# Durability and comparison test: Obsession Wax / Obi-dan Karnubi



## supervinnie40

Both Jay and Dan thanked me on doing the previous test and asked me if they could sent me some more samples to review. Obviously I felt honored and although the (stupid) posty made me wait for a little longer then planned, here is the review of these waxes. This test is done to compare the performance, durability, looks and feel of these waxes.

*Obsession Wax:*
Blend CP Batch 7
Blend UV Batch 1

*Obi-Dan Karnubi:*
Hybrid - 10/04/14
Synthetic - 10/04/14
Sterling


















Because I want to let these waxes go head-to-head, I decided not to use a well-known wax. It's not a competition of which wax outperforms the known brand, but a test on how these waxes perform.

Obsession Wax.

Jay has been so generous to have sent quite a few of his waxes to me for testing. And it has been great to see him grow from a mediocre wax to a very well performing wax that is a breeze to apply. Where he started with homebrewing wax, he now has a fallout-remover (test on this will be done shortly), fragrances for in the car, waxes, car-foam, shampoo and much more still in the pipeline.
Lets have a look at the wax that Jay has sent me.

*Blend CP Batch 7*

















This wax is a green, grainy wax. It appeared to have some dark-green spots and it's more grainy then most of Jay's waxes I have tried. This is not a bad or good thing, just something which is a little bit different then most of his waxes. The smell is very sweet bubblegum, which makes you wanna lick it! But for those who are brave enough to give in to this temptation, the taste of sweet bubblegum will only last a minute orso (yes, I tried...  ). After that you'll end up with a very bad oily taste.
The wax is of medium hardness. It's harder then most of this prototypes, but it's softer then a very solid wax (like Collinite 915 for example).










It's not very sticky, but it's a bit oily. When making this photo I tried very hard to press all the waxes with the same pressure. After pressing once I took a photo of the hole my finger made and the mount of wax that was stuck to the top of my finger.










Buffing and spread was quite good. The part I left to cake on was a bit grabby, but that's to be expected. In general the application, transfer and spread of this wax was good. Left a nice smell.

*Blend UV Batch 1*
















This wax is yellow and very smooth wax. It has a very smooth and uniform texture. The smell is very light. There is a bit of a citrus scent in it, but also a bit sweetness. Very hard to describe since it's very subtle. The bright yellow color looks almost to be fluorescent. So I turned on the tanning-bed and tried out if it would light up a bit. The wite paper on the photo is to show you how much effect the UV rays have a something lights up in UV (think of those blacklights in nightclubs). (sorry, can't help those lines. The UV rays mess up my camera  ).










It's not very sticky either, but not that oily either. A bit normal, like most of Jays waxes. When making this photo I tried very hard to press all the waxes with the same pressure. After pressing once I took a photo of the hole my finger made and the mount of wax that was stuck to the top of my finger.


















Buffing and spread was good. I left one part to cake on, but that was hardly grabby. Mind you, I applied it very, very thin. The transfer to a pad could be slightly improved, I needed to swipe twice before I had enough for the application. But in general this wax performed fine on buffing, spreading and transfer.

Obi-Dan Karnubi.

Dan has been focused on developing new recipes, testing out new combinations and doing his research. There are many plans in the pipelines, and ODK (Obi-Dan Karnubi) is going to make a name for itself. Dan asked me to try out a few of his wax, and has sent me a few prototypes.

*Hybrid - 10/04/14*
















This wax is red and quite firm and smooth. It's not hard, but between medium and hard. The texture is very smooth and a bit oily. It has a sweet citronella scent but a bit more sweet then you'd expect. The red is a very nice and deep color.










It's not very sticky, but it does feel slightly oily. When making this photo I tried very hard to press all the waxes with the same pressure. After pressing once I took a photo of the hole my finger made and the amount of wax that was stuck to the top of my finger.










Buffing and spread was good. I was very easy to spread out. The part I left to cake on was a bit grabby, but not to bad. It performed well. The transfer to the pad wasn't bad either, but if it was just a tiny bit oilier it could've been a tiny bit better.

*Synthetic - 10/04/14*
















This wax is purple and very soft. I would even say it's more like paste then wax. You could squeeze this out of a tube without to much trouble (which could be an original idea  ). It's very smooth though, and it has a lovely lavender scent with a bit of sweetness to it. As you'd expect, it's really oily.










It's not to sticky. Although it's very oily and very, very soft, it doesn't stick to much. And the parts that do stick are very smooth and evenly textured. When making this photo I tried very hard to press all the waxes with the same pressure. After pressing once I took a photo of the hole my finger made and the mount of wax that was stuck to the top of my finger.










Buffing and spread was very good. Because the wax is so soft, the transfer was very easy. A bit to easy. It's very easy to over-apply wax on the applicator pad. I actually underestimated this and had to swipe the applicator pad to remove the excess. The spread was a doddle... it just goes for miles.

*Sterling*
















This wax is off-white and very firm and grainy. I'd like to point out that this wax is from a previous batch. By the time I did this test, Dan already made a few improvements on the performance, texture and feel. The wax has a very light flourish scent, but it's very subtle. The texture is kinda grainy and firm and dry. Which is an interesting combination. It's harder then the Hybrid wax, which makes me categorize this as a 'hard' wax.










It's not very sticky. You can see by the hole it left behind, that it was hard to make a real dent in the surface. When making this photo I tried very hard to press all the waxes with the same pressure. After pressing once I took a photo of the hole my finger made and the mount of wax that was stuck to the top of my finger.










Buffing and spread wasn't perfect. It was a bit grabby when buffing and it the transfer to the pad wasn't impressive. I've bought commercial wax that was worse, but it was the worst of the 5. It did spread good, but the part I left to cake on was very grabby. I really had to rub it.

*How oily are they really?*
An easy way to test this, is by applying them to a sheet of paper. The more oily they are, the more transparent they'll make the paper look when looked at in the light. When you look at the paper without light from the back, you can tell how the coloring will stain the paper. Even the stripes it makes, can give you an impression on how smooth the texture really is.



































*Applying it for this test.*
To do this test I needed to be a bit creative. I'm doing another test for somebody else on the bonnet. And I didn't wanna do it on the roof (difficult with making pictures). So I decided to apply these wax to me boot.
After washing the car, the boot was clayed and got a slight polish with Poorboys Professional Polish.
5 parts of the boot where taped off, and the wax was laid out before applying.



































After applying all the wax, I did a swipe test on each wax and buffed them off with a clean cloth (1 cloth per wax). I left a small spot on the bottom to try out how it feels when you leave it on to long.

The wax applied in this order (from left to right)
*Blend UV - Blend CP - Hybrid - Synthetic - Sterling*










After buffing out all the wax it's time for the beading and sheeting video's.

Beading.

*Blend UV Batch 1*









*Blend CP Batch 7*









*Hybrid - 10/04/14*









*Synthetic - 10/04/14*









*Sterling*









Sheeting.

Sheeting was very good. No real difference between the 5 waxes. The real difference will be shown in the coming weeks.
I did all the wax in one video. Easier for me, and there wasn't much difference between the 5 anyway. It'll need a good 24 hours alone for all the oils to evaporate alone.






I would like to thank Dan and Jay again. Not only for the waxes they sent me, and the confidence they appear to have in me. But also for their hard work and dedication. It's thanks to people like this, that wax becomes better and better.

Thanks for reading. I will try to keep this topic updated.

1 week update:

Just washed the car.
Nothing special to report. It was a bit cloudy, about 12 degrees celsius air temp and roughly 18 degrees celsius surface temp.

Beading.
Blend UV








Blend CP








Hybrid








Synthetic








Sterling









Sheeting.





There is a good difference in the beading. While Obsession Wax seems to bead fine, the ODK wax seems to have lost quite a bit of it's beading. However, when we look at sheeting, Hybrid really stands out. It's still way to early to say anything about the performance, perhaps the ODK wax will stay this way and the Obsession Wax will deteriorate much quicker. Time will tell.

2nd week update:

Just washed the car.
It has been really bad weather for the last couple of days. Very rainy and they've been working on the street (replaced sewer and then re-paved the whole street) so there is sand everywhere....
My neighbors think I'm bonkers now, because I just washed the car in the rain. And when there was a dry 5 minutes, I rinsed the boot and did my test.

Beading.
Blend UV








Blend CP








Hybrid








Synthetic








Sterling









Sheeting.





Last week there was a big difference in the beading, this week it seems that the Obsession Wax has caught up with the ODK wax, and the ODK wax has been steady. Performing pretty much the same as last week.
To early to really tell anything from this, but beading and sheeting is (obviously) not as good as in the beginning. Very curious to see how they bead/sheet in a few weeks.

3rd week update:

Apologies for the late post. I did wash my car on Saturday and made pictures/video, but I was much to busy the last 2 days to post it online.

Washed the car, it was very sunny and a bit hot. The previous time I washed my car with Dodo BTBM, this time I had to use AF Lather because my BTBM was empty. I don't think this made any different.
The car had driven a bit more miles than the week before, and it was a very wet and rainy week.

Beading.
Blend UV








Blend CP








Hybrid








Synthetic








Sterling









Sheeting.





Still difficult to say. Some wax lost there beading very fast, but are staying fairly the same at the moment. Others kept their sheeting and are losing it more fast right now.

4th week update:

Got a chance to wash the car yesterday. Only just had time to upload the video. Beading and sheeting is pretty much the same as last week. It seems the beading/sheeting degrades quite quickly, but after that it remains stable. There is still some protection present.

Beading.
Blend UV








Blend CP








Hybrid








Synthetic








Sterling









Sheeting.





Sheeting hasn't changed much. The performance seems to be stable at the moment. You can see that the surface isn't clean and clear anymore. Small surface contaminants allow water to adhere more at certain places, causing drops of water to stay behind.
Perhaps the surface is to soft?
Wax is a sacrificial layer of protection, so it seems to be doing exactly that.

5th week update:

Just washed the car. Wax looks and performance still seem to be stable. No visual difference (dark spots, discoloration etc.)

Beading.
Blend UV








Blend CP








Hybrid








Synthetic








Sterling









Sheeting.





Everything still looks the same as last week. Hardly any (if all) difference noticeable between the 5 waxes. Apart from the fast sheeting.
When looking at the video, it takes approx. this long for the sheeting:
Blend UV +/- 13.7 seconds.
Blend CP +/- 14.9 seconds.
Hybrid +/- 8.2 seconds.
Synthetic +/- 13.4 seconds.
Sterling +/- 21 seconds.
Showing that Hybrid sheets better at the moment, but no real difference with beading. All wax seem to leave drops of water behind, caused by surface contaminants in the wax. If I would have to categories how much of these drops (or how big) are left behind, I would put them in this order:
Blend UV
Sterling
Blend CP
Synthetic
Hybrid
So, hybric seems to allow more surface contaminants even though it does sheet better. Blend CP which has fairly slow sheeting allows for less surface contaminants.

6th week update:

Washed the car yesterday. It was very cloudy, a little bit cold and it just finished raining. Perfect moment to wash the car.
It still looks fine. Sheeting is slow, beading is far gone, but there is still some protection left and there is no discoloration.

Beading.
Blend UV








Blend CP








Hybrid








Synthetic








Sterling









Sheeting.





Not much difference again. Which is a good thing. It doesn't seem to degrade as fast.

7th week update:

Not much to report. Beading is still pretty much the same and sheeting has very slightly gone down again (which is normal).
There is still protection present, but it's getting to the point where it should be removed and a new layer of wax need to be applied.

Beading.
Blend UV








Blend CP








Hybrid








Synthetic








Sterling









Sheeting.





Sheeting is a little bit slower again, but nothing out of the ordinary.

****** Look at page 2 for other updates. This post has become to long for the forum. (only 25000 characters allowed  ) ******
From post #16 and higher.


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## Obi- Dan Karnubi

Thanks Vinnie appreciate your time taken to do these reviews. Sterling is improved now and the production version is more oilier allowing better application and removal.


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## JayOW

Thanks a lot for your time and effort in doing these reviews.... I am sure I can speak for Dan here too in saying that would could not improve our blends without the help you and others give in testing these out... 

The CP blend is packed full of polymers and is designed to be durable.... The UV blend is designed more for single stage paints to offer UV protection but I am not prepared to say it does this withough proof... A single stage panel and a strong UV light is on order....

Thanks again Vinnie.


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## Guru

Nice another test.

Thanks for taking the effort and time to conduct this and share it. Looking forward to the updates.

Beading from UV and synthetic is not impressive BTW.


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## Mozzer1664

I'm already a fan of ODK's chocwork orange so can't wait to see the results of this!:thumb:


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## Obi- Dan Karnubi

Obsession Wax said:


> Thanks a lot for your time and effort in doing these reviews.... I am sure I can speak for Dan here too in saying that would could not improve our blends without the help you and others give in testing these out...
> 
> The CP blend is packed full of polymers and is designed to be durable.... The UV blend is designed more for single stage paints to offer UV protection but I am not prepared to say it does this withough proof... A single stage panel and a strong UV light is on order....
> 
> Thanks again Vinnie.


Totally agree with you Jay the last test helped me tweak these latest versions.



Guru said:


> Nice another test.
> 
> Thanks for taking the effort and time to conduct this and share it. Looking forward to the updates.
> 
> Beading from UV and synthetic is not impressive BTW.


Beading looks ok to me, imo the beading looks like its about to sheet off due to the size of the beads and how they look. But just my opinion.



Mozzer1664 said:


> I'm already a fan of ODK's chocwork orange so can't wait to see the results of this!:thumb:


Thakyou mate :thumb:


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## Bevvo

Great review and I'm sure it takes a lot of time to do a test and write up to that standard. Thanks for sharing this with us.


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## supervinnie40

Thanks everybody. I'm trying to not say to much about the beading and sheeting . I prefer people to make up their own opinion. I just present the facts, it's up to you all to decide what you think of it.

Next update is scheduled on Saturday's weekly wash. (posting it online on sunday probably, cause I've got a very long shift on Saturday evening  ).


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## supervinnie40

1 week update:

Just washed the car.
Nothing special to report. It was a bit cloudy, about 12 degrees celsius air temp and roughly 18 degrees celsius surface temp.

Beading.
Blend UV








Blend CP








Hybrid








Synthetic








Sterling









Sheeting.





There is a good difference in the beading. While Obsession Wax seems to bead fine, the ODK wax seems to have lost quite a bit of it's beading. However, when we look at sheeting, Hybrid really stands out. It's still way to early to say anything about the performance, perhaps the ODK wax will stay this way and the Obsession Wax will deteriorate much quicker. Time will tell.


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## supervinnie40

2nd week update:

Just washed the car.
It has been really bad weather for the last couple of days. Very rainy and they've been working on the street (replaced sewer and then re-paved the whole street) so there is sand everywhere....
My neighbors think I'm bonkers now, because I just washed the car in the rain. And when there was a dry 5 minutes, I rinsed the boot and did my test.

Beading.
Blend UV








Blend CP








Hybrid








Synthetic








Sterling









Sheeting.





Last week there was a big difference in the beading, this week it seems that the Obsession Wax has caught up with the ODK wax, and the ODK wax has been steady. Performing pretty much the same as last week.
To early to really tell anything from this, but beading and sheeting is (obviously) not as good as in the beginning. Very curious to see how they bead/sheet in a few weeks.


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## supervinnie40

3rd week update:

Apologies for the late post. I did wash my car on Saturday and made pictures/video, but I was much to busy the last 2 days to post it online.

Washed the car, it was very sunny and a bit hot. The previous time I washed my car with Dodo BTBM, this time I had to use AF Lather because my BTBM was empty. I don't think this made any different.
The car had driven a bit more miles than the week before, and it was a very wet and rainy week.

Beading.
Blend UV








Blend CP








Hybrid








Synthetic








Sterling









Sheeting.





Still difficult to say. Some wax lost there beading very fast, but are staying fairly the same at the moment. Others kept their sheeting and are losing it more fast right now.


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## supervinnie40

4th week update:

Got a chance to wash the car yesterday. Only just had time to upload the video. Beading and sheeting is pretty much the same as last week. It seems the beading/sheeting degrades quite quickly, but after that it remains stable. There is still some protection present.

Beading.
Blend UV








Blend CP








Hybrid








Synthetic








Sterling









Sheeting.





Sheeting hasn't changed much. The performance seems to be stable at the moment. You can see that the surface isn't clean and clear anymore. Small surface contaminants allow water to adhere more at certain places, causing drops of water to stay behind.
Perhaps the surface is to soft?
Wax is a sacrificial layer of protection, so it seems to be doing exactly that.


----------



## supervinnie40

5th week update:

Just washed the car. Wax looks and performance still seem to be stable. No visual difference (dark spots, discoloration etc.)

Beading.
Blend UV








Blend CP








Hybrid








Synthetic








Sterling









Sheeting.





Everything still looks the same as last week. Hardly any (if all) difference noticeable between the 5 waxes. Apart from the fast sheeting.
When looking at the video, it takes approx. this long for the sheeting:
Blend UV +/- 13.7 seconds.
Blend CP +/- 14.9 seconds.
Hybrid +/- 8.2 seconds.
Synthetic +/- 13.4 seconds.
Sterling +/- 21 seconds.
Showing that Hybrid sheets better at the moment, but no real difference with beading. All wax seem to leave drops of water behind, caused by surface contaminants in the wax. If I would have to categories how much of these drops (or how big) are left behind, I would put them in this order:
Blend UV
Sterling
Blend CP
Synthetic
Hybrid
So, hybric seems to allow more surface contaminants even though it does sheet better. Blend CP which has fairly slow sheeting allows for less surface contaminants.


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## supervinnie40

6th week update:

Washed the car yesterday. It was very cloudy, a little bit cold and it just finished raining. Perfect moment to wash the car.
It still looks fine. Sheeting is slow, beading is far gone, but there is still some protection left and there is no discoloration.

Beading.
Blend UV








Blend CP








Hybrid








Synthetic








Sterling









Sheeting.





Not much difference again. Which is a good thing. It doesn't seem to degrade as fast.


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## supervinnie40

7th week update:

Not much to report. Beading is still pretty much the same and sheeting has very slightly gone down again (which is normal).
There is still protection present, but it's getting to the point where it should be removed and a new layer of wax need to be applied.

Beading.
Blend UV








Blend CP








Hybrid








Synthetic








Sterling









Sheeting.





Sheeting is a little bit slower again, but nothing out of the ordinary.


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## supervinnie40

8th week update:

*A little apology from my side. I'm currently doing 2 jobs, and when both jobs need me at the same time I end up doing 4 or 5 days in a row double shifts. From Friday to now (Tuesday) I did roughly 70 hours (not counting commute to and from work). So although the car was washed on Saturday, I only now have the time to update this topic .

Not much has changed really. The sheeting has become a little bit slower again, but the beading from all is pretty much the same. The wax appears to be holding up, but it is still running on its last legs. I would very much recommend removing the layer of wax and re-applying it. The sheeting is so slow that there is a good chance of rain not running of the car quick enough. It could actually dry up before it sheeting off. The beads are flat, with means that the light inside the drop isn't as focused on a single point and that the overall surface has increased (same volume but bigger ground area and less high=increased surface size), which means that the drop will evaporate more quickly. This doesn't have to be a bad thing, but could result in increased risk of water spots and the dirt inside the water won't run off. I.e. the paint will probably get dirtier more quickly.

Beading.
Blend UV








Blend CP








Hybrid








Synthetic








Sterling









Sheeting.





Sheeting is a little bit slower again, but nothing out of the ordinary.


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## supervinnie40

9th week update:

Washed the car, not much news to mention. Performance is still pretty much the same.

Beading.
Blend UV








Blend CP








Hybrid








Synthetic








Sterling









Sheeting.


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## supervinnie40

I'm gonna have to call this one.
I got back from a holiday a few days ago, and the car hasn't been washed for a good 2 weeks. The car has been parked underneath trees, in carparks, has driven about 950km and has seen quite a bit of rain and muddy roads.

Safe to say: it's gone.... no protection anywhere anymore .
Even the DLUX on the wheels took a serious beating and is going to be re-applied.
The wax on the bootlid in this test is just completely gone, not a trace left.
So I'm gonna clay the car, give it a light polish and then have a play with some other products I've been wanting to test.

Nontheless, the products in this test have lasted for over 9 weeks and have performed as expected. In general I would say that Obi-Dan Karnubi tends to sheet better for longer, but Obsession Wax beads better for longer. The difference in showable surface contaminants is small. I would say that Obsession Wax performs slightly better in this field, but the difference is hardly noticable.

Overall it's hard to say which one is better. Some bead better, other sheet better, other have less surface contaminants and others kept their sheeting going for longer (before radically going downhill).

Regarding looks, there is no visible difference. I have looked of the bootlid many, many times the last 12 weeks, and I haven't been able to spot any visible difference. If you would use a refractometer (measure the amount of shine), I'm sure you would find several different values. But these values are way to small to see with the naked eye.

Again, thanks for Jay and Dan for sending me samples. I hope this has given some information about the performance of the wax.


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## JayOW

Thanks very much for your review again. As always much appreciated. I am sure we can send you some more products when your free to test again ;-) 

Thanks again.


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## supervinnie40

I'm often free  I'm sure there is at least 1 panel somewhere that isn't being used for some kind of test haha .


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