what do you consider to be the best commonly available car wax?

I want something that I can get at the local walmart or auto parts store, all 3 of my vehicles are black, I was want something for shine and protection, what do you think of meguires gold class? what about black magic or zymolie? paste or liquid? thanks

Meguiar's Gold Class does good shine but not good durability as compared to some other. It will beat most with shine though. Will have to apply monthly and possibly more often since your vehicles are black.

Meguiar's #26 will last longer than Gold Class and is pretty popular. I like it myself.

Liquid glass is a synthetic you can pick up at Pepboys. It works well and shine for the amount of work is great. Know several people who use it on their vehicles and put them in shows.

Turtle Wax Extreme

S100 wax ( relabelled P21S) and S100 painter cleanser - local Harley Dealerships

Mother's Reflections ( resin sealant and polish)
CALIFORNIA GOLD NATURAL FORMULA PURE CARNAUBA WAX with pre-treatment of finish with CALIFORNIA GOLD SCRATCH REMOVER and Mother's Sealer and Glaze.

- both found at AutoZone, PepBoys, etc

Hard to beat these combinations for locally available paint treatment and protection ( ~ 6 weeks) :cool:

zymol is that a long lasting wax? meguires gold? I hate when you wax a car and in a week it does not feel or look like it has been done in a while. Eage one was like that.

If I were to use something I could pick up locally... I'd probably go with Meguir's Gold Class... or Liquid Glass.

black magic has a petroleum of some sort in it does that effect how long it last?

For a local purchase product I would use Gold Class from Meguiar's, it will only last 2-4 weeks but it shines well, you could go with Liquid Glass, it will last much longer than carnauba products, but it is a cleaner type product, and some people have reported that it leaves streaks on dark colors, we personally never had that problem at any of or shops when we applied LQ to customers cars

Best waxes locally: S100, Mother's (either cleaner wax or Cali Gold Pure), Meguiar's #20, Meguiar's Medallion PremiumPaintProtection, 3M Show Car Paste,....

Best Polymers locally: DuraGloss CCP, Liquid Glass, or Mother's Reflections

The polymers will last and protect longer. However the S100, 3M, or the other waxes look great too. :)

If I were going to choose between these, I'd use DG or S100 or maybe both :D. Mother's and Meguiar's would be tied for third.

:)

Originally posted by BLACK Z !
black magic has a petroleum of some sort in it does that effect how long it last?

All natural waxes have some sort of Petroleum dist in it. It is how they soften the wax. Carnauba in its pure form is just a hard brick. Beeswax is softer but still can't be applied in its pure form.

What is a cleaner wax? i think zymol is a cleaner wax, the stuff I see is about $12.00.

Jeff, you can tell a cleaner wax product by reading the label, a cleaner wax will say things like removes light scratches, removes oxidation, deep cleans your paint, and so on. :)

I have a sunset orange metallic Camaro and this is what I use:

I wash the car really good, then I go home and apply Meguiar's Deep Crystal Polish, then apply Meguiar's High Tech Yellow Wax #26, and Meguiar's High Endurance for the tires. Comes out really shiny and the paint looks wet. Looks real good. If it gets dusty, I just rub the car down with the California Duster. In between waxings, I apply Meguiar's Quick Wax after I apply the polish. I do all of it by hand. It's a bitch, but I like taking my time with my car.

sunstreaker: yep, getting a good shine usualy takes time, and lots of elbo greese :D I just spend a good day getting all the tar off of the rear body panels, who ever had the car before me must have never done that before! Didn't quite get it all off, but it looks aheck of a lot better!

I also use a california duster, here in Phoenix Arizona, after 2 hours you have dust already! haha!

I use Meguiar's Gold Class, but I think it did a better job on my red truck back home, or maybe because my Black Z is an 86... not sure if the paint is original or not.

I think I'm going to try a Polymer next, maybe Mothers Reflections.

Mothers cali gold and Reflections polish, Bigsnake said Carnuba waxes do contain petroleum distillates. You need them to soften the wax, and they also clean the paint like a champion.

Liquid Glass on my red ride.. Nice..

I like NuFinish. It's cheap, shines good, and lasts a real long time. I use it quite often on my black car and it seems to do the trick.