# Sonax Premium Class - Wax & Cleanser Review



## Dave KG (Feb 23, 2006)

2008 has seen an explosion in wax products in and around the £50 mark (+/- £20) as manufacturers all strive to have their own product in what is becoming a highly competitive market... Recent addition here is Sonax, who look to tempt buyers with their offering with a paint cleanser and a carnauba wax. Much has been said of the wax's link to P21S - whether or not this is true, I cannot say, but I can review the performance on initial application of the products...

The test panel for this test was to be this metallic silver grey bonnet on a Toyota Carina II, wearing 18 years of swirls...










The two sides of this bonnet were polished using Menzerna PO85RD Final Finish and Meguiars #205 polishes by rotary polisher as part of another test (more details will follow), and the middle bar left untouched other than claying. This was to allow for testing of the paint cleanser on both prepped and unprepped paintwork to assess it use as a) a stand alone product for those working by hand, and b) as part of a full detail.

The cleanser is a white liquid, quite runny and reminded me a lot of the Victoria Lite Cleanse in terms of consistency and also in application. Best results for me were had using small amounts of product and worked with medium pressure in straight lines (to ensure even pressure) for about a minute per section... The product applied easily, was smooth and never went tacky in use and would remove with ease whether removed straight away or left for a while. In useage terms, the product shows the overpriced ***** HD Cleanse a clean pair of heals for user friendly nature, sharing much in characteristics with Victoria Lite Cleanse, Swissvax Cleaner Fluid and Raceglaze Paint Cleaser.

In terms of results, on the well prepped regions of the bonnet there was little if any noticeable change to the finish from its application on this colour. A slight additioanl wettness that is generally evident from using Clearkote Vanilla Moose Wax Hand Glaze on light colours was not evident with this product, but alongside its fellow paintwork cleansers it offered an easy to use solution for cleansing away remaining polishing oils which it did with ease and readying the paintwork for a wax. On this particular colour though, I'd be more tempted to run with an IPA wipedown and then straight to wax unless I was wanting to use a dedicated paint cleanser....

However, it was on the unprepped region of paint that this product started to flex its muscles... worked as it was on the prepped regions, medium pressure in straight lines for about a minute and then wiped off and in the garage lighting I could note a definite improvement in the gloss on this finish. Standing back and looking at the finish under the strip light and it was clear why...










All the RDS remained but the lighter swirls were dealt with and as they were contributing to a loss of the depth of colour on this car, there removal meant that some of the paint's beauty could now shine through... A second application same as the first, and I could note a little further improvement also:










Comparing the above pictures to the bonnet at the start (pic at the top), and while there may not be huge differences noticeable in photograph, the removal of the lighter marring did contribute to a notable improvement in the finish here and overall this means this product gets a :thumb: from me for use as a stand alone prep product ... It will perform as well as many other light paintwork cleansers such as Swissvax Normal Cleaner Fluid, and this is certainly worthy praise for the newcomer.

Now, with the panel fully prepped, it was time for the wax... The wax is a hard wax, quite crumbly in nature and yes, reminiscent of P21S (and also reminiscent of Nattys White, just not quite as "greasy" feeling) ... whether these are the same or heavily linked, I know not and wont hypothesise.

Application of the product was nice and easy, and it would have to be... a difficult to use wax has no place in this particular market, which used to be the stronghold of lower end Swissvax and *****, but is now dominated by Victoria Wax and Dodo Juice to name but two. One thing all these waxes have in common is ease of use, and a product that didn't have this quality would be falling at the first unless it had something magical to offer at the last! Thankfully not the case with Sonax, it applied smoothly and spread easily and removed with ease whether left one minute, ten minutes or overnight. Hard to say if it added anything tenable to the finish, I'd perhaps argue a slight "bright gloss", something that reminded me of Collinite 476S and Epoch has described for Dodo Juice Supernatural V2 but as we know these are impossible to photograph and are just as arguably a figment of the eye of the beholder.

Rather than analysing look results by photograph here, I also have the Sonax on a second test alongside two of its rivals: Swissvax Onyx and Smartwax Concours, on satin red metallic, and will evaluate the looks on this in multiple layers at the weekend (first layers in place xmas eve, ready for second and third layers  )...

But for this review, a look at a definite cosmetic effect of waxes and one that is highly regarded amongst detailers - water behaviour. First off, the beading performance of the Sonax (one layer):



















The product beaded tightly, with reasonably uniform beads ... not the tightness of Collinite or freshly applied *****, nor the tightness of freshly applied P21S. But definite beading here from the product and certainly rivalling well its major competition of Dodo Juice Banana Armour, Victoria Concours and Smartwax Concours.

Of interest also is the size of beads that will form before we get run off... some products allow big flat beads on panels before the bead will run off, others only support little beads before they run off (all a function of the surface tension, and the "slickness" of the surface on which the water sits, along with a lot of very interesting Physics  ) ... Tested here with a fine spray mist of water, this video shows the beads forming and running off before they get particularly large:



A heavier spray of water (shower) shows the products ability to repel a large amount of water quickly...



The infamous sheeting test shows fairly quick and decently complete sheeting:





In terms of sheeting it sheets neither as fast nor as complete as Collinite 476S, but it certainly does sheet well despite this is and is right up there with its rivals in terms of water performance... On intial testing on the other car with one layer of wax, it showed itself to sheet comparatively with Swissvax Onyx but slower than Smartwax Concours.

Overall, on paper performance of this product is good any someone buying it certainly wouldn't be disappointed nor would they feel they have lost out compared to other waxes that the Sonax is amining at. It performs very well, holds it own against the competition in this crowded market...

Alas, on paper performance is only part of the story. Especially in the now heavily crowded and ultimately heavily fashionable wax market and this is where Sonax will stumble on a few issues. One of them being is that name wise, it is a relative unknown to detailers when compared to the likes of Dodo Juice and Victoria. But away from the world of detailing and into the world of the every day car cleaner, its competing against Autoglym HD Wax and it will need to price itself accordingly for this as much more expensive than it and it will price itself out... The other issue is that it is quite "late to the party". By that I mean, many other brands have now established themselves in this market with good performing products, Sonax has arrived with a good performing product but for me doesn't offer anything _extra_ over many of the waxes here. This on its own is no bad thing, as it performs very well and on that basis alone deserves to do well. But, it offers nothing extra to tempt those who already own some of the waxes in this bracket away from what they already hand and as the market crowds more and more, this problem will become more and more evident as more and more products compete for the same market... While IMHO the Dodo Juice waxes dont offer anything that the Sonax doesn't, they have got a quirky brand nature that wins them fans and gives them an edge in the market, and this is something that Sonax may find it more difficult to compete against.

However, make no mistake that this is a good performing wax and cleanser that would not disappoint on performance, at least in terms of application performance, durability yet to be tested. And, based on performance alone, if you are in the market for a circa £50 pair of products to either make your paint look good from start to finish, or to top off a detail, then the Sonax products deserve to be in the consideration and in the running for your money.


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## Avanti (Jan 17, 2006)

Once again a great read and excellent quality review, whilst I have AG HD and like the performance, the packaging on the Sonax looks more appealing (even though it's what is inside the tub that counts) . It will be interesting to see the price of this product when it enters the market as the £ has tumbled against the Euro which 40eu was quoted by our European visitors after currency conversion it could well be nearer £50 , but looks a nice product :thumb:


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## PETER @ ECLIPSE (Apr 19, 2006)

dave , thanks for the review, i really appreciate the time you took to do the tests , and the posting of the results .
ill be in touch with sonax as soon as poss , and get back to everyone with the price and the availability and see the best way to get the product out .
once again thank you dave .

peter (eclipse auto valet)


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## caledonia (Sep 13, 2008)

Thanks Dave for another very good and informative read.
As you know I am not one for dismissing a product on just branding.
I will follow you update and look forward to your findings.
Will be interesting also to see where it fits in with regard to pricing, As Avanti has said. There is a lot riding on the monetary markets and that also has to come into play, when marketing the product.
We will see what happens over the coming months and your updates.
Gordon.


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## ahaydock (Jan 4, 2007)

Great review there Dave - very interesting and informative. Thanks for sharing :thumb:


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## Dave KG (Feb 23, 2006)

Cheers guys, this wax is also being tested alongside a couple of others in its price range for comparison of water behaviour as this cosmetic effect it often sought after by detailers.


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## ads2k (Jul 12, 2006)

Thanks for the review Dave :thumb: and on boxing day 

Will keep an eye out for the results with regard to your other tests.


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## 1999grad (Oct 10, 2008)

Great review. I also like the new Sonax products.


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## Bigpikle (May 21, 2007)

cheers Dave - another interesting product :thumb:

Is the cleaner abrasive? You mentioned swirls being gone, so I was wondering if thats removed or hidden?

cheers Dave


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## Dave KG (Feb 23, 2006)

Bigpikle said:


> cheers Dave - another interesting product :thumb:
> 
> Is the cleaner abrasive? You mentioned swirls being gone, so I was wondering if thats removed or hidden?
> 
> cheers Dave


I'm not sure if it is or it isn't, but I plan to assess this when I am back at the unit... for this test I was keen to show the performance of both of the products combined, but next time I will IPA wipe after the cleanser and see what, if anything, comes back


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## Bigpikle (May 21, 2007)

any updates on durability yet Dave?


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## PETER @ ECLIPSE (Apr 19, 2006)

spoke to the owner of the golf i tested it on and that was a few weeks before dave did his test , and beading was still tight so the answer is good .
but see what dave says after his test


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## Dave KG (Feb 23, 2006)

Hi Damon,

Really too early to say at the moment in honesty - its only been on a test car for three weeks (it didn't live on the Toyota long, that is used for machine demos - my dad's car serves as the durability tester)... Three weeks not much of a test, but its still holding up after this length of time with good beading and no evidence of squeaking.

But need longer to fully assess


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## toni (Oct 30, 2005)

I get from their Extreme1 wax (also a Carnauba, but not 100%) about 1.5-2 months and conditions in my country are somewhat worse then you have there. I would expect around the same from the PremiumClass.

Regarding the Paint Cleaner: I'm using the non-Premium version (the red bottle if you look on the website) and it's slightly abrrasive. I've used alot and it's a great product. Exterior-wise it's one of thier best, disregarding the Premium class.


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## Bigpikle (May 21, 2007)

thanks Dave

With all the talk of it being 'possibly maybe somehow in some way' similar to P21s, which is not known to last well in this kind of weather, it sounds more promising


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## Envy Car Care (Aug 17, 2006)

Good review Dave, I notice you mention SW and Z paint cleansers but no mention of Dodo Paint cleansers.
I would be interested to know how it compares to the might of the Dodo LP and LPL.
Cheers
Tim


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## PETER @ ECLIPSE (Apr 19, 2006)

Bigpikle said:


> thanks Dave
> 
> With all the talk of it being 'possibly maybe somehow in some way' similar to P21s, which is not known to last well in this kind of weather, it sounds more promising


i think in the early thread people made the comparison to p21s for a few reasons really , the packaging and where it comes from , so maybe that was understandable , but as i said before its not p21s rebadged


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## Dave KG (Feb 23, 2006)

Envy Valeting said:


> Good review Dave, I notice you mention SW and Z paint cleansers but no mention of Dodo Paint cleansers.
> I would be interested to know how it compares to the might of the Dodo LP and LPL.
> Cheers
> Tim


Very similar in working style - oily, long working and forgiving. But not as abrasive as standard Lime Prime which offers both advantages and disadvantages... I have seen standard Lime Prime inflict micromarring when not correctly worked on softer paints, and the Sonus cleasner seems a lot less prone to this. If both products are worked correctly, then Lime Prime will offer more in the way of correction and to that end would be my choice _if_ correction was desired. But for ease of use to someone new to detailing for example, the Sonus cleanser is less likely to leave micromarring if you dont quite work it for long enough and as such is more forgiving - if that makes sense.


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## ads2k (Jul 12, 2006)

Dave KG said:


> But for ease of use to someone new to detailing for example, the Sonus cleanser is less likely to leave micromarring if you dont quite work it for long enough and as such is more forgiving - if that makes sense.


But then if that was the criteria then surely you'd use LPL :thumb:, same working style as LP but *WITHOUT* the abrasives.

Maybe you could demo this on Sat Dave if you get a spare 5 minutes :lol:


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