Alright.... so hopefullly people find this useful. I know I will. I prepared a test of Swissvax Smaragd versus Zymol Concours. My goal is appearance and durability. My car is a daily driver. Its outside all day and sleeps in the garage at night. I prepared the hood of my '01.5 Audi S4 in Silver as follows: Adams Car Wash Swissvax Paint Rubber with Adams QD as lube. Menz IP with LC CCS green on the Flex at speed 5 Menz PO85rd with LC CCS white on the Flex at speed 5 Menz Top Inspection Lots of CG / old Adams Microfibers Sam Adams Irish Ale After some correction and polishing, I split the hood in two with tape. SV Cleaner Fluid went on with a german applicator and then two coats of SV Smaragd by hand. Each coat was allowed to dwell for 10 mins. (Drivers Side) Zymol HD cleanse went on with a seperate german applicator and two coats of Concours by hand. Each coat was wiped off immediately. (Passenger Side) The area under the tape is used as a control, and will be left untreated. Future washes will be with Adams Car wash and Adams QD. I will update after every wash with time and special details. Initial impressions... Well, I finished at 10pm so my light was not good. I will say that the Zymol washed off my hands considerably easier than the SV did. Oh, and I don't like the smell of the cinamon zymol. Appearance? Uh yea, well, it all looked the same in my dark garage. Questions or comments? :headbang:
itll be hard to tell from the pics, but would like to know your thought on these waxes once you get some sun on the car and test durability
I will report back tomorrow morning. I'll give the hood a final wipe with a clean MF, and check it out in the sun. I've got a couple people lined up to get their opinion on which side looks better. If theres a diference, I'm not expecting to capture it by camera. I AM hoping to catch beading pictures in the upcomming weeks though.
sounds good I just did a wash of my accord with concours and was very impressed with beading and slickness. It was only one wash but it was much better than I expected I used concorso on a vette that i will be seeing soon. Very interested on how it looks/washes
As above, in picture its going to be nigh on impossible to see any difference, especially on silver! But what is more important with waxes is personal opinion of the nuance delivered, this will vary from person to person but the more people that do these tests, the more rounded a general opinion that can be formed. Looking forward to the updates.
Isn't Smaragd a soft wax similar to the Z Concours? I hate to bring up this topic but what is the difference between Smargd, BOS and Concorso? I know Concorso is a hard wax but they say the formula is the same as BOS which is actually a softer wax like Z Concours. Where does the Smaragd fall amongst all of this? Is Smaragd hard or soft? Similar formula to BOS or totally different? Can't wait to hear how they hold up. I have some old Concorso that is green and soft but haven't had a chance to compare it to the new Concorso which is yellow and hard. I will do a post as soon as I have had time to compare the two. I suspect my old Concorso is probably the same or similar to either BOS or Smaragd. I know the formula needed to be changed after the lawsuit.
The Irish Ale is very good. I was quite supprised for a Sam Adams. So much so I bought a couple sixers! BOS is the same as Smaragd. Someone has a trademark on the term 'best of show' so SV renamed it. Both waxes seemed on the hard side to me. This morning, with a very low sun, I couldn't tell a difference between the two sides. We'll see!
I washed the car for the first time since applying the waxes. The car lives in the garage at night, and is daily driven about 20 miles a day. I won't tell you which side is which, I'll let you guess and comment on beading. First pictures were taken after a couple rinses. Second pictures were taken after a wash with Adams soap, and a Megs lambs wool mit. Overall Side A before Side B before Side A after Side B after I will say that Side B shed water alot better than Side A. Additionally, I still can't see a difference between the two sides. I can now see where I didn't put wax on.
Nice feed back reefer_bob look forward to some more feed back :thumb: Thank you for taking the time to do this comparision :applause2:
Guess no one wants to guess... Side A is the Zymol, with what I think its tighter beading. Side B is the Swissvax. Both sides still look spectacular.
Update... from a wash today. Wax was applied 3.27. Today is 5.6... you do the math for how many days it is... IMHO, the SV side is looking better than the Z side is. This was confirmed in person by the GF, and the next door neighbour. Over all: Swissvax side: Zymol side: These pictures are after a wash with Adams carwash.
But, I wanted to let you know, that in my opinion, at this time I would be hard pressed to not just say 'There done' apply more wax as directed. However, I understand for the purpose of this test that won't be happening. On a more scientific question, how well does dirt 'release' during your pre-rinse process on the two waxes? This I would very much like to hear...Great post, and I look forward to more discussion! IB
Ian, I'm not sure I understand your first comment about apply more wax as directed? Dirt release... Both release dirt immediately. It's quite amazing to just watch the brown water rinse away. I'm not sure I can tell a difference, but I will take a look next time!
I think, if you are getting dirt to release, and when dry it still has that pop and look, that is all I require of my wax. When I see water 'pooling' up near the windshield area of my car, I can't stand not applying more wax (this is usually about 4 weeks with Victoria Collectors) However, maybe this isn't a sign of 'apply more wax as directed' but have faith and keep on trucken'. Just my .02 and I hope I explained a little bit more of my thoughts. IB
