer.

Your car's paint is very similar to the zamboni principal. Your paint builds up scratches, swirl marks, water marks, and other imperfections. Along with all the particles and dirt that sit on your car in-between washes that actually melt into your clear coat when exposed to direct sunlight!

If you rub your hand against your paint does it feel like you're only rubbing against a soft clear coat, or can you also feel all those paint imperfections and particles bound to it? Unless you use the six step process I'm about to explain your answer is probably the second one.

The Professional 6 Step Process

1. Thoroughly wash your car - The better you wash your paint the easier the next steps will be.

2. Clay bar - Clay's purpose is to absorb all of those particles bound to your clear coat and for those of you who've used clay before know how amazing it works. This step leaves the paints surface nice and smooth before you start with a machine polisher.

3. Machine Polisher with cutting compound - This step is the same as the zamboni shaving off a thin layer off of the ice to make a solid base. If you're adventurous and want to do this yourself make sure you start with a light polishing pad and polishing agent and start on the rear passenger panel (in case you make a mistake). If the swirl marks aren't coming out than move up to a light cutting compound.

4. Machine Polish with Polishing compound - This step is only necessary if you used cutting compound in the previous step. The polish will remove the small swirl marks that can occur from using a cutting compound and the polish also adds important oils back into your paint.

5. Apply paint sealant - For those of you who've never used paint sealant before look it up! This step is like adding water back onto the ice to restore the depth of the clear coat that you took off when using the cutting compound. Most sealants are guaranteed to protect your paint for six months and the smoothness of your paint will amaze you!

6. Apply carnauba wax - This last step is to give your paint that nice deep glossy look that carnauba waxes are famous for.

Now after reading the first five steps, would you rather be applying your favorite wax on your car after a regular wash or onto an even leveled, particle free, swirl free, smooth surface?

Not everyone has the tools and products to do the full six step process, but it's a great hobby to take up if you'd like to spend a little more time in the garage on Saturday mornings. My passion and now career began with the theory I'm going to own a car the rest of my life, why not keep it looking and feeling like a brand new car?

Casey Schletz is a fellow Squidoo author and owner of Pristeam Detail, who specializes in Auto Detailing in San Diego.

I was recently asked this, and it never occurred to me to explain why someone would want to wax their car.

I take it for granted since I pretty much live, eat and breathe cars, along with all of my immediate family, and lots of friends.

Wax creates a protective layer to preserve your paint. You may have thought that it is just to keep it looking pretty, which it does, but it does also serve a purpose.

It acts also as a water repellent, which is nice for minimizing hard water build up and puddling in crevices that eventually lead to rust, though the wax doesn't play a huge role in that aspect, as much as a protectant quality.

Anything that could harm the paint such as tree sap, or anything caught on the car while driving such as bugs, tar, or if someone decided to pour their coffee onto your car, the wax serves as an additional layer between your paint and the offensive mentions above, and it allows them to be cleaned off much easier.

One tip, for keeping an extra layer of protection, that a lot of drag racers do when they bring their streetcar up for the night, is leaving the wax on without buffing it off. That leaves even more of a layer of protection, that can be wiped away the next day quite easily.

You could do this to the front of your car before a long road trip if you are a fanatic, although then you need to buff it out of every little nook and cranny, which can be time consuming, though a car lover can appreciate that!

How Wax Saved My Paint

(for the most part)

One embarrassing example of my own, to demonstrate the protective qualities of wax, is what happened to me one day.

My car rolled under a chain link fence, all the way! Well, I had just waxed the car, and nowhere did it scratch all the way through the paint, and I am certain that is because of the wax. I wouldn't say it would absolutely protect against potential scratches and chips, but it will lessen the blow.

Only by a slim margin as I have used a few others here that I liked a lot as well

I recently started using Zymol since it was a Christmas gift from my girlfriend.

I liked it a lot. It wiped away nice and easy, as I always wax by hand with my huge pile of foam pads and microfiber towels.

I have used Meguires California Gold a lot in the past, and liked that. But that was not quite as easy to come off.

I can attest to why waxing is a good idea for more than just one reason.

Of course the protective layer, the nice appearance and satisfaction you get from staring at it, and for my little story I mentioned above, involving a chain link fence.

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