# JayR8 - Obsession 2 Comparison homebrew review



## supervinnie40 (Jul 22, 2012)

After my last review of Jay's wax I got send some improved waxes. These are slightly different then the previous ones and should perform better.

*Introduction of Jay:*
Jay (aka JayR8) has been trying his luck with homebrewing for a while now. (http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=299766) In March he opened a topic on Detailing World about his homebrew trials, saying he already made a few which wheren't very good. He started his topic with version #8. He has made several recipes, 2 have been tested by me before ( http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=320345 ). In this topic I will review and compare 2 others.

*The wax:*
I recieved 2 jars. One has an improved version of the previous wax I tested and the other one is a new recipe (more hybrid).


















*Wax 1.*
This wax has a green color and a fragrance I can't really put my finger on. It slightly sweet with a minty background. Almost candy-ish. The wax is very soft and oily.
This is an improved version of the wax from my previous review with faster curing.










*Wax 2.*
This was has a purple color and a flowery-soapish fragrance. If I had to choose I'd guess it's lavender. This wax is a bit more firm and less oily. However, it is still a soft wax, just less soft then wax 1.
This wax is a bit more hybrid then the other wax with reasonably fast curing and good durability.










*How hard/soft*
Again, I used my previous method of dropping an object into the wax from the same height and compared the depth of penetration.
It's very obvious that the green wax (wax 1) is much softer then the purple wax (wax 2).


















*Oilyness and stickyness*
When a wax is very oily, it doesn't have to be a good thing. You don't wanna get oil on your applicator pad, you wanna get wax on your pad. That's why I did 2 little test this time: how sticky it is (how much sticks on your finger when pressing the wax) and hoe easily it transfers to the pad.

On these next photo's you can see that the green wax is softer and more oily then the purple one. being more oily doesn't have to be a bad thing perse, but when a wax is very oily you probably wanna spread it more thin then you would with a hard wax.
From this test I would recommend to apply the green wax as thin as possible, and the purple wax just the way you ussually do (still thin, but not super-thin).


























On these photo's you can see how easily it transfers onto the pad. Both pads where clean when I used them. Any coloration you see is purely from the wax itself (with the green one it's extra obvious  ).
Test was done by swiping the pad once over de wax with medium-to-light pressure.


















*Does wax bead in itself?*
This has nothing to do with the wax or this review , but we all like beading shots, so why not a beading shot from the wax itself .


















And a picture of beads on the backcover of the microwave .










*Applying the wax.*
After I washed my car, I polished the roof, hood and fender with Proffesional Polish to remove the old wax. Then I used Eraser twice to wipe down the surface, making sure it was clean.

I applied the green wax (wax 1) on the right of each test area and the purple wax (wax 2) on the left.

Applying the wax was easy. Both wax transfer very good to the pad and spread for miles. The green wax (since it being more oily and softer) spreads a bit further, but the difference isn't very big. There where no problems or anything with applying the wax. No lumps, no stickyness... just normal. Which is good .


























Jay already told me that these waxes cure faster then the previous one, but less quickly then conventional wax. Take for example Collinite 915, that cures in little under 10 minutes (max). This wax needed a good 20 minutes before they where ready to be buffed out. In this time you can just do the entire car and then start buffing where you finished applying.
A good thing if you have a big car, not so good if you have a small car like mine. I had to wait for a good 10 minutes. (so I just cleaned the inside a little bit  ).

When I did the swipe test roughly 20 minutes had passed. The hybrid (wax 2, purple) cured more quickly then the green wax (wax 1). 
Jay had also told me that you need to buff off once, then turn over the cloth and buff again. And so I did.
This is where the tricky stuff came in. The swipe test indicated that the wax was ready to be buffed out, but when I tried to buff it out it just smeared. Turning over the cloth did nothing, I still got heaps of smears. It's very hard to photograph, but in this next picture you can kinda see a slight 'hologram' like reflection. In the middle, you see a horizontal reflection of the light.










The next problem with buffing was that the oil left behind was a little bit sticky. After buffing there where little bits of dust (probably from the MF-cloth) stuck on the wax. In this next picture you can see a little area where they where fairly visible.










On these pictures you can see how you can spot the dust trapped in the wax in the reflection of the light. (p.s. these aren't swirls... there are no swirls on my car  ).










And this is how it kinda should look like:










Both waxes gave me these 'problems', but the purple wax (wax 2) a little bit more then the green wax.
Some people might say that you could fix this with a bit of QD, but then you might wonder; are you looking at the beading/sheeting of the QD or the wax? So I don't use QD (or pre-wax or anything, in my reviews). I finally fixed it by taking a clean MF-cloth, making it a bit damp with just normal water and then wiping down the car with that.
But this shouldn't be necessary.

I re-applied a little bit of wax on another area and left it to cake on for a good 30 minutes. To see if longer curing could help, but I still got some smear. It's not dramatically (otherwise it would've been easier to photograph), but it's there and as a detailer you will probably notice it.
You either need to cure this for a good 45 minutes, but I think it might be better to increase the curing time.

*Beading and sheeting:*

Beading roof:





Beading bonnet:





Beading fender:





Sheeting roof:





Sheeting bonnet:





Sheeting fender:





*My personal opinion.*
Jay improvements on the wax where noticeable. It applied a bit easier and cured a bit better. Buffing out was also a bit better and the smell of the green wax (wax 1) is really nice. But I think curing time could still be improved upon. I got smears and streaks when buffing out, which isn't a good thing. I thought I buffed out to soon, but after leaving it for a good 10 minutes extra it still smeared a bit. Less, but still noticeable.
Beading looks very good, so it's very hydrophobic. But a fresh coat of wax usually performs good at this. We'll have to see how it performs after a week of this cold and rainy weather.
If I really had to choose, I'd say that the hybrid performs just a tiny little bit better, but it's hardly noticeable right now.

I'm glad to see how Jay handles the feedback he gets. It seems to drive him even more to make something awesome. If curing time gets a bit improved and a little less oil and a little more solvent, I think this could be very interesting indeed.
We'll know more in about a week when I check the beading and sheeting again.

Thanks for reading and thanks to Jay for sending me these samples.

Besides another review in a few weeks from another homebrewer, I'm also gonna do a durability test between 4 homebrew waxes I got. I'm gonna apply these in a few weeks and leave them until March (4 months would be the max). So stay tuned .


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## AGRE (Sep 25, 2008)

Great review, thanks for sharing :thumb:


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## JayOW (Dec 8, 2008)

Great review thanks mate, much appreciated...

When I used the green wax here in 10deg temps it cured in about 10mins and never left any smears, what was the temp there when applying these?

Again though as before I have made improvements over these 2, The recent samples I have sent out to people are not modified from these but are new blends so this could be interesting...

Vinnie as you have now tried my old, new and improved blends would you be interested in trying the improved blend of the purple and green waxes? I have one which is very oily still and one not so oily, I would appreciate if you could do the durability test on one of these? especially the not so oily wax?

Thanks again


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## supervinnie40 (Jul 22, 2012)

I used the wax in about 15 to 17 degrees. It was fairly moist as it has been raining all day. (10 minutes after I cleaned up it started to rain again).
Did you use anything like a pre-wax cleaner or something? Those can have a small effect on the wax.

I will test anything you sent my way. I'll pm you about the durability test.


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## JayOW (Dec 8, 2008)

On my test panel I use swissvax cleaner fluid before every application to remove any old wax etc, I have done this with every wax as I feel it gives a fair test...

My thinking is, it must be the 7deg difference in temperature thats causing problems.


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## JBirchy (Oct 9, 2010)

Interesting review! 

JayR8, you might not know this but Chris from Waxamomo brought your waxes down to show me at the weekend, and they're actually all on different sections of my Wife's Mini!

If this green wax is the one I used, I actually really thought it was superb. The smell is lovely, a sherbetty kind of fresh smell which I thought was excellent.

I didn't experience any smearing after a 10 min cure time either. I'll keep an eye on performance but we're coming up to a week and the car hasn't been used since so I'll have to report back. The only reason I've not done a review for you is that I forgot to take any pictures!

ATB
Jon


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## JayOW (Dec 8, 2008)

Hey yeah Chris told me about the mini...He also said the wax was really good...and again I have not experienced any smearing...

That's what makes me think it's the temp difference causing issues... 

Be interesting to see how long it lasts too.


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## supervinnie40 (Jul 22, 2012)

Could be it Jay. I will use it on another panel tomorrow (or perhaps the day after) to see if it reacts differently.

Is your car also black? Because you see these smear much more easy on black paint. You'd hardly notice it on white or grey.


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## JayOW (Dec 8, 2008)

supervinnie40 said:


> Could be it Jay. I will use it on another panel tomorrow (or perhaps the day after) to see if it reacts differently.
> 
> Is your car also black? Because you see these smear much more easy on black paint. You'd hardly notice it on white or grey.


Yeah my car is black too...


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## supervinnie40 (Jul 22, 2012)

Well, it's been a week.

First thing I noticed was that the beading actually got better after several days. The sheeting was more or less the same.

I did try to apply the wax to another part of the car and left it to cure for about an hour, after that it was still fairly oily and didn't buff out without a little smear. I had to turn the MF cloth over a few times before I couldn't see any smears in the reflection.
However, it was better then the time I left it for 30 minutes.

Today it's been 7 days since the review and it's time to see how the beading and the sheeting is.
The car looks pretty much the same after washing, and I couldn't really find any trace of a grayish look on the paint (which can happen with some wax because they trap dirt).

The vid's
(the purple wax is on the left, the green wax is on the right)

Beading:

Roof:




The line you see in the beginning is where the dividing line is between the 2 waxes. (you can kinda see where the tape was if you look at the beads) The beads on the roof are comparable with those on the hood, they don't look bad for a wax that has seen a week of rain and other bad weather (and a fair bit of km's). I do feel like the purple wax (wax 2) is slightly better then the green wax (wax 1).

Hood:




Beads are ok, a bit flat but not to bad. You can see that one side starts to glide off the paint a little faster then the other. I think the beads on the left look a little bit better then the beads on the right.

Fender:




The fender has a very sloped surface, which means that you don't only get beads but you can also see how quick the beads glide down. The difference is small, but I feel like the purple wax (on the left) is slightly faster at makes the beads glide down.

Sheeting:

Roof:




It's hard to see the difference in this case.

Hood:




The sheeting on the left is noticeably faster then on the right. However, even thought the right is lest fast it's still quite good.
(and yes, I just got whatsapped at the end of the movie  )

Fender:




Sheeting is again a bit faster on the left side.

Overall; even though the wax was a bit hard to buff out, it didn't dissapoint in beading and sheeting. After a wax of natures best work the beads aren't perfect but not bad at all. The sheeting is still very noticable. If I really had to make a decision, I would say that the purple wax is slightly better, but the difference would be very small.

In my endurance test during the winter, we will see how it holds itself.

Thanks for reading.


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## Mikej857 (Jan 17, 2012)

Nice review

I have the green sherbet smelling sample and have to agree with others that if left for 10 mins it would buff out with just one turn of the MF


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## JayOW (Dec 8, 2008)

This is the same as eveyone who has tried this including myself, I found it very easy to apply and remove... I have tried it on a panel @ about 20deg and a cold panel and it makes no difference.


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## supervinnie40 (Jul 22, 2012)

Perhaps there is a difference in products used? I never use a pre-wax for example.
Have you done anything different when making this batch? Left it to dry shorter? Put the lid on it earlier? 

I do think it's a good wax and have read several people saying that they have no problem with it, so I also wonder why mine doesn't cure properly.


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## JayOW (Dec 8, 2008)

The green batch was a very small batch of 6 pots that were all made in the same way using the same process, One person said his wax was curing within 2-3 mins and mine did the same, but I left for 10 mins and it was still a doddle to remove too... I am not sure if I kept a pot of this for myself or not, I will have to have a look and try it out again.


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## supervinnie40 (Jul 22, 2012)

I'll see if I can try to make a little test on my hood and see if I can video it.
See if I can find anything that could cause it. Will have to wait till tomorrow.


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## danwel (Feb 18, 2007)

Personally I'd like a wax that allows you to do the whole car then buff off without being too difficult. Just think its easier and quicker but that's just me


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## JayOW (Dec 8, 2008)

No worries, dont put yourself out... I want to see if I have a tub and I will try it with and without a pre-wax, I usually use swissvax cleaner fluid before any wax application on my test panel just to make sure the results I am getting are from the new wax and not the old, maybe this could have an impact on it.


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## JayOW (Dec 8, 2008)

danwel said:


> Personally I'd like a wax that allows you to do the whole car then buff off without being too difficult. Just think its easier and quicker but that's just me


This is possible... which wax have you got of mine?


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## danwel (Feb 18, 2007)

I have a bubblegum,Parma violet one and I think a red cherry one?


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## JayOW (Dec 8, 2008)

The parma violet is a old formula that does not cure very quicky, this could be used on the whole car before buffing... I have a couple of waxes that I am trying atm that cure quickly but can be left on for 20mins or so... is the cherry one then new cherry one or have you had it a while? I think thats the one I said I didne like? The new cherry one is much improved but not good if you wanna do the whole car.


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## danwel (Feb 18, 2007)

Cherry is a new one. I will try the Parma violet one on my daily tomorrow if I get chance


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## supervinnie40 (Jul 22, 2012)

JayR8 said:


> No worries, dont put yourself out... I want to see if I have a tub and I will try it with and without a pre-wax, I usually use swissvax cleaner fluid before any wax application on my test panel just to make sure the results I am getting are from the new wax and not the old, maybe this could have an impact on it.


Don't worry, it can't be a coincedence that everybody has another experience with it then me. So there has to be something that causes my example to behave this way. By finding out what it is, you'll know if it could become a problem or if it's just something local.


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## supervinnie40 (Jul 22, 2012)

Just finished doing tests this morning, I'm waiting for the video's to upload to youtube, then I'll post my results.


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## supervinnie40 (Jul 22, 2012)

Since most people didn't have any problem with smearing or dust/lint after buffing, I tried to test some more to see what's up with my results.

For this test I divided the hood into 6 sections: 5 min, 10 min, 15 min, 30 min, 45 min and 60 min.
First I polished the hood with Poorboys Professional Polish. Even though this is a cleaner on itself I also wipe it down with Eraser twice. After this I left it for about 30 minutes to rest. I then applied some of the green wax onto an applicator and did the hood.
I then left it to cure according to the time on the tape. No swipe-test, just buffing off and seeing how it goes.

It was just above 16 degrees, slightly windy with a few clouds.














5 minutes.




The buffing was fairly easy although there was a bit of smear. Not more then I expected bit still a little bit. Turning the cloth over helped a lot off course.
I still saw a fair bit of dust/lint on the paintwork, as if the wax was a bit sticky. It's very hard to film or photograph, but eventually I found a way.




To show you what I mean with smear, I made the next video. In this video you need to look at the reflection of the flashlight of my phone. You can see that the reflection is crisp in some places but shows lines to the sides at other places. (my English vocabulary fails me to describe it...) After wiping down the area another time, you can see some of the dust/lint on the paintwork.





10 minutes.




The buffing wasn't harder then the 5 minutes one. The general impression was that it was pretty much the same in any way. Turning the cloth over, buffing not to difficult, a little bit of smearing but not much.
In this case I again saw those dust/lint particles. Turning the cloth over didn't help. 





15 minutes.




The buffing was a little bit more grabby. I had to rubb just a little bit harder to buff off. But not much. Again there was a little bit of smearing, had to turn the cloth over.
Again with the dust/lint particles.

30 minutes.




Buffing was a bit harder now. Nothing to worry about, but more grabby then the first 2. I had to wipe to surface a little more then with the other ones. Smearing was a little less, but I could still see a bit of it.

45 minutes.




As expected, the buffing was again a little bit harder. Not much of a problem (I've had retail wax that was more difficult after 10 minutes), but the difference was noticeable.
Still some dust/lint:













60 minutes.




Just as I thought, the buffing was again a bit more grabby. Still nothing to worry about, if you realise that this wax has been curing for 60 minutes it's hardly a surprise that it's grabby. Some waxes are almost impossible to buff out after 60 minutes. 
There was still some dust/lint on the surface:









It seems the oiliness of the wax is mostly due to the oil and not the solvents. The oil that doesn't evaporate makes the surface a little bit sticky. The tiny little dust particles and lint from the MF cloth stick to this layer and leave behind.
After some trial and error, there where 2 ways to remove them:
1. spraying a little bit Eraser on a suede-cloth. If you wait for a few hours it won't harm the wax layer.
2. wiping off with a wet/damp cloth. Just wet enough to wipe off the lint but not wet enough to leave streaks.

The beading is fairly nice to. It's remarkable to see that there is almost no difference between 5 minutes and 60 minutes. Which could mean that the wax has cured enough after 5 minutes. However, this can only be tested for sure by a durability test.























Is this a problem? 
No, not a big one if you know how to fix it or have enough suede cloths. Some people might not even notice it. You won't see a thing on a silver or gray car, but you could notice it on a black car if you look careful.
Does this make it a bad wax?
No, not at all. If you consider that some commercial waxes are very, very hard to buff out after 30 minutes it's pretty good to see that this is still easy to buff out after 60 minutes. The beads aren't bad either. The only difference might be in the durability, but this will be tested in about a week.
Why you and nobody else?
I have no idea. I really don't. Perhaps the oil reacts a little bit different with the difference in humidity. This is something I can't test (would need to drive up and down Europe to test this  ). Perhaps that other people have different color cars or don't look at the paint the way I do. 
Since nobody has reported this yet, I think we shouldn't make a very big deal out of this. For me it is noticeable, but for others obviously not. And I don't have the impression that it's harming the performance of the wax.

I hope this has made things a bit more clear. I'm not 100% sure why I get this, but I thought it would only be fair to document my findings as good as I can for Jay. Since he has made many improvements, I don't think this will be any problem for future recipes.


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## JayOW (Dec 8, 2008)

Wow vinnie thanks so much...I really appreciate all the time and effort you have put in with these reviews... I understand what you mean with the smearing and the particles but I still can't figure out why it does this...again it could be down to the humidity... from my experience this wax does cure in about 5 mins...I had it on my car for nearly a month and it was still going strong. Will be interesting to see if you have the same issues with the new blend... I will also include a MF in the box...just to see if that makes any difference. 

Thanks again your review is ace.


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## supervinnie40 (Jul 22, 2012)

No problem bud. You put all this time, money and effort into making your homebrews, it is only fair that I do my very best to give you as much information and feedback as I can. 

If any questions arise from this I'm more then happy to answer them or to do some more testing.


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## JayOW (Dec 8, 2008)

Thanks a lot mate your a star...please let me know how you get on with the other 2... Especially the pink one and I will get the next package out to you on Monday.


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## Mikej857 (Jan 17, 2012)

JayR8 said:


> Thanks a lot mate your a star...please let me know how you get on with the other 2... Especially the pink one and I will get the next package out to you on Monday.


If it's the pink one I have then I did find it even easier to buff than the green


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