# Son1c - Protowax 38 R



## supervinnie40 (Jul 22, 2012)

*The story:*
Son1C started his Homebrew topic ( http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=310499 ) on 19 june 2013, about 2 months ago today. Since then he has been making fast and great progress, showing many pictures of failed wax, and poor beading. Slowly getting to the point where the beading pictures where getting very interesting. Finally, he decided to sent me 1 of his wax jars to review.

*First impression:*
The wax is called: Protowax 38 R. "Protowax" probably referring to the fact that this is a prototype. "38" being the 38th test, and the "R" might stand for the color (red).
When opening, I obviously first smelled and felt it.


















*Smell:*
Hard to describe, Son1c told me it's a blend of several fragrances. I would guess: cinnamon, sweet candy and fruit/apple-ish. It does smell good though. You wanna keep smelling it, trying to identify the different accents.
*Color:*
This wax is red, but I know Son1c made other prototypes with a different color.
*Consistency:*
It's very smooth and even. The opposite of grainy. 
*Viscosity:*
Even though it feels very smooth, it's actually quite firm. I would almost say that it's a medium/hard wax. (I'll explain later).










I had a hard time in the beginning because this wax doesn't look like a normal wax. Let's take Collinite 915 for example, it's smooth, it's fairly firm, but it just doesn't feel like this wax. The structure of the wax is totally different. Then I finally (with a little bit of help  ), figured it out. First I thought this wax was very, VERY synthetic. But it turned out it was the other way around. I think this wax is very, VERY natural. Meaning Son1c didn't use conventional polymers or other additives to enhance the wax. I would almost go as far as to say that he might even be capable of turning this into a water based wax . I've seen a water based wax before, bit this one is different, and probably better.
This means it's a bit harder to use a comparable wax. Most waxes (by far the most) use polymers or other enhancers to improve the looks, texture, performance etc. So finding a wax that would be a fair competitor, would be a problem. I don't think I have a wax like that.
So in the end, I decided to not use any other wax to compare it with. In the video's, you'll see "naked paint" vs. "Protowax 38 R".










*The test:*
Even though I'm not gonna use another wax, I'm still gonna do the "3 surfaces" thing. Flat surface, slightly slope and very slope. I.e.: Roof, hood and fender. This will show the beading and sheeting on 3 different angles. Since I already used another homebrew on my own car, I needed another car. I used it on a VW Golf Variant TDI from 2003 with rock hard paint.
After polishing the areas I was going to use, I wipe it down with Carpro Eraser. To apply the wax, I used a brand new, clean applicator pad.

When applying the wax, I noticed how it was difficult to transfer the wax onto the applicator. Son1c already warned my about this, he advised to scrape off the first layer. I decided to first try out why he recommended that.
The outer layer of the wax feels very smooth, a bit like plastic. When I swiped it with my applicator pad, hardly any wax got transferred. I really needed to rub, to get it to transfer. Now I understand his advise.
After scraping off the first little layer (about a millimeter), the wax transferred slightly easier, but still not as good as an oily wax.
Please note: after Son1c shipped this wax to me, it got stuck somewhere for almost 2 weeks. Altogether it took a good 3 weeks for me to get my hands on it. And in that meantime, Son1c already figured out how to solve this problem. His future waxes (and his revised recipe for this particular wax) will be improved on this area.

Applying it was easy. It didn't spread for miles, but since it didn't feel very oily to the touch I didn't expected it to glide endlessly. It wasn't hard to apply, but you need to remember to apply enough wax to the applicator.










After about 5 minutes (being about 23 degrees in the midday sun), I did the swipe test. The wax was ready. I left the roof to cake on for another 5 minutes, to see how hard it would be to buff out.
The parts that where ready after 5 minutes where quite easy. Since the wax is fairly dry, there is no need to turn the cloth and swipe again. 1 Buff is enough.
Then on to the part I left to cake on.... That was a different story...
It was very hard to buff off. The general advice in this case is to use a bit of QD to buff it off. But using QD might affect the beading and sheeting performance later on, so there was only 1 choice: good old elbow-grease....










After buffing, the results where good. The wax left a nice gloss. No patchy areas, no spots. Just flawless reflecting paint. :thumb:

Now on to the part that people actually came for , the beading and sheeting videos:
The line between the naked paint and the waxed area is roughly in the center of the screen. But the better you'll see it via the beads or the sheeting, the better the performance of the wax.

Beading video roof: (left=wax)




Advantage of the roof is seeing beading without the effect of sheeting. You can see how the drops of water hang on to eachother, to form bigger drops. And you can still see some nice beading.

Beading video hood: (right=wax)




The beading is nice. You can clearly see the difference between the naked paint, and the waxed area. The beads could be a bit more round, but you need to keep in mind that this is an all natural wax. So, this is actually quite good. It's still lots better then naked paint, and it comes very close to a commercial wax.

Beading video fender: (right=wax)




In this case, you can clearly see the combination of beading and sheeting. When drops get to a certain size, they easily slide down.

Sheeting video roof: (left=wax)




The sheeting on a flat surface is almost never very good. It doesn't have anywhere to go to. In this case you can see that the difference between the naked paint and the wax isn't very big. It's still there, but it's not huge. It's harder to see the line between the waxed and the naked paint.

Sheeting video hood: (right=wax)




Sheeting on a slight angle is a bit slower then on the side of the car. So it's clearer to see the difference between the waxed area and the naked paint. The sheeting is quite good at this point. But the difference between the waxed area and the naked paint is not very big.

Sheeting video fender: (right=wax)




The sheeting on a fender is gonna be pretty fast, but even so, you can still see the difference between the naked paint and the waxed area.

Towel-drop-test: I couldn't do this test. The hood of this car is so flat, that dropping a cloth on it won't do anything. It won't slide at all.

*My personal opinion:*
I love to see different waxes. It's great to see how much difference you can see in several products that still have similar ingredients. This natural wax is one of those "different" ones. And in a good way.
It's different, and some might need a minute to figure out how to use it, but once you figure it out, it's a good wax.
It does what its supposed to do. And I like the fact that Son1c made a wax that stands out. A unique wax.

It was a bit of a problem getting the wax to transfer to the applicator pad, and to buff out the part I left to cake on. But Son1c told me he has solved this problem in his new recipe. And besides those 2 point, I can't really think of anything that's wrong with it.
However, I still think it could use a bit of refinement. Not much, it's very close. But it's just not yet fully perfect. But seeing how Son1c improved so fast, and made this wax in such a short time. I think it won't be long until many more people will want this wax.

I'm looking forward to new recipes from Son1c. :thumb:

Thanks for reading. Next week: update.

Supervinnie40.


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## sprocketser (Aug 4, 2012)

Hey thanx for sharing mate .

I had the same ProtoWax myself also .


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## sprocketser (Aug 4, 2012)

How would you compare this wax to other waxes that you ve already tried supervinnie ! If you can .


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## supervinnie40 (Jul 22, 2012)

That's gonna be hard. It's not fair to compare it with a synthetic or hybrid wax. So to be fair, I should try to compare it with another very/completely natural wax.
I'm not sure if I know one. I believe Pinnacle Souveran is one, but I'm not sure...

If I would try to compare with anything I've got (regardless of it being natural, synthetic or hybrid) I think I would say Collinite 476S. Not for the performance or the behaviour when applying/buffing, but just because of the feel of the wax and the structure.
But still... it's like comparing a grapefruit with a carrot.


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## sprocketser (Aug 4, 2012)

Hey thanx for the reply sv , yep , a tough one as well to figure .


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## SON1C (Jun 13, 2013)

thanks for taking the time vinnie!

There is only one other wax that would be in the same category as mine (to my understand of his ingredients) which is rubbishboys original edition, however ben lists his ingredients and I will tell you although both natural they are completely different thus they look and perform differently

As you already know 38 did need some refinement, all aspects have been improved upon! 54 is a world of improvement over 38 imo


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## supervinnie40 (Jul 22, 2012)

Your welcome mate. As walways it's a lot of fun doing these reviews.

It's in a league on it's own . Very cool. With all the hundreds of waxes on the market, it's hard to find something that will make it special. But you did it.
With those improvements worked into the new version, it must be pretty damn good.


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## supervinnie40 (Jul 22, 2012)

I was going to make another review of the wax, to show how it looks after a bit more then a week. But I had a nightmare today.... I've been teaching the misses how to wash a car properly, and she wanted to surprise me with cleaning the car.
Problem is, she used way to much shampoo... The wax isn't completely gone, but it won't be fair if I would show you how it looks now, because it's been affected.

I'm truly sorry for this, obviously I kicked her ass and she won't get any doggy-biscuit for a week!
So, I've just polished the car again, and re-applied the wax. I will get back to you all in a bit more then a week about this.


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## sprocketser (Aug 4, 2012)

It s alright mate , sh!t happens right ! lol


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## supervinnie40 (Jul 22, 2012)

And finally... it was time to do the follow up. The wax has been on the entire car and has seen quite a few kilometers and very sunny (dusty) days.

First time for some beading shots:
The hood: (slightly sloped surface)









Beads have started to become a bit less round, but they still look pretty good and the hydrophobic properties are still quite good. (see with sheeting video's).

Roof: (flat surface)









The beads look a little bit rounder, but that might because the roof is very horizontal and gravity is pulling equally on all.

Fender: (very sloped surface)









Beads hang on to this very sloped surface, but look alright. They don't become much bigger then the beads you see on the photo, so sheeting is good.

Sheeting:
Hood:





Roof:





Fender:





The sheeting is very good. You can see that it has become a bit less then a week ago, but that is to be expected. It's still performing quite well.


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## sprocketser (Aug 4, 2012)

Thanx for sharing mate , appreciated .


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## Goodylax (Apr 21, 2013)

I noticed the sheeting on 38 was still going strong on my hood when I washed it this past weekend :thumb:
(Sorry no pics or videos )


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## sprocketser (Aug 4, 2012)

Same here also . Been strong on my Mother s CTS .


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## SON1C (Jun 13, 2013)

glad its holding up guys!


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## sprocketser (Aug 4, 2012)

You bet ! Still great in here .


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