# My homemade wax experience



## kev a

Apologies for posting in the wrong section earlier, wasn't concentrating.

I thought I would share some of my experiences of trying to make my own homemade wax over the summer. 
After reading some posts on here mainly from "Rubbishboy" and "The Bouncer" I thought I would have a go at making my own little mix just for a bit of fun, and also to learn a little bit more about what goes into making a car wax.

So first off I ordered some ingredients of the web and decided to start with a very basic recipe, based loosely on a woodworking wax.

A few days later I had some Carnauba, Bees wax, turpentine and linseed oil and decided to give it a go.

I decided to put the ingredients into a measuring jug all together in a saucepan full of water just on the boil and allow the mix to melt slowly.
All the ingredients mixed together.










Starting to melt on the hob










Mix no 1 contained roughly

10% Caranuba Wax
10% Bees Wax
35% Turpentine
45% linseed oil

Left to cool in a warm oven










Heres how my first attempt turned out.










If im honest this attempt was pretty poor, fairly hard and didn't melt very easily.
Also a bit sticky on application and also smelled very strongly of turps, also when buffing off it was very grabby and didn't seem to be coming off cleanly. However it did provide some protection and some beading was apparent.
Heres a pick of the first batch applied on a spare door, "wax is on the left hand side"










For the second attempt I decided to add a little more solvent and a little bit more Caranuba to try and overcome the stickyness problem, this mix also used coconut oil and some aromatherapy orange sent to overcome the smell of turps.

The Ingredients










Used the same sort of process as before. The Mix:

20% Caranuba 
5% Bees Wax
10% Linseed oil
40% Turpentine
24% coconut Oil
1% few drops of the orange oil.










This one wasn't as hard to apply, but still not easy by any means.
Curing times were a little improved but still very grabby while buffing and the consistency still didn't resemble any kind of off the shelf wax I have seen. Also the Orange oil did little to supress the smell of turps and it still smelled quite strongly, which I found unpleasant.

There were a few variations on this recipe that I tried along with different combinations of ingredients, however none of these were particularly successful and I don't want to bore everyone with a long list of concoctions
that didn't really produce any sort of wax that could be used in the real world so I will skip them and move on to the recipe that I eventually found to produce a useable wax.

For the most successful wax I managed to produce the Turpentine was replaced with some other solvents.
The first one being low odour white spirit and the second being Naphtha,
I couldn't find any of this locally but a search on Google showed that auto glym tar remover contains quite a large amount of it.
So I used this instead, I had also been mooching around the house and found some paraffin wax, so I decided to add some of this into the mix to replace some of the beeswax that had been making the wax sticky to apply.

Anyway brewed in the same way as before and left to cool in a warm oven this mix contained roughly:

20% Carnauba Wax
6% Paraffin Wax
4% Bees Wax
20% Low odour white spirit
10% Auto Glym intensive tar remover
35% Coconut oil
4% Vegetable Oil
1% Orange Oil

Shot of the wax poured, Ignore the tin, my mum started getting funny about me using her cake trays so I used an old wax pot.










This mix turned out fairly oily to touch however smelled much better with a nice orange smell,
It is a lot softer than the others and spreads fairly evenly with a small amount
going a long way, and with a high oil content the cloth doesn't drag across the paint.
If left for 5 - 10 mins it does seem to start to cure, although still needs a bit of effort to get off, the finish however leaves a nice shine. And its not exactly a one swipe process.

The test car My GFs mk4 Fiesta…

Wax applied waiting to cure….










Buffed after 10 mins or so….










A little pic of sheeting…..










Close up pic of beading…..










Anyway that's basically as far as I got I did try slightly different ratios of the ingredients and did manage to find a recipe that cured a little faster but lost the smooth feeling upon application so I think on reflection this was my most successful attempt.

On the whole I had a lot of fun with my experiments and learned a little about what goes into wax.

It has definitely made me appreciate the work it must take to start from scratch and bring a wax to market, and hats off to anyone who has done this.
What I managed to produce is never going to rival the finish and ease of application of some waxes available but it's a nice feeling to have a wax in my collection that I made myself.


----------



## TheKeano

2nd attempt looks pretty good to me, got a good shine and some decent beading going there. How much do you think a pot cost you to make?


----------



## kev a

TheKeano said:


> 2nd attempt looks pretty good to me, got a good shine and some decent beading going there. How much do you think a pot cost you to make?


not really worked it out exactly but the ingredients cost about £60 ish so depending on the size of the pots between £3-£6


----------



## TheKeano

Expensive test then! But looks quite fun and interesting to do learning bout how different ingredients affect its texture etc


----------



## kev a

TheKeano said:


> Expensive test then! But looks quite fun and interesting to do learning bout how different ingredients affect its texture etc


It was expensive, but very enjoyable at the same time, the thing that supprised me the most is how there is a finite amount of carnauba you can get in 20% is as high as I could get, up to 22% and the wax was pretty much ruined


----------



## The_Bouncer

Good going :thumb: - good set of initial ingredients and now you are finding how it all works and goes together and quite nice results from the pics. 

It's so rewarding to make something very personal, very good so far.

This is where it all gets kinda interesting and the research starts :wave:

Good luck, I'm gonna follow this thread


----------



## Dodo Factory

Well done... a really sensible and pragmatic approach and some decent early stage results.


----------



## kev a

The_Bouncer said:


> Good going :thumb: - good set of initial ingredients and now you are finding how it all works and goes together and quite nice results from the pics.
> 
> It's so rewarding to make something very personal, very good so far.
> 
> This is where it all gets kinda interesting and the research starts :wave:
> 
> Good luck, I'm gonna follow this thread


Thanks very much,

I must say I am full of admiration for you, getting as far as you have in starting from scratch and getting a wax to market must have been a massive investment in time and money.
I know im never going to be able to make a "great" wax (havent got the time or money) but even making a useable wax is very rewarding.


----------



## kev a

Dodo Factory said:


> Well done... a really sensible and pragmatic approach and some decent early stage results.


It was a real step by step process for me, I did try and alter the ratios gradually so I could see what was improving and what wasnt, rather than just changing every batch and hoping for the best.
The main problem really for me was for each benefit ie adding more oils to aid spreading has a negative affect, slower curing times, so it is a real balancing act to get something half useable.


----------



## The_Bouncer

kev a said:


> It was a real step by step process for me, I did try and alter the ratios gradually so I could see what was improving and what wasnt, rather than just changing every batch and hoping for the best.
> The main problem really for me was for each benefit ie adding more oils to aid spreading has a negative affect, slower curing times, so it is a real balancing act to get something half useable.


Very good approach :thumb: it is certainly a fine balance, and at the same time trying to get it all useable and functional.

great fun - wait until its silly o clock in the morning and your brain cant sleep :lol:


----------



## rubbishboy

Oven! :doublesho Braver man then me.  Looks like a good attempt though.


----------



## JakeWhite

Very good results for early attempts! I'm wanting to try homebrew waxes now to see how they perform  very good mate.


----------



## kev a

rubbishboy said:


> Oven! :doublesho Braver man then me.  Looks like a good attempt though.


I have to admit I was a bit worried the first time I tried cooling in the oven  although I only heated it up to about 50 degrees and turned it off before I put the wax in there, I was trying to make the wax cool very slowly to stop it cracking.


----------



## kev a

Found a couple more pics I took of the wax once buffed off,

Heres one of the sheeting










Heres a couple of reflection shots.


----------



## kev a

I have been thinking of creating a new batch and adding a little IPA into the mix, mainly because of the fast evaporation, I dont want to add too much though because of the strong chemical smell Im also thinking of lowering the wax content slightly to aid buffing and to make the wax more spreadable, so I was thinking of:

15% Carnauba Wax
6% Paraffin Wax
4% Bees Wax
20% Low odour white spirit
10% Auto Glym intensive tar remover
5% IPA
35% Coconut oil
4% Vegetable Oil
1% Orange Oil

Although Im worried about the solvent content being high, does anyone think a solvent content of 35% would be too much?


----------



## -Raven-

Good luck with it mate! 

It's great reading these threads, I think we all learn a bit here and there from other peoples experiences. Keep at it, seems you getting good results already!


----------



## The_Bouncer

kev a said:


> I have been thinking of creating a new batch and adding a little IPA into the mix, mainly because of the fast evaporation, I dont want to add too much though because of the strong chemical smell Im also thinking of lowering the wax content slightly to aid buffing and to make the wax more spreadable, so I was thinking of:
> 
> 15% Carnauba Wax
> 6% Paraffin Wax
> 4% Bees Wax
> 20% Low odour white spirit
> 10% Auto Glym intensive tar remover
> 5% IPA
> 35% Coconut oil
> 4% Vegetable Oil
> 1% Orange Oil
> 
> Although Im worried about the solvent content being high, does anyone think a solvent content of 35% would be too much?


Good work Kev, I see your looking at a few things here :thumb: Coconut oil will add 'gloss' to the wax and is a great assister to the outcome but I found too much and the wax becomes greasy and hard to remove so it's a case of mixing batches, testing, mixing and when you have done that mix and test some more :lol:

Write a list of what it is exact you want to the wax to do/perfom & testing each batch will show the answers to your questions. I found I had a useable to a degree ish wax early on but it didn't tick all my boxes. it depends on how harsh you want to be with yourself oh and research... :lol: Sometimes I found myself in corners of the internet I never thought existed looking for things. Wikipedia is your friend on a lot of ingredients :thumb:. Trying to get hold of some of them is a different matter..... I tried some Iso Amyl Acetate which itself is a solvent/fragrancer > this smells of Pear Drop, actually the same as the sweeties. Works very well in masking any other chemical smells. Only thing with that was I could only find a chemical company in Germany to purchase it in a small enough qty for my testing ( 500ml ) ok it cost 12 Euros but the shipping cost was 40 Euros on top as it had to be road shipped.. Worked ok but too expensive for what I was trying to do.

Gonna keep checking in, see how your doing. Good Luck :thumb:


----------



## kev a

Thanks for the encouragement It is good fun, although I do feel my progress has slowed down.

Up to now each change seemed to improve the wax but now it really is slowing down with each change either improving very slightly or making other areas worse.
I guess my aim now is to make the wax more useable. 
It does kind of work as a wax, protect/bead etc so I really want to improve application and also curing times, before I get into improving durability/wax performance.
My next steps are to make the curing faster (hopefully IPA will speed it up a bit) and to make it oily while spreading but not so much that it becomes too greasy to buff off.
I was thinking about the possibility of using polysorbate as an emulsifier and adding a bit of water into the mix.
But that really will complicate things and I don’t want to run before I can walk.


----------



## -Raven-

kev a said:


> I was thinking about the possibility of using polysorbate as an emulsifier and adding a bit of water into the mix.
> But that really will complicate things and I don't want to run before I can walk.


I think it was in the rubbishboy thread, seemed a bit of a red herring. It has been a while since reading that thread though, but I'm sure the info was on there how to do it.


----------



## kev a

Done another little batch at lunch time, couldnt find the white spirit anywhere so had to make do with more IPA than I had intended,

15% Carnauba Wax
6% Paraffin Wax
4% Bees Wax
20% Auto Glym intensive tar remover
15% IPA
35% Coconut oil
4% Vegetable Oil
1% Red candle colouring
Few splashes of peppermint essence 

Now cooling in the kitchen, will get some pics up later on when I get home


----------



## Adrian Convery

Interested in this high spirited one, am I right in thinking that this could cleanse the paint upon application of the wax then during curing time it will bond better?

Get some pics up of the latest batch on a car and best of luck with creating your own wax.


----------



## kev a

Thats an interesting point, I guess it would clense the paint to a certan extent, but probably no more than most other waxes. 
I would guess any cleanser needs a combination of cleaners and rubbing to remove all the previous layers. 
Although 35% of solvents has gone into the wax much of it evaporates in the heating and cooling process.


----------



## kev a

Sorry for the delay in updating, have been busy over christmas.

Have been experimenting with a couple more batches.

The one on the left is another mineral spirits based experimet and is fairly similar to the others.

The other 2 are some emulsions I have been playing with. The yellow one contains roughly 50% water and the blue one contains roughly 75%.
They do smell much better that the spirits based waxes.

Initially I was trying to produce a hard wax but I seem to have made softer waxes by mistakes.










Here is the consistancy of the 3 waxes




























The blue one is the softest of the three, and is kind creamy the yellow one is a little harder and more like a soft marge, the orange one is more like a traditional hard wax.

Now to give them a test, I had prepped the bonnet of the Korean Mercedes with IPA mixed with water to make sure all previous wax layers had gone.

I started to test the blue softer wax first. Foam applicator primed with wax.










Applied to the left side of bonnet waiting to cure.










Started to work the right hand side with the yellow wax. Other side of applicator primed and ready to go.










Applied to the right and side, waiting to cure.



















Starting to buff off, one swipe removed the majority of the residue.










Starting to buff the other side again one swipe removed the majority of the left over wax.










Blue wax fully buffed off.










Right hand side bfully buffed off.










Pic showing shine.










Sheeting in action.
































































Pics of beading.










Beading of blue wax










Beading of yellow wax










Center of the bonet is still waxed with Colli 476 as a control section










Anyway thats about it, im pretty pleased with the performance and there quite pleasing to use, this is the first batch that I really enjoyed using.

Thanks for reading.


----------



## Serapth

Liking the look of the blue wax mate, let us know how it holds up


----------



## The_Bouncer

Interesting results there Kev, Liking the look of the blue one as well, and the consistency of it.

:thumb:


----------



## polt

yeah liking this Kev, great work so far and interesting as i think someone was asking about homebrew liquid wax - would be interesting to see if using machine would provide tighter beading. 
fantastic work will be keeping an eye out for this thread.

Admin/Mods any chance of making a homebrew development section as there is alot of these threads on the go at the mo.


----------



## alex65

it's the first water based wax 

Hight level test. Are you chemist ?


----------



## kev a

Thanks for the comments guys,
Once the drissle started later on the beading did get tighter than in the pics I took when using the hose pipe but I am tempted to try applying with a DA to see I can get it any better. Im sure it would be possible to make a liquid wax, the blue one is very soft and im sure you could add more water, although my concern with that would be the wax and water seperating.
I think out of the 3 shown (Id did make more but the others didnt really work) the yellow one was my favorite, mainly because it contains only water as a solvent, and smells quite nice as a result. It also has a higher wax content so the sheeting seemed ever so slightly faster.
The main problem with making the emulsion waxes is keeping the mix moving while cooling so it dosent seperate. I had to leave them to cool on top of a record player.


----------



## polt

As I said before looks both emulsified waxes look great, wonder what they're performance is like on alloys would be great to road test them, yellow on one and blue on the other front wheels. 
Great work regardless, i've been thinking since i read bouncers thread about trying homebrewing and experimenting, just dunno if wax is what i want to try. i've subscribed as there are about 3-4 threads ongoing at the mo and all look interesting and doing a great job.


----------



## kev a

Thanks very much, good Idea that about trying them out on the wheels, would definitly be a good test of durability.

Would love to see someone try making a sealant of some kind, would have no idea how to go about it myself.


----------



## craigeh123

amazing work , ive always wondered how car waxes are made up and looking at yours bouncers and rubbish boys very interesting to see how it all works


----------



## thunderpantz

A very interesting read! I would love to try something like this myself!


----------



## koolaid_guy

very interesting, give a good in site into how wax is made


----------



## kev a

Thanks guys, would be interested to see what other people think of it, i can do a couple of samples if people are interested.


----------



## Lupostef

I'd happily trail it and do a write up for you mate


----------



## kev a

Sounds good, If you send me a PM with your address I will make up a batch and send you some out asap.


----------



## Lupostef

PM sent mate :thumb:


----------



## kev a

Gave the car a wash today and checked how the wax is performing, and im a bit dissapointed. The shine is still there but the sheeting has really started to to slow down, it is still happening but no where as fast as I would have expected, taking around 40-50 seconds for the water to run off.
Its still beading so its still there im as a bit of a loss to what has happened.
I wasnt expecting great durability but I was getting 4-6 weeks out of the solvent based waxes and was hoping for at least 2-3 weeks and its only been a week


----------



## polt

Don't despair Kev, as you know all about trial and error till as bouncers say's it ticks all yer boxes.


----------



## insanejim69

Def following this thread. Great that your trying this whole experience out  

If its any help ......... I'd be interested in a sample and trialing it for you. ? Picked up my new car last week, and wouldn't mind trying something different on her to see how, shine, ease of application, ease of removal and durability work up in (not so) sunny Scotland   (p.s. I'd easy put some ££ towards the sample)  

James


----------



## Lupostef

Recieved the testers today mate, working nights next week so should get plenty of time for testing weather permitted, watch out for a write up .


----------



## kev a

insanejim69 said:


> Def following this thread. Great that your trying this whole experience out
> 
> If its any help ......... I'd be interested in a sample and trialing it for you. ? Picked up my new car last week, and wouldn't mind trying something different on her to see how, shine, ease of application, ease of removal and durability work up in (not so) sunny Scotland   (p.s. I'd easy put some ££ towards the sample)
> 
> James


Thanks very much,

I have some Ideas of how to increase the durability and have some more ingredients on order so when they arrive I will try out a new batch and send you a sample, dont worry about the money, its you guys doing me a favour testing them so I dont want any money.


----------



## insanejim69

Many thanks 

James


----------



## kev a

Lupostef said:


> Recieved the testers today mate, working nights next week so should get plenty of time for testing weather permitted, watch out for a write up .


Sweet, interested in how you find the durability, the sheeting on my car slowerd down alot after a week, which I find strange as it was still beading, now im wondering if I did something wrong, so intereste on how you find it.
Got a few ideas of how to improve it though, just waiting for some new ingredients to arrive.


----------



## rapidTS

do you test a wax with water ? 

I've read somewhere ( I think it was ben from rubbish boys ) that adding water is not a good thing.


----------



## kev a

Its definitly much harder to do thats for sure, but it does make it smell/spread more easily, and its much nicer to make with no horrible smelly fumes. Im starting to think that it definitly needs some solvents in the mix too tho.


----------



## polt

kev a said:


> Its definitly much harder to do thats for sure, but it does make it smell/spread more easily, and its much nicer to make with no horrible smelly fumes. Im starting to think that it definitly needs some solvents in the mix too tho.


c'mon Kev get making a collinite competeing wax  and don't worry too much about seperation as collies is known for that too:thumb:


----------



## kev a

After reading up on some msds sheets from wax makers it seems I may have been a bit concervative with the amount of solvents I have been using, Im thinking of trying this when I get home just to see how it goes:

25% LO White spirit
25% Naptha
30% Carnauba
10% Parafin Wax
8% Coconut oil
2% Sunflower Oil


----------



## kev a

Well last night I had a go at making some high solvent wax to see what it was like and this is what I came up with

25% Naptha
25% Low Odour White spirit
25% Carnauba
12.5% Parafin wax
10% Coconut wax
2.5% Sunflower oil

And here it is:










Dosent look too bad, feels similar to Colli 476 but has a very strong chemical smell.

At lunch today I gave it a go on the car. It spreads fairly easily and cures quite quickly, after 5 mins it was ready to buff off. I didnt have much time so I only took a couple of pics but here are the results.

The high solvent wax applied to the right hand third of the bonnet, The middle and left hand side has DJ Hard candy that was applied at the weekend.










Beading of left hand side with DJ HC:










Beading pic of my high solvent wax:










Im quite pleased with the results of this high solvent wax, it applied easily, buffed off wthout too much trouble (although I suspect if left to cure for too long it could become a pain) the main problem I have with with it though is the smell as it really is quite strong.


----------



## Serapth

Looks good mate


----------



## polt

looks great mate, what scent you after ??

after all the main thing is to get the wax doing everything you want from it then concern yourself with what scent and colour - although colour looks sweet - Tablet/fudge colour.

here's a link someone posted for fragrance - try that with your mix and see what it does to your tick boxes of what you want it to be like.
http://www.4candles.co.uk/scent/candle_making_fragrance.html


----------



## scratcher

The latest batch is looking good buddy! 

The custard sample arrived today. I like the smell, it looks like it'll be nice and easy to use. I've got one or two cars to try it out on saturday


----------



## kev a

polt said:


> looks great mate, what scent you after ??
> 
> after all the main thing is to get the wax doing everything you want from it then concern yourself with what scent and colour - although colour looks sweet - Tablet/fudge colour.
> 
> here's a link someone posted for fragrance - try that with your mix and see what it does to your tick boxes of what you want it to be like.
> http://www.4candles.co.uk/scent/candle_making_fragrance.html


Cheers for the link buddy, I like the sound of the bubble gum and the bananna scents 

I have some Ethyl Acitate on the way so im hoping to replace the Naptha with that as the smell should be a bit nicer (fruity smell apparently)


----------



## kev a

scratcher said:


> The latest batch is looking good buddy!
> 
> The custard sample arrived today. I like the smell, it looks like it'll be nice and easy to use. I've got one or two cars to try it out on saturday


Cool, it spreads nice and easily, buffing off isnt too bad, although it takes a while to cure because of the lack of solvents. See how you get on with durability, the sheeting started to slow after a week on mine but then again I didnt leave it to cure for very long and perhaps I was a bit over enthusiastic with the snow foam :lol:


----------



## Lupostef

Did the testing today and got aload of pictures, will post the write up tomorrow .


----------



## kev a

Sweet how did you find it?


----------



## angelw

Watch out when using Ethyl Acetate,it is a highly flamable solvent and evaporates really fast,not generally much use if making products that get hot during manufacture as you will loose most of it.your solvent blend isn`t to bad.
aim for fragrance oils to odour your wax.


----------



## Lupostef

kev a said:


> Sweet how did you find it?


I'll do the write up within the next hour . Very impressed with the blue softer wax


----------



## rapidTS

kev a said:


> Well last night I had a go at making some high solvent wax to see what it was like and this is what I came up with
> 
> 25% Naptha
> 25% Low Odour White spirit
> 25% Carnauba
> 12.5% Parafin wax
> 10% Coconut wax
> 2.5% Sunflower oil


Is it coconut oil or coconut wax ?

very very good 50/50.


----------



## kev a

Coconut oil sorry wasnt thinking


----------



## jebus

This is really impressive stuff to see, do think that i will give it a go myself one day, just for the fun of it. will keep reading this!


----------



## Lupostef

*Wax Trail *

Finally got round to testing out 2 of the wax's yesterday that "Kev A" sent me.
Have given these what i think to be the fairest test possible.
Initial thoughts of the wax's both looked to be of a good consistancy and smelt fairly decent aswell. Good job :thumb:

*Yellow wax*










This wax is what I'd describe as medium consistancy and felt pliable on the first test major test (the finger stab) :lol: Smelt fairly good aswell like chocolate orange :thumb:

*Blue wax*










This wax was alot softer in texture, couldn't quite put my finger on the smell wasn't good or bad if I'm honest.

*Dodo Juice Hard Candy*










This was the wax that me and Kev decied to use with in the test to see how it compared up against a well renound produced and retailed wax. Hard consistancy and smells like candy floss. (Not by any means expecting the trial wax's to beat or come close to this).

*Products used*

















*Preperation*

Used my Nan's Saxo in order to do this test :lol: Not as a dummy just because mine is white and wouldn't be a fair test to see proper results :thumb: (what i told her anyway) :lol: 
Car is 12 years old and only seen 14,000 miles :lol: but looks as if its never been washed with anything other than a scouring pad and fairy liquid!!

Soooo.. thought it would only be fair to get the best surface possible for the wax to sit on without gloss enhancers such as a glaze, so did a bit of correction to remove scratches and swirls etc using "DJ Buff Daddy" and "Megs MF correction compound" quickly finished down with megs 205.
Should have taken some before shots and 50/50's as it came up really well!!!
This is what i was left with to lay down the wax's










Divided the bonnet into 3 even sections with masking tape as seperate test areas.










*Application*

First on was the *Yellow* wax. Initially thought this was going to be the better of the two wax's. Was very hard to apply felt grabby and the wax seemed to crumble on instead of spread smooth and evenly, damped the applicator slightly and this did aid to help with application.

Second was the *Blue* wax. Very easy to apply, spread nicely and very easily with an even coverage was very impressed used little product and covered the section with ease :thumb:









*Curing*

Picture of all 3 wax's applied and curing










The *Yellow* wax cured very quickly, left for around 5 minutes, gave it the swipe test to make sure and then buffed off, was quite tough and grabby to remove similar to Colli 476 when its left on too long which I'm sure everyone has done at some point. But came off none the less and did add some gloss to the finish :thumb:

The *Blue* wax took abit longer to cure properly as it was of a softer consistancy and some what wetter. Left it for around half hour before removing, came off like a dream litterally 90% removed per swipe with a MF. Added a lot of gloss and shine to the finish for a wax, yet again very impressed  :thumb:

In comparison to the DJ Hard Candy there was not alot of visual difference in the 3 wax's although i belive that the *Blue* wax had the slight edge on DJ  this is not the aim for a wax I know but my god i was shoced!!!!

Hard to campture these results by picture especially when theres a lack of decent light 









*Sheeting test*

First test I opted for after removing the wax's was the sheeting test.

Used a jug of water and tipped it liberally over each test section heres a picture of the results.










Hard to capture the water action with a picture should have got a video really but hey ho.. 
Dodo obviously being the winner in this test.
Both seemed to sheet the water fairly well but once again the *Blue* wax winning this in my eyes as it did sheet slightly better in my eyes.

*Beading*

Test areas all dried again ready for the beading test. Used a Dodo Juice Spritz bottle for this. 









Taken individual pictures of the beading here with the products clearly in view.

*Dodo*









*Yellow*









*Blue*









Obviously Dodo beading nicely.

Both did the job on beading, however neither giving nice tall, seperate beads like you would expect to get from a production wax.

*Blue wax* yet again wins this for me :thumb: as i was spraying the test area with water you could see the water particles seperating and joing together making larger beads :thumb: reacted just like the Dodo Juice HC :thumb:

*Conclusion*

Have given both these wax's what i consider to be the fairest test possible, in the words of Kev "If they're  don't be affraid to say so" :lol: 
They are far from this mate I'd be chuffed with what has been produced here :thumb: 
Think the *Yellow* wax could do with a bit of work as on first impression I thought this would be the better of the two. 
How wrong could I have been not sayin its bad by any means, but I was so impressed with the results of the *Blue* wax. . 
The ease of use was rediculous and the shine it added to the paint was amazing, and certainly repelled water very nicely. Depending on the duration of the durability i would actually use this as an LSP on my own car .

Will be monitoring the durability of both wax's and take some snaps of how they are performing in the next few weeks.

Top work to Kev, hope i haven't missed anything out :lol:

Regards 
Stef.


----------



## kev a

Thanks for that mate a great test, Im working on a slightly different formula which has better water behaviour, can send you another pot of it when its ready if your up for it, Iv got the colour and consistansy just working on the smell


----------



## Lupostef

kev a said:


> Thanks for that mate a great test, Im working on a slightly different formula which has better water behaviour, can send you another pot of it when its ready if your up for it, Iv got the colour and consistansy just working on the smell


No worries, hope I covered everything you needed, be interested to see how other tests went if they Share my views or say different? Yes mate be happy to I've another test a whirl :thumb:


----------



## kev a

sweet, the next one dosent contain any water its purley solvent/wax/oil based, its more of a traditional hard wax, so far the tests I have done it seems to work pretty well, just need to make the smell nicer as at the moment its got a kind of chemical smell, im after a nice citrus lime smell.


----------



## Lupostef

Ok mate let me know the crack :thumb:


----------



## Serapth

kev a said:


> sweet, the next one dosent contain any water its purley solvent/wax/oil based, its more of a traditional hard wax, so far the tests I have done it seems to work pretty well, just need to make the smell nicer as at the moment its got a kind of chemical smell, im after a nice citrus lime smell.


Limonene will give you that scent,plus its a cracking solvent too


----------



## prokopas

I'm impressed


----------



## kev a

Serapth said:


> Limonene will give you that scent,plus its a cracking solvent too


Cool cheers for that might get some on order and give it a try


----------



## kev a

Well I made another batch yesterday, using a different formula and gave it a quick test at lunch time, and to say im pleased with it is an understatement.
On first impression it smells quite nice with a fruity citrus scent, seems to go on easily and moving the pad across the pannel was smooth and getting nice flowing strokes was easy. Curing time was also pretty quick and after 5 mins it was ready to come off, although I left it 10 just to be sure.
The only slight downside I could see was areas with alot of wax applied (really loaded up the pad on one area just to see) was a bit sticky to remove but areas with a nice thin coat came off no problem, about 3-4 swipes and it was all off without the cloth sticking and jumping across the paint.
after buffing off It left a rich pleasing shine with sharp reflections and definitly added some depth to the paint. I tested the sheeting and it seemed to sheet pretty fast and cleanly leaving only a few water droplets behind.
The beading was also quite impressive, with nice even vertical beads.
Im really happy with the results of this one and honestly think it can rival some retail waxes for finish and water beading/sheeting.

I will get some pics up when I get home as long as the telecoms man has managed to fix my internet.


----------



## Lupostef

kev a said:


> Well I made another batch yesterday, using a different formula and gave it a quick test at lunch time, and to say im pleased with it is an understatement.
> On first impression it smells quite nice with a fruity citrus scent, seems to go on easily and moving the pad across the pannel was smooth and getting nice flowing strokes was easy. Curing time was also pretty quick and after 5 mins it was ready to come off, although I left it 10 just to be sure.
> The only slight downside I could see was areas with alot of wax applied (really loaded up the pad on one area just to see) was a bit sticky to remove but areas with a nice thin coat came off no problem, about 3-4 swipes and it was all off without the cloth sticking and jumping across the paint.
> after buffing off It left a rich pleasing shine with sharp reflections and definitly added some depth to the paint. I tested the sheeting and it seemed to sheet pretty fast and cleanly leaving only a few water droplets behind.
> The beading was also quite impressive, with nice even vertical beads.
> Im really happy with the results of this one and honestly think it can rival some retail waxes for finish and water beading/sheeting.
> 
> I will get some pics up when I get home as long as the telecoms man has managed to fix my internet.


Send me a tester .


----------



## polt

good stuff Kev by the sounds of it - you have ticked all your boxes and are satisfied with the wax.

look forward to seeing the photo's and the wax.


----------



## kev a

polt said:


> good stuff Kev by the sounds of it - you have ticked all your boxes and are satisfied with the wax.
> 
> look forward to seeing the photo's and the wax.


Cheers Mate, Im really pleased with this one, just gotta see how the durability holds up now, Im hoping its going to be good as its a hybrid


----------



## kev a

Lupostef said:


> Send me a tester .


Will do matey


----------



## kev a

As prommised here are some pics. I cant use the bonnet because im testing some wax for durability on there so wax applied to rear half of the car.



















Couple of beading pics....


----------



## Obi- Dan Karnubi

looks good kev whats the best solvent you have used for help with curing etc?


----------



## kev a

Well solvent wise I have tried,

Low Odour white spirit
Naptha
Turpentine
IPA
Ethyl Acitate

And my favorate is Low odour white spirit, its cheap and dosent smell too bad.
Naptha and Ethyl Acitate have much faster evaporation rates though, so you do need a little more WS in order to make the wax cure properly, I have found around the 40% - 55% mark seems to be about right. for faster evaporation a 50/50 mix of Naptha and WS seems to work well however for me the wax cured a little too quickly and I like to take my time spreading the wax and it had started to cure before I was finished.


----------



## Obi- Dan Karnubi

kev a said:


> Well solvent wise I have tried,
> 
> Low Odour white spirit
> Naptha
> Turpentine
> IPA
> Ethyl Acitate
> 
> And my favorate is Low odour white spirit, its cheap and dosent smell too bad.
> Naptha and Ethyl Acitate have much faster evaporation rates though, so you do need a little more WS in order to make the wax cure properly, I have found around the 40% - 55% mark seems to be about right. for faster evaporation a 50/50 mix of Naptha and WS seems to work well however for me the wax cured a little too quickly and I like to take my time spreading the wax and it had started to cure before I was finished.


cheers mate :thumb:


----------



## polt

looks grand m8, keep us up to date about durability might make a wee private purchase if you were ok with that


----------



## The_Bouncer

Kev, your doing well here with some promising results. :thumb:

From this point onwards it's really down to durability testing & whats left on your tick boxes and ultimately how happy you are with the outcome of your wax.

p.s > hybrid - interesting


----------



## Lupostef

kev a said:


> Will do matey


Sweet . Going to have a look at the last samples you sent see how they're holding up :thumb:
This batch looks good though matey, seems to bead a lot better looking at your pictures!


----------



## kev a

It definitly beads much better than the other ones, im not sure if its just the higher wax content or solvents disolving the wax more effectively.

I suppose hybrid makes it sound more exciting than it really is, its got a few drops of silicone oil in and I did cheat a little bit and add some EGP only around 8% though.


----------



## umi000

kev a said:


> As prommised here are some pics. I cant use the bonnet because im testing some wax for durability on there so wax applied to rear half of the car.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Couple of beading pics....


That is looking good - looks like you're well on your way :thumb:


----------

