i have these mothers products: car wash, pre-wax cleaner, sealer and glaze, and reflections wax. how well do mothers products work to give you that good shine? is it possible to skip out on the carnuba wax and still have a good shine?

 

Mother's is a lot like Meguiar's. They both have multiple step systems that are proven to give a nice initial shine, but lack substantial durability or UV and environmental protection, but it depends on the products really since they both make many varieties. The synthetics are more durable and offer more protection...

All the products you have will work fine together, but personally, I'd skip the "sealer and glaze" product, and just do the precleaner then Reflections polish. Reflections contains it's own mild abrasive polish in the formula so it will remove the sealer/glaze anyhow. I'd just go with the precleaner then Reflections.... If you had bought the Mother's pure carnauba wax instead of Reflections, then I would say use the sealer/glaze product after the precleaner...

 

I personally love the mothers 3 step and it is all i use, and highly recommend the carnuba (step 3, the best step to me). i havent used reflections, but i have used other synthetics, and they do last longer so what i have been doing is using step 2 (sealer and glaze) one week then the carnuba (step 3) the next week (my car is outside). you can skip step 2 but it will not be as "deep" or "wet" w/o step 3. It is much more work but i have been doing this for 3 years almost to my car and i have covered/eliminated 90-95% of the original swirls when i got the car and it shines like crazy. i have seen the zaino pics and IMO my car looks just as good (please dont bash me on that). oh yeah, use step one more than twice a year if you do it like this, more like 4 or 5 times a year especially during spring/summer since it really removes those pesky contamainents.

 

cool, thanks for the opinion, na i dont bash people unless they bash first. but i will try the carnuaba step 3 and see how it is. i havent tried these yet but they are sittin in my bucket ready for this upcoming weekend, ill follow up with the results.

 

I don't think anyone would bash you for using Mother's products, not here at least. Mother's is a reputable, honest company with a proven product line, much like Meguiar's. (Hmmm, actually, Meguiar's reps need a little consistency of info but that's beside the point I guess) But, I do have one comment and a question or two. Seeing pics and seeing the actual product on your car(s) is completely different. You could use NuFinish or Turtle Wax and be able to make it look like a show car on camera with the right technique. That being said, I always encourage people to try things for themselves if something interests you, instead of relying just on pictures over the net, because pictures don't really tell the whole story on how products work. Also, I know myself that the multi-step carnauba systems are a lot of work to maintain a show car-like shine, so I'm in total agreement with you here. My question is, how often are applying the wax to keep the gloss and most importantly the protection at 100%? If you are happy with Mother's, that's great. I was pretty happy with them and Meguiar's myself for quite a while. The only other thing I could ask you at this point is, is the level of work or the durability acceptable to you for your cars? If you aren't entirely happy with your results and efforts, you might consider looking for alternatives... If you are completely happy, that's what it's all about. Just something to think about..... I remember years ago thinking there weren't any products on Earth better than Meguiar's, because my results were usually really great. I was actually very hesitant to try much of anything else because I thought it couldn't possibly better the results I was already getting. Come to find out, not only are the end results better, but the level of effort and maintainence is drastically reduced. All I can suggest is keep an open mind towards trying new things. Now, I still like to try new stuff for the fun of it as long as I beleve the products are high quality.

 

yeah sorry for the cockyness, and you are right about the whole pic thing MikeLS. Here is the deal with me: i basically wax my car every week (sundays to be exact) to keep 100% protection since mother's 3 step wears out pretty quick, say like after three weeks maybe. z28rv, make sure you use that step one before the step 3, did'nt know if you caught that in the reply just a reminder

 

It's cool, I didn't really take your comments as being cocky, just that judging by pix can be somewhat difficult. Nothing major....

I know what you mean though, there's nothing like some relaxing detailing on the weekends to make you feel good. I've done quite a bit myself this weekend and today too actually since I got off for the holiday. Now the cars are all clean and ready to roll on the weekdays.

Keep em clean!

Mike

 

I use Mothers and swear by it!! If you go to their site and check out their customers cool cars for October 2002 you'll see my baby on there Also, the reflections isn't a wax, it's a polish. It is good for quick shine ups and lasts about 3 months. It can be used in direct sunlight which is good for car shows and stuff! The pure carnuba wax is the wax and must be applied in shade! The wax will last up to 6 months...any more questions bud, shoot me an email

 

Maybe on a garage queen it will last 6 months, but I haven't found a carnauba wax yet that will last 6 months on any daily driver. The most you'll get is maybe 3 or at most 4, and the shine usually is the first thing to go. The Reflections is their synthetic product (similar to Liquid Glass) that is supposed to give better durability than the carnauba wax. Reflections will (or should) outlast the carnauba..... I think you are way overestimating the durability of the carnauba.... If you are using carnauba products you should at the least be waxing every 4 months to keep decent protection, and much more often to keep up the shine.

Strong poylmer sealants, like Zaino or Klasse, are some of the few products that can last 6 months or longer actually on daily drivers. This is the primary advantage of using them, for the extended tough protection and shine. Some of the very best shining carnaubas only last a couple months at best.... Others are a little more durable, but a little less shiny.... It's all a tradeoff really.

 

Hey hey easy buddy!!! I was just giving an average, I wax mine every 3 months!! It's everyone for themselves on this subject...just trying to help

 

It's OK....I'm not criticizing you for using Mother's, just that the durability estimate may be a little off IMO. This sounds more reasonable. Every 3 months is about right, maybe even longer depending on product, even though I usually had to resist the urge to rewax every month (or sooner) with carnauba, to keep up the shine. Didn't mean to sound so strong....just stating MHO. I guess what I meant was, if you've found a carnauba that will last 6 months, I want to know what it is so I can try it too, if I haven't already!!