Best Car Polish and Car Paint Protection
The best hard wax and liquid car waxes available, below we test 4 car waxes to find the best car polish available. We waxed our car on a cloudy day, out of direct sunlight, with the same sponges (each new application we used a new sponge) and the same microfibre cloths we mention below. The environment was pretty much the same for each application so we could see which was the overall best car wax. Fingers crossed we also get a good car paint protection out of the polishes too.
Just make sure you clean your car and thoroughly dry it before waxing. We used these Sponges to apply the car wax, you can get a bulk box of them so they should last you a few coats (years) and these Microfibre cloths to wipe and buff off the excess car wax. We did receive sponges and a cloth with a couple of the car waxes we tested in our pursuit of the best car polish but we used these on every application so that we could compare the results fairly.
How to polish your car properly
- Make sure you are out of direct sunlight, the car is cleaned and dried thoroughly
- Grab your sponge and spray it with a little bit of water
- Dab it in to your wax and get a 20pence piece size of wax on the sponge
- Apply this to a 2 x 2 foot square on your cars paint work
- Let this dry for 5 – 10 minutes, depending on the car wax and conditions outside
- Use the first microfibre cloth to wipe off the excess in that dried section
- Use the second microfibre cloth to buff and finish the wax
- Enjoy a shiny, gloss finished protective coating on your cars paintwork
Carnauba Wax
What is carnauba wax and how is it good for my car?
Also called Brazil Wax and palm wax, is a wax of the leaves of the palm Copernicia Prunifera, a plant native to and grown only in the northeastern Brazilian states of Piaui, Ceara, Maranhao, bahia and Rio Grande de Norte. It is known as the “queen of waxes”. Read more at the wiki here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnauba_wax
What Can You Wax?
Anything with paintwork, so this means you should not be waxing your bumpers (if they are plastic), or wheel arches (if they are plastic). Simply your cars paintwork and that is all. Don’t wax your windows or glass on the car, or the side mirrors. There are other products to clean and shine the rest of your car.
How Long Should The Wax Last?
How long should your application of car wax last, will it protect your car through winter? Most of the car waxes out there should and the 4 we have tested below all lasted for at least a month. We are sure they would last a minimum of 2 or more months and should mean that cleaning your car should be quite easy and that you should be protected from grime, oils and other abrasives after the car wax has been applied.
Which is better, hard wax or liquid wax as car polish
From our observations, it is very close in first impressions. The shine and gloss from the Mer liquid car wax and the other three hard waxes were very very similar, if not the same. Only time would tell if the liquid car wax would outlast the hard waxes, as we only left each on for short of a month we don’t know the full answer, but at the one month mark they all still beaded really well and made it easier to clean the car.
Applying the car wax was slightly different, the liquid car wax left white/yellow residue which we were able to wipe off, it felt like it dried in to the car paint work rather than on top of it. It’s hard to explain, but it did feel different applying them and buffing them out.
Should You Hand Wax Or Use An Electric Buffer?
We can’t answer this, we only hand waxed our cars, our elbows and arms are definitely aware of the work we put in. We had really great results from using hand sponges and microfibre cloths and would recommend this.
What Colour Car Do You Have
Depending on the colour of your car, you may be after the best car wax for black cars or the best car polish for white cars, we only tested the car polish and car waxes on our pastel blue Fiat Panda. We believe that the polishes we have reviewed are the best car polish for black cars, white cars, red cars, blue cars, grey cars and beyond, as what they do is enhance the paint job your car has. So if you have a great paint work already on your car, it will only make it look better.
The Reviews
We had a lot of questions before we reviewed these 4 car waxes and have added them above, but the most important part comes below, our reviews of 2 carnauba car waxes, a hard wax of mixed ingredients and a liquid car wax. We have done these reviews for 2 reasons, to see which is the best car wax to make our car look better and protect it and also find which car wax makes for an easier car wash and rinse every few weeks after the car has been waxed.
A very hard comparison of car wax products to decide on a best wax but in the end this went to the Auto Glym HD Car Wax. We tested 3 hard paste car waxes and 1 liquid car wax. The Boora and Auto Glym were similar in price and what they offered but the Auto Glym had a couple of positives over the Boora.
It came with a cloth and sponge so you could get straight to the job without purchasing anything else and Auto Glym do other car cleaning products and you will be better off combining these. They will obviously test all of their products together and so it makes sense using their other stuff too.
If you don’t want to spend as much, the liquid car wax by Mer and the Ultra Gloss Wax, whichever type you want, still offer great car paint protection of your paintwork and a lovely finish at a fraction of the price.
Rank | Buy | Title | Rating | Price | Category | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Check price @ Amazon | Review of Auto Glym High Definition Car Wax | 4.9/5 | £££ | ||
2 | Check price @ Amazon | Review of Boora Carnauba Car Wax | 4.8/5 | £££ | universal | |
3 | Check price @ Amazon | Review of Mer Deep Gloss Finishing Wax | 4.7/5 | ££ | ||
4 | Check price @ Amazon | Review of Ultra Gloss Hard Paste Carnauba Wax | 4.6/5 | £ |
Review of Auto Glym High Definition Car Wax
Auto Glym, a brand we had heard a lot about, but a product we had yet to use. As with the other tests, we cleaned our car and thoroughly dried it before waxing and then gave it a few weeks to see how it would last and protect the cars paintwork for.
Technical DetailsRating4.9/5Price£££Remote ControlNoWarrantyNoVehiclecarsuvtruckvanBrandAuto GlymNumber of seats0 seatsDimensions30 x 17 x 32 cmWeight540 gWashableNoNext Day DeliveryYesStar rating
We finally got round to testing an Auto Glym product, this time a car wax which is made up of a combination of carnauba, microcrystallines, natural waxes, saturated hydrocarbons and oils. So all in all, there seems to be a lot more going on in this car wax than the 100% pure carnauba waxes we have tested.
This is the most expensive car wax we have tested, although it isn’t pure carnauba (which we have read about being the best for your car), does seem to be used by a lot of motorists and car enthusiasts out there.
Some info from the product display;
- Super finish with amazin durability
- A glorious shine, perfect to show your car off
- It’s free of all abrasives
- It is designed to be used on paintwork which still looks good
What do you get with this Auto Glym
- 1x pot of high definition wax (150g)
- 2x application sponges
- 1x hi-tech finishing buffing cloth
What Is It Like To Use?
Well, lets start with how it looked, well, it looked incredible of course, which is to be expected from a high-end car wax. It looked as good, if not better than the other hard carnauba waxes we tested and the liquid one too. It had a deep gloss and perfect shine to it, which really made our light metallic blue Panda look great.
This is the first impression, which we were very very pleased with! We made sure to wax and buff off on a cloudy day, out of direct sunlight and a few hours later it started to rain, so we took another look and the water beaded off perfectly, a sign of a top quality car wax, at first impressions it looked like the best car wax we had tested.
Actually applying the car wax was a different story though, it was harder to buff off and took longer to dry than the other hard car wax we tested. The drying wasn’t too much of a problem, as we could just use the sponge to wipe in new wax on a different part of the car and simply stagger the process of application. This was our final test, so we had built up a good routine and new exactly what we were doing with the buffing, still it took a bit longer to buff off, this may have something to do with the other ingredients in the car wax, making it a little bit harder than the pure carnauba waxes we tested.
How Long Did It Last
We only had this wax on for about 3 weeks, like the others, before we wrote this review, it still looks brand new and like we only applied it yesterday, which is great. Considering the conditions we have driven our car in, the miles we have done and the semi-offroading the Panda has done, we are thoroughly impressed.
The water beading and sheeting is just like it was on the first day we waxed it which is great. We gave the car a wash today, it has bird poo on the top from parking under a tree. It has muddy and grimey wheel arches and car doors from our off road adventures and mucky paws and splatter marks from the dog getting in the boot. After the wash, which might I add was very easy to do, it looked like we had just waxed it.
We are sure that this wax would last at least 2 months, if not more of rough weather, grime and salt and more.
Apparently this should last months, but we just don’t have that sort of time, these reviews have already taken us nearly 3 months to test multiple car waxes.
If you were to apply a new wax every 3 months or more to your car, this little pot should last you years, we barely touched it, although we do have a little Fiat Panda.Verdict
Out of the 4 waxes we tested, this Auto Glym HD Car Wax is the car wax that we will keep on getting out and using on our car. We are thoroughly impressed with it, it was harder to apply than the other three, but the shine, gloss finish and protection it gave us was just slightly more impressive than the carnauba and liquid waxes. Maybe that has something to do with practice and this was our 4th test in a matter of months, but either way, we think this is the best car wax we have used and worth every penny.
Review of Boora Carnauba Car Wax
A 100% pure carnauba hard car wax by Boora which promises great water beading, a lovely shine finish and no residues after application. We use it to wax our little Fiat Panda to see how well it works on our cars paintwork.
Technical DetailsRating4.8/5Price£££Remote ControlNoWarrantyNoVehiclecarsuvtruckvanBrandBooraCategoryuniversalNumber of seats0 seatsWeight181 gWashableNoNext Day DeliveryNoStar rating
This ‘easy to apply’ hard car wax by Boora is 100% pure carnauba, it is advertised as a paste but actually is a very hard wax. It isn’t the cheapest of car wax’s we have purchased, but it’s 100% pure carnauba (which we actually hadn’t had heard of before we ordered it) and this is meant to be the best ingredient there is to protect your cars paint work and give it a lovely gloss finish.
So what do you get for your money? Well, just this little tin, but this little tin and it’s contents does wonders to the look of your car and will definitely protect it for some time to come. We applied this Boora hard car wax to our small car, and the result spoke for itself.
We had never used a carnauba wax for our car before, or ever actually. We spent a bit more to test this product and see how this would work on our car and see if it was the best car wax we had used.
Applying the Boora Carnauba Car Wax
It’s a hard wax, so, of course, it is not as easy as liquid waxes are to apply to your cars paint, but this was not hard overall. We had some small yellow sponges which we used to apply small amounts of wax to the car, it was as easy as any other hard wax we tested, if not the same.
After each little section, we waited a few minutes and then rubbed it off with a microfibre cloth towel. Within a few minutes of applying the Boora hard carnauba car wax, we noticed a vast improvement to the cars paint work, overall, we were totally pleased with how it performed and made the car look.
How Did It Protect The Cars Bodywork Over Time?
We had this hard carnauba car wax on the paintwork of our car for about 3 weeks. We live in the countryside, park our car on a grassy/muddy car park, we drive around small country lanes and down rough roads. It has also been raining quite a lot recently, so this car wax has been put through it’s paces and we could not be happier.
It has lasted really well, 3 weeks after applying and water still beads off of the car and debris, muck and other dirt you don’t want on your car seems to just stay off, it’s pretty incredible! We don’t think this is exactly down to the carnauba wax though, as we have seen similar results from the other three car waxes we have tested, is this the best car waxes we have tested? Maybe, but it’s also one of the most expensive.Pros
This is carnauba car wax, apparently the best there is! There are definitely some positives to this product by Boora which we will go through.
- Great shine after it has been removed by the microfibre cloth
- Lasts weeks and definitely protects the cars paint work and body from grime on the roads
- Makes older car paint look newer and gives it a new burst of life
- Very easy to apply to the car and also remove
- Can wax caravans, boats, vans, motorbikes as well
- Not too pricey compared to other carnauba car waxes
Cons
- It’s not the cheapest carnauba car wax, there are others costing less
- Its a hard wax, if you are after a liquid, this is not for you
Verdict
Super impressed with our first hard carnauba wax experience. We applied it the same and buffed it just like any other wax we have used before, but this product by Boora really did make our car shine and finish it off beautifully. We have had it on the car for 3 weeks now and it’s still beading really nicely and keeps the worst of the grime off of our car, especially good considering it’s getting in to winter now.
Review of Mer Deep Gloss Finishing Wax
This is the first review we have done of a liquid car wax, the Mer Deep Gloss Finishing Wax. It’s a 500ml bottle, polymer based car wax with ‘Auto Shine Technologie’. Like the others, this offers a deep gloss finish and a long lasting protection which repels common contaminants and keeps your paint work looking great.
Technical DetailsRating4.7/5Price££Remote ControlNoWarrantyNoVehiclecarsuvtruckvanBrandMerNumber of seats0 seatsWeight581 gWashableNoNext Day DeliveryNoStar rating
We hadn’t heard of Mer before, so we did not know what to expect with their products, especially this car wax. It was a good price and wasn’t a hard wax, so thought we could test it to compare to the carnauba and hard car waxes out there that we had already tested.
As with the others, it offers water resistant properties which helps keep grime, contaminants and other muc off of your car, this also means that it is easier to wash clean too, we tested for both of these to see how this brand and liquid car wax does on our little Fiat Panda.
What Did We Receive
We received just the bottle pictured above and no cloth, so you will have to buy your own if you don’t already have one, some sponges would help apply the wax too.
How Was It To Apply
We can’t compare to other liquid car wax but can to some other top of the range hard waxes we have tested on this page. When first applying it to the car, it seemed just like the others we had tried but it dried a little bit harder compared to the wax. It was in a much more solid state as we let it dry and buffed it off, it wasn’t waxy though and more like hard toothpaste. So it was definitely different to apply than the others.
It was harder to remove and then buff off with the second cloth but the shine it gave was impeccable. We were thoroughly satisfied with the beautiful sheeny gloss finish and the water beaded perfectly, a great sign that the liquid car wax had created a seal on top of the cars paint.
We definitely used a lot more of the liquid wax than we did of the hard wax, so there is that to keep in mind. This would maybe only do 2 or 3 applications before it was all finished. Were as with a hard wax, we have done 3 applications already and hardly touched them, they will last a lot longer.
How Long Did The Protective Seal Last
Just like the others, we left it for a few weeks to see how it did. The seal looked like it was still there after about 3 weeks and when we cleaned the car it was quite easy, it was full of muck, bird poo and salt from the roads. It did come across though that the shine wasn’t as deep as the wax alternatives, which is a shame.
We are happy that it still seems water resistant and that the cleaning of the car is still a simple rinse down process, all thanks to the liquid wax by Mer but that glossy finish has diminished a bit. The others we tested looked like they had just been re-waxed after we had washed the car clean.Pros
- Cheaper and more affordable than the carnauba hard car wax alternatives, much cheaper
- Comes in a liquid form if that is what you are after
- Shine, gloss finish and protective seal initially look great
Cons
- After a few weeks and washing the car the shine had diminished a bit
- It was harder to get off when we applied it to the car with a sponge, maybe we left it dry for too long, but the hard car wax did not do this
Verdict
A great car wax, comes in liquid form, unlike the others we tested. It was a little bit harder to apply and buff off as it dried more like a hard shell or dried toothpaste, a bit more elbow grease is required.
The shine and finish look great when first done but it didn’t last as long as the others we tested, maybe a second application might deepen that gloss and help it last longer.
Review of Ultra Gloss Hard Paste Carnauba Wax
Are you after a carnauba wax to wax your car but looking for something more affordable? We tested this car wax which was the cheapest carnauba car wax we could find on Amazon UK to see if it’s worth the money.
Technical DetailsRating4.6/5Price£Remote ControlNoWarrantyNoVehiclecarsuvtruckvanBrandCar Care MagicNumber of seats0 seatsWeight181 gWashableNoNext Day DeliveryYesStar rating
Just like the Boora carnauba car wax we tested, this wax came in a small little metal tin, this product though comes with a little ‘applicator pad’, basically a small sponge used to apply the wax before you buff it off.
This wax is the cheapest we have reviewed, even though it’s a carnauba which is meant to be more expensive than the other hard waxes and liquid waxes out there.
First impressions are really good, the shine and glossy finish is on par with the other waxes we have tested on our little Fiat Panda and the paint work looks great. The rain beads off of the cars body really nicely showing that it now has a protective layer on top of the paint.
The only real negative with this car wax is that it just hasn’t given us the deepest of gloss looks and shines that we have seen using the Boora car wax. We have had a lot of practice now on our cars, waxing them a few times means we now know the little tricks to get the most out of the wax, just with this one, even after a couple of applications, it didn’t give us the results the others did.
It was exactly the same to apply as the others and you can see how this was done at the top of this post in our how to apply car wax instructional guide.
We left this car wax on our car for another 3 weeks like the others before we did this review. It, like the other carnauba car wax protected our little Panda from grime on the roads, bird poo wiped off easier with this wax already on the car body and water continued to bead off of the paint work.Pros
- Cheapest carnauba car wax we could find on Amazon UK
- 100% carnauba car wax, so if you are after this specific type of wax, then this is the most affordable
- Long lasting protection with a great price
Cons
- Not the best shines or deepest gloss finish, even after a couple of applications
- Harder to buff off when applying it to your cars paintwork, make sure to apply a very thin coat when using the sponge
Verdict
A very good carnauba hard car wax, but not the best. This is mirrored in it’s price, being the cheapest we have tested. It does give a good shine to the car and protected it as well as the others. It didn’t give the best shine compared to the others and was harder to buff off compared to the others as well, including the other hard waxes.