A homebrew "Concours" Wax

I figured Id post this up because I know alot of you are into high end waxes, let me just start by saying I dont have any affiliation with this product, I just saw it on the GTO forum that I frequent and Im passing it along.

Guy with the user name PhantomGoat06, who ive talked with in the GTO detailing forum and seems to know his stuff pretty well, has come up with his own wax.

He claims 68% white carnuba by weight. $225 for 8oz, and I think he may be doing samples.

What do you guys think?

LS1GTO.com Forums - Phantom's Wax ready for distribution

 

I think he can send me a free sample anytime!

 

lol yea id take one too, but it says 2 oz sample $45...

I wont be getting this because even the price for the sample is more then I like to spend, but I know a bunch of you guys try zymol and swissvax big $ waxes, figured maybe someone would be interested in it.

 

look interesting, maybe ill try it in the new year

 

More Carnauba content is great for marketing, it does not make the product better. Carnauba is definitely not beautiful in its natural state. It is a hard chalky substance. About 30% by weight is as far as I would go any more than that only makes the product harder to use and will show much less clarity. Just my :2cents:

 

As a matter of fact Steve (poorboy) mentioned once that 17% is the maximum amount of carnauba content in your average wax.

 

Hello, everyone.

I'm the actual chemist behind this wax. You are half correct on your Carnauba content % figures.

Depending on the ingredients such as various emulsifiers, and solvents to aid in the buffing process, Carnauba content % by weight can be significantly increased.

Adding more yellow carnauba can alter the clarity, but a Bleached/Micronesed (the process to refine a carnauba) White does not suffer from this.

You are thinking of companies who market their product at 100% Carnauba, meaning that is the only Wax within the compound. Most concours waxes are at this state.

The other %, meaning the actual physical weight of the Carnauba into the compound (in our case it is 68%) is the true % of Carnauba to other compounds in weight.

Steve is correct, most waxes contain roughly 17-22% Carnauba. But also have a beeswax content, among a few other synthetic polymeres which make up the total wax content.

Being a Ph.D Chemical Engineer, I have the years of experience in compound development to find the perfect balance of materials to give off a very eye friendly finish.

I despise marketing strategy, and shoot straight from the hip. The reasoning behind such a low price vs Zymol Vintage or Royale is, my overhead is quite low.

 

Explain how more Carnauba content helps a wax. What exactly does the Carnauba content do for the wax? I ask this because having worked with several manufacturers recently as soon as we start increasing the content much over 30% there is a noticeable decrease in application performance and degrading clarity.


"Being a Ph.D Chemical Engineer, I have the years of experience in compound development to find the perfect balance of materials to give off a very eye friendly finish."

What are other examples of waxes you have devoloped? Do you work for yourself as a private chemist? If so, PM me your contact info.

 

Most certainly.

Now this is a situational answer.

About 95% of the detailing Carnauba products out on the market are #1 Yellow Carnauba based products which also include very cost effective emulsifiers, and solvents. This is mainly for bulk distribution, and to allow the sunday detailer not to have to work their arm off when buffing the Carnauba wax off of their vehicles surface. Also with the higher % of yellow carnauba in a compound the clarity will depreciate to a point.

So now we have a good grade Carnauba, although it does have its limitations in clarity, and very cost effective emulsifiers, as well as cost effective solvents (aids in buffing). We'll use about 17-22% Carnauba wax, as well as a few other waxes to increase surface protection.

Now the higher amounts of Carnauba content can do a few things. Carnauba is the hardest of all natural waxes, it also producses the richest, deepest, and wettest shine when applied and buffed properly. Unfortunately with run of the mill emulsifiers, and solvents, you have to keep the content on a lower side, and like said before, you will have the clarity depreciation with an unrefined yellow.

Now onto Bleaching and micronesing. Bleaching a Carnauba removes this diminishing return of higher Carnauba % and almost makes it prism like. This is a relatively inexpensive process to do. These types of Carnaubas are referred to as Ivory Carnauba. I.e. Pinnacle Souveran. Now to take advantage of this, stepping up to a higher quality emulsifier and solvent would be needed.

The next step would be Micronesing. Since Carnauba is very hard and brittle by nature, this process takes it one step further (and rather expensive), and turns an Ivory into a White Carnauba. The by product of this is thus further improving clarity, and allowing a higher % of Carnauba to be much more workable (user friendly), but at the same time, strengthening the wax to give the user the best of both worlds.

A high % of Carnauba which gives a rich, deep, wet looking shine, as well as a higher content % to give off more added surface protection, and at the same time, depending on the assistant ingredients, its buffing process can be quite easy.

 

Most of my vehicle based applications were just for my own fun.

I have worked on various sealant coatings for steel, and titanium, as well as various ions, and additives for their base stock. Mainly to resist extremely high heats (think burning jet fuel on support beams). If you catch my drift. So a lot of thermal modeling, and laser optic data analysis was used in finding brittle points of raw materials, for the point of making them stronger.

For vehicles, this is my first actual product to the market with an initial limited distribution, to bring a concours wax to an affordable price. I have developed very slick hydrophobic and anti-static like detail sprays which give off a "glowing look" as well as satin like tire shines etc.

But nothing that I have put up for sale. Doing independant work? I guess I would consider it. If the hours were flexible.

 

Royale is a White Carnauba. Adding more content % (assuming the emulsifiers and solvents are quality enough to handle the %) would enhance all of the carnaubas characteristics, not aid in one, and pull from another.

 

gotcha thanks!! whats your take on pinnicle waxes? souveran and sig series2 they claim refined carnuba from yellow to white. i wonder are they really refining the carnuba or just bleaching it. i mean who would know? only a chemist .

 

not sure where you're reading "white" I see it advertised as an Ivory. Which is removing the clarity depreciation properties.


Be careful a lot of makes will call their Ivories, Whites though

I like Souveran for non metallic vehicles, it's been my experience when using it on my Phantom Black Metallic GTO (which has gold and charcoal flakes in it), they often are muted, but the Black is quite vibrant.

 

try the pinnicle series 2 for metallic flake. and yes i ment ivory.

 

How do you think Souveran compares to your wax?

 

thats it im going to buy some zymol soloris they have a sale buy 2 for 30 grand. christmas special:deal:

 

Well, I really do not like to compare my product to other makes, I like mine to speak for itself. But Souveran really is not in the same class, since it is a lower content % Ivory. My wax is a high content % Pure White Carnauba. My closest competing products would be Zymol Vintage or Royale. I've done a side by side comparison to Royale, they looked quite similar.

I only charge $225.00 USD for my initial run of an 8oz tin, because I do not look to operate on a ~2000% profit margin lol

Although there are a few American distribution companies who had taken an interest in marketing my product for nearly twice my initial asking cost.

 

Very interesting. I have to try it out. If its really good, it would be a nice wax to have in my store!

 

I'll be quite honest, I just followed the link to here, not looking to market my product on this site where I am not known. I am well received on my home message board, which is ls2gto.com