Nanloex Nanowax

[Spoony]

Price & Availability:
£19.99 for 100ml
£29.99 for 200ml
Available at Monza Car Care

Used on:
VW Golf


Manufacturer's Product Information & Instructions:
Nanolex NanoWax is an aqueous car polish composed of waxes and additives. Based on chemical nanotechnology, the polish forms a transparent and ultra thin film, which improves the colour shine. This is combined with a durable gloss which protects the lacquer against environmental impact. This product is suitable for car paint and alloy wheels. With this protection, dust and light dirt will simply come off in rain. Additionally, Insect remains become much easier to remove.

Various tests have shown that the sealant has very high durability lasting to 9 months with a single application if the car is washed by hand only (using pH-neutral shampoo).

Nanolex nanotechnology sealants are not cleaning fluids or polishes, but a transparent microfilm that attaches itself to the surface finish making it much smoother, Technically, this decreases the number of surfaces and angles for materials that come into contact with it. The so-called Lotus-effect is thus achieved.

Benefits:

* No need to prep the paint before use
* Reduces dirt adhering, makes cleaning easy
* Very easy application
* Refreshes painted surfaces and alloy wheels
* Safe in automatic car washes
* 100% UV protection
* Enhanced gloss
* Longer intervals between cleaning = savings on cleaning / and care products, water, time
* Dried on insect remains and bird excrements will not cause immediate damage to paintwork

Application of Nanolex NanoWax
Nanolex NanoWax should be applied by spreading with a soft tissue/applicator pad etc. to create a total but thin layer of coating. The surface must be covered completely. After drying excess material can be removed by simply wiping it off with a microfibre cloth.
Drying
Average drying time is about 30 to 60 seconds.
Curing
Directly after polishing the sealing is air-dry and resistant against touching. At normal ambient
temperature the sealant is completely cured after approx. 60 minutes.

As a point of reference, I was using it about this much for a good coverage of a panel:


Packaging:
My particular bottle was a sample size and thus was in a sample bottle however normal packaging is similar with the bright recognisable colours and text from Nanolex. Their branding really does look the part, clean and professional.



Appearance & Fragrance:
It is a very viscous liquid with no real notable smell. It is a lot more viscous than many liquid waxes and sealants I have used in the past, almost watery.

Cutting & Cleaning Power:
N/A as this is a LSP

Ease Of Use:
This product is spread very thin, a task aided by the viscosity of the liquid. It is a breeze to apply with a MF applicator. Simply put a small amount on a MF applicator or similar and work onto the panel. A little really does go a long way here. Buffing off the excess is an easy task also using a plush MF. It comes off without any bother - no serious buffing is required.
Monza's description claims that there is no need to prep the surface before use but I feel with the tar and contaminants on my car it was a simple decision made to prep the car first. So to start I clayed the car and then used Lusso Oro Paint Revitalising Creme to clean the paintwork to ensure a clean surface to give it the best chance of bonding to the paint.

Finish:
To me this product really came to life here and so did the colour and flake in my paint. After application I stood back and admired, it has been a long time since I've seen that level of gloss on my finish. I was seriously impressed. The pictures tell the whole story here, the colour came to life also in the light and it is a type of finish that I really like. It is sort of wet looking yet has incredible clarity.
Many LSPs on the market promise similar finishes but, in my recent experience, I think this one has been the best LSP I have put on the car in a long time. It seriously impressed me.


The finished pics are as follows:






This pic here was to highlight the gloss and colour brought out:



Beading was also quite impressing along with the sheeting ability which I tried to demonstrate in this video:


Beading:


Durability:
It is claimed on the Monza website that this offers 9 months of durability - that is absolutely staggering, and I'm not quite sure about it. Florian (NanoLex) told me it would last up to 8 automatic car washes (which I will never use). Durability I suppose is subjective to the environment you are in and how/where you drive, and of course how many miles. I'm certain it'd last 9 months if I was doing 1 mile a day and it was kept in a garage.

As it is, I do a large amount of miles weekly and as such its a great test for the durability of this product.
As the first reference point for the durability test it was applied with 35885 miles on my clock. I will update here hopefully weekly giving the mileage I have to show how many miles I have covered and how the product performs - hopefully painting a real world picture.

Value:
Seems expensive? Well I wouldn't think that way, 100ml for £20 isn't bad, it isn't quite the cheapest either though but that's only 20p per ml, and seriously, using this the way it is intended, applying seriously thin, this will last a good amount of time. So, that being said, I reckon offsetting the cost against the finish and the tiny amount needed for application, it provides reasonable value for money.

Overall DW Rating: 85% - 99% depending on durability
Initially with just the finish I'd give it 8/10 as it really does add that little something over many others in the market, if durability is good (circa 1 month+ the miles I do then I would consider it to be 10/10).

INITIAL RATING:


Conclusion:
Choosing an LSP can be a headache and there are so many options out there. Personally I buy for the sake of buying, but I think this may stop with Nanowax. Seriously, I would give it thought as my 'go-to' LSP for my car. Yeah, its maybe more expensive than those offering similar properties and finish. The brand is great and the customer service impeccable. It was so easy to use it made putting the LSP on an easy and rewarding task.

It is expensive but I've yet to use a whole tub of anything and so I suggest this would last 12+ months at least with a regular application. I did have preconceptions about Nanolex being more aimed at the pro's among us and that it'd be fussy for me to achieve the results - this preconception was totally blown out of the water. I seriously hope the pictures speak for themselves.

Thankyou to Florian @ Nanolex for supplying this product for reviewing.

As an additional interesting sidenote to the product the manual has the following in it:

Cleaning the car after the sealing was applied:
Now that your car is coated there are a few things you should know:
Your car was treated with a chemical substance designed to protect it. The sealant surface on your is a good protection against many influences, but itself should be protected from caustic or alkaline cleaners.
If you clean the car by hand only use a Microfibre cloth and water. One of the benefits of the sealant is that the use of car shampoo, rim cleaner etc. is mostly unnecessary. If the car should be really dirty a car shampoo in small portions might be necessary, in this case the shampoo should be ph-neutral.

I will give this a shot with just water but I fear where I am concerned a shampoo will be required for sure. I will keep you updated.

____________________

UPDATE 10/06/10 Milage: 36400 The weather conditions for this week ranged from striking sunshine to serious downpours.

Tonight I have got the first wash in since applying Nanowax. I first rinsed down with my hose as the pressure is quite good, and I thought I would do without the PW. Then I used TBM with Meguiars Shampoo Plus and a lambswool mitt in order to wash the remaining dirt off.

The paint was nice and glossy still even with a layer of dirt on it, and water behaviour was very much as new with it sheeting off immensely quick.

After the wash I dried it with a plus MF and it was looking as new. Protection still very much evident and beading was as when first applied also. I sheeted water off with a hose and it was super quick again like when first applied. So overall Nanowax is holding up well - here are the pics:

Before:





After:





Beading:


Water Behavoiur:

YouTube- 017.AVI

Sheeting:

YouTube- 016.AVI

So far I have covered 550 miles in the week since application took place. Findings to ths date are that the product is holding strong as the day it was first applied, there is no reduction in gloss, finish, beading or sheeting. To be noted too is that this is the finish after washing and drying, no QD was used and no drying aid was used, all in all it took me about 25mins max to achieve this clean, seriously impressed.

___________________________

Update 2 - Milage 37063

So far whilst the sealnt has been on the car I have covered 1,178 miles. This week it was a variety of roads from far to town, and a good amount of motorway miles. I encountered a lot of fallout on the car including bird bombs and some horrific insect graveyards around the front - it was certainly a testing week for the product.

This time I washed the car with a pre rinse from the PW to see what got lifted from the paint, and following that I washed with 2BM and Simoniz Orange shampoo. The initial PW lifted a good amount and including many of the insects, although predicatably it left many behind for the washing stage as they had been baked on in the heat.

The water behaviour was similar to that of first application although sheeting had begun to slow on lower panels which were covered in all sorts of road grime - the sheeting returned to almost 100% to initial application once washing and drying was completed. Beading was still as good as ever.

The finish itself still retainned great gloss and that slick wet look. No signs of the look fading yet. The following are the pictures:

Before





After







Beading



Water Behaviour from PW

YouTube- 009.AVI

Sheeting

YouTube- 018.AVI

Overall we are still holding strong and the product is certainly getting a good mark up on durability so far. I expect the lower panels to start losing some properties within the next week or so.

___________________________

A little update:

Since last washing I have covered about 1000 miles maybe more, haven't had the chance to wash this yet due to work and rain putting a dampner on things. It is still beading likea goodun and sheeting off the rain like no-ones business.

I've since applied it to my mums Honda Jazz, fully corrected the bonnet and front bumper prior to application. Here are some beading pics and a video in the chucking rain.

YouTube- 033.AVI

______________________________________

Final Update!

Now covered 39065 When first applied I was at 35885 which means I have covered 3180 miles - which is pretty frightening in just over a month! I have however been working away doing up to 400 miles a day some days! Anyways on with the findings.

Before:




The paint finish was pretty dull looking before but it was still evident that there was protection underneath as there was still an amount of beading and some sheeting.

I tested the sheeting, and was greeted with what looked to be a sealant on its way out, the sheeting had slowed up somewhat although it was still doing its job.

I then washed the car with the regular method as it was fairly dirty I threw in a foam session followed by 2BM and then rinse and dry. The foam slid off nicely and clung well, and when rinsed off there was little to no dirt left on the car. I then washed it and completed the next rinse trying to sheet off as much water as possible before drying. This was working alright, although slower than normal and I think it was helped along by the shampoo.

Foam:



Foam Rinsed:



This led to the final result:






To be honest the finish was still pretty good. I was actually surprised. There was still some beading although not as prominent as when first applied and the sheeting wasn't as day one but appeared to be holding ok after the dirt and grime was gone. Also the paint was still nice and smooth and did look fresh. However it is at this point I compared to day 1 and it wasn't quite the same, it lacked that little bit of bling. Which led me to believe the product was on its way out. We had a nice run, and it has to happen sometime. I would say normally this product would last at least 4 months with a weekly wash and dry - no QDs or rinse aids involved. Which to me is good work. It would outlast this I predict albeit not exhibiting the properties of day one but still providing protection.

And so to conclude I would award this product highly in durability and would say overalll it is a 98% award for this product. It does the job it should and it exceeds expectation, making the wash process quick and easy.