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Premium Carnuba wax over Prima Amigo - Final DW test of 2011?

32K views 41 replies 14 participants last post by  McClane 
#1 · (Edited)
Update on bottom post.

Summary

Point

To test whether carnuba wax (Dodo Supernatural) durability is affected by use with Prima Amigo polymer glaze, since I've seen a few threads that raised questions over compatability/durability with waxes. [The instructions on the label only mention "synthetic" sealant/wax bonding - although this could be because they're a traditionally fussy LSP.] Also, to compare the carnuba wax to a hydrid wax/sealant (Dodo Purple Haze Pro), and against a traditional synthetic paste sealant (FK1000).

Prep

Car cleaned, clayed and cleansed with AF rejuvenate to provide a good base for testing.

Test

Prima Amigo was applied to specific sections (bonnet and selected rear panels), all three of SN, PHP and FK were applied both over the prima amigo, and on just clayed/cleansed (well prepped) paint. Collinite 476 was used for interest on some lower regions of the car tackled later in the day (though not over amigo as I was too tired :eek:).

Results

Durability yet to be determined... car looks shiny :)
Update: 7 weeks, 5000 miles. Most of the wax has suffered - so beading sheeting are not what they were. Doesn't seem to be any different from bits with Prima on, or without. Although, fair to say the wax has rotted away from the outside first, rather than bonding issues with a base layer


The Long version, with pics:

Well, my last day of 2011 was a productive one... (my arms and legs hurt real bad right now). So, what did I get up to?

I washed, clayed and paint cleansed my bonnet, ready to apply some prima amigo and try a few carnuba waxes over the top and test them out, as a useful tester for what to apply come Spring time.

I felt this wouldn't really hold up much without a control. So followed my eager mood and dared the weather - mild 11deg c, but cloudy and threatening - and cracked on with the whole car since it was starting to lose some beading magic and shine. It hadn't been stripped back for 6 or so months and had a few odd layers on - so it seemed pointless loading more wax on top of a deteriorating base.

Prep

A quick run down of the routine: a healthy dose of Valet Pro orange pre wash, lots of rinsing, strong shampoo 2BM with Chemical Guys Glossworks, clayed with my new Bilt Hamber Medium and some born slippy/water in record time (pulled off more than I was expecting :doublesho), rewashed, dried, and cleaned with AF Rejuvenate pre-wax cleanser.

The Rejuvenate part is probably where the ache came from - a great paint cleanser and thin enough for a good work time... I worked it by hand hard (like a sweatshop worker in the run up to the Olympics!) with the white side of an ultimate (red/white) foam applicator - and after the effective clay session the results were pleasing. :)



Test

Now came for some testing... Due to the weather, this was tackled in stages. But the overall run-down was as follows: after paint cleaning all over, Prima Amigo was applied to the bonnet by the red side of the same sort of foam applicator:





And to the following rear panels (spoiler and lower bumper):



First up, I thought I would try a nice Carnuba wax I've been looking forward to using, so step up Dodo Supernatural for the right hand side of the bonnet. I thought a good comparison would be Dodo Purple Haze Pro, as this is a hydrid wax/sealant and might work well with the polymer glaze Amigo. This took the left hand side.



As a control, SN and PHP were applied to their respective sides of the car (wings, doors and quarter panels) WITHOUT Prima Amigo as a base, so to just clayed/cleansed paint, and SN to the roof also.





SN on the roof (I liked the fact you could focus two ways here!):





For those thinking "fool, you're not supposed to wax over Prima amigo". The rear of the car was taken care of with the paste sealant FK1000.





I'd cleansed and waxed these main areas of the car to "get them done" in case it rained. And went back afterwards to do the front bumper and sills. These got a coat of colly476 for interests sake as I've got a pot. :lol:





The overall breakdown as was below:





Results

Not too much to say yet. I'll keep an eye on beading, performance and durability over the coming weeks/months - and they'll have their work cut out with regular motorway miles planned in that time. Likewise with beading/sheeting when the opportunity arrises.

In terms of looks, most of it was achieved prior to the wax I'd guess, but either way here are some hopefully nice pics below (with requisite tin pics!). Apologies if some are blurry... I reaslise looking back that's because my hands were a bit shaky after 5-6 hrs of trying to be a DA! Also, I started to lose some light by the end, and they're Iphone pics. (Yes, that's Z16 on the floor... that was the next job).

Bonnet



Purple Haze Pro side:



Shiny SN roof



Supernatural side



And a nice pic when I stopped for petrol on the way home, and went "woah" when I stepped out of my car! :D



And as it would be rude not to by this point, candidates marked up :lol:: As bourne out by a 2nd look this morning... I'd say more flake is pronounced with the FK, but a deeper/wetter look with the SN



I'll try and update this thread with some "more useful" information moving forwards. But for now, as always, any comments/questions/criticism welcome :thumb:
 
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#37 · (Edited)
Better late than never, got a result on this, but not entirely as I was expecting...

After it rained in the week, this was on my dirty car, so looked fairly promising:



The dirt was pretty grim though... mostly salt/grime:





After a Valet Pro orange pre wash and PW rinse, I had this:



After snow foam, this:



So I washed the car with just shampoo, and rinsed with an open hose (no drying aids or QD), sheeting had dropped off remarkably everywhere (not just the PRIMA amigo'd bits), the FK1000 on the rear, the Supernatural on the passengers side, and the PHP on the Drivers side... even the Collinite on the bumper.

It's fair to say, one of the 5000 miles driving, snow, salt, ice, and solvents (From Zaino Z8 possible), had cleared off the best of the wax.

I dried the car fully, and the paint felt more grabby than that "just waxed " feeling you get.

Here's what it looked like (vid) Sorry for the pixels, photobucket compression sucks!:



I also, as a little test (plus I got rained off), went over the bonnet with Prima amigo to see if it's any good as a paint cleaner - before apply some Vics Concours (yeah, I bought some :eek:) to the bonnet and wings. On the wings, I just chucked the Vics straight on without any prep, so see what that's like.

Proper wax beading (2nd vid):



Now, to be fair, the car had done a lot of miles through some tough conditions, but I'd hoped for a little more protection at this stage (there's still some, it's definitely better than nothing). But, you live and learn. What I can say though, is the bits with prima amigo on faired just as well as the rest (so, the bonnet had been prima'd and did just as well). The fact even collinite over paint cleanser had dropped off a lot.... somethings mullered it.

I've a month or so Galactic miles to go, then I'll be doing some nice car pampering before the April meet. Depending how I get on with the Vics, I'll have that or something else (or a half and half with Purple Haze, SN or Blue velvet) on it by then.

Car finished (though not all as smooth as I'd like):



Vics over Amigo takes a nice "selective lighting shot"... not totally convinced yet, but want to get it layered eventually, as I hear thats best:



New beading after rain:





Rest of car not so much:





There might be a clue as to salt being the biggest culprit... the leading edge of the roof is even worse than the middle... this obviously took a battering.


:thumb:
 
#40 · (Edited)
Cheers Blumenmaus.

There's a few things I'd say off the back of this. Mainly, it's created more questions than answers for me :rolleyes:, and that it probably suffered for me a bunch of stuff I wanted to use, bunging it on in a way I thought might be interesting, then thinking about it in depth.

1) I might have shortened the lifespan of the waxes by applying a solvent based product.sealant in Z8 a couple of times - but as soon as I stopped, this happens...

2) The mileages (700 per week, mostly motorway); might be too much to expect of any wax under the conditions (lots of rain, salt, spray, frost mornings, snow etc).

3) I've so often use a QD such as FK425 after washing in the past... so have my expectations of wax lifespan been artificially raised by doing that?

4) I've had better longevity out of Purple Haze pro in the Summer/autumn, without the harsh conditions, and using 425.

I can't knock the finish when it was done though :thumb:

What I think it does show very well. Winter + daily driver is hard on any LSP... [better than on my paintwork itself though]. Plenty on here advocate durability over looks for this time of year. :thumb:

One for Gally re: his post in here... both these products here and C2 (on our mini) have been over Rejuvenate, and I've been slightly dissapointed with longevity. Now I'm saying nothing conclusive at this stage... But it's got me thinking... too high expectations of more waxes not bourne out? Need to be careful what goes over it? Just down to conditions?

It might be nothing, but since I don't want to be IPA wiping down and stripping fillers after an "enhancement" product... time to test this vs. something else?
 
#41 ·
I always like reading reviews and comparison test, they often throw up unexpected results. :(

Coincidentally, I applied S/N Hybird over Lime Prime Lite in ealry October and didn't touch it until earlier this week - shameful I know. After washing throughly and rinsing off, the Hybrid was beading very, very well indeed, after all the salt and recent harsh conditions. I did a "heads up" on this separately and I think this may highlight that perhaps "mixing" certain brands and formulations will shorten the lifespan of a LSP? :confused:

As to Prima, I have used their products ie Banana Gloss, Slick and Hydro, all with very nice results.........:argie:

Today, by way of a change I used Glasur (over the top of numerous other waxes and sealants) so I'll be interested to see how we get along. :thumb:

No doubt the purists will now hound me out of town for not using HD Cleanse alone with Glasur...........;)
 
#42 · (Edited)
Since they're dodo waxes, maybe that's a good one to do. AF cleanser + Wax and Dodo cleanser and wax crossed over with AF cleanser + Dodo wax, Dodo Cleanser + AF wax etc.

Since I like a filler with my cleanser... I think I'm going to try PRIMA as a cleanser. Maybe down one half. Part of me wishes I'd bought the bottle of Bilt Hamber cleanser polish I was considering... that'd be another good one to chuck in there.

Weird that I seem to be dabbling with the Essex brands lately... gotta keep it local! :lol:

It is worth remember that my car potentially did 6 months worth of mileage for some people in the duration of this aswell though.
 
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