I generally use Griot's liquid wax on my car. It's easy to apply, comes off easily and seems to last OK. I usually need to put a new coat on every month or so, by which time water doesn't bead anymore and the bugs don't come off very easily.

When I put my summer wheels back on, I applied a coat of old fashioned paste wax (Mother's, I think) to them, hoping to make the evil Mintex brake dust easier to remove. Three months later, the wax coat on the wheels is still there. Pretty impressive.

So I'm thinking that the paste wax might be worth the extra trouble on the rest of the car, too. But then I do a few internet searches and find that pretty much every car care site says that there is no difference between paste and liquid wax, and that Meguiars has even stopped producing paste wax.

So what's going on here? Is paste wax thicker/harder/more durable enough to warrent the extra labor? Do the old rules (more carnauba = better wax) still apply?

I was told to use non-carnauba. Liquid Glass or Klasse All-In-One sealant/polish. At 17-20$ they are not cheap but I am pretty happy with the results(LG). If you wax once a month, the Pinnacle Paste Glaz was supposed to have the greatest carnauba for the money.It melts off from the elements.

The best wax that I have found, and I have tried a lot, is the Meguiar's #26 Hi-Tec yellow wax. It is part of there proffesional prodcuts line. It is a blend of highest grade carnuba, silicone, and polymers. The stuff gives the best protection and finish I have seen.

Templar

I also use the Hi-tec yellow wax and it is phenomenal. It is pretty hard to remove, and seems to laste alot longer than liquid waxes I have tried.

Zymol (its a liquid wax) is the best wax i think you can get, i work a a car shop and one of my buddies is a detailer and between the 2 of us we must have tried everyhting out there, zymol is about $15 a bottle but its AWESOME...also you have to remember getting the paint to look good is more than just wash and wax, its at least a 3 step process (show cars use a 7 step process but i wont get into that) 1. wash 2. polish (thats very important to give the car a deep shine. wax protects the paint, polish is what makes it look good) then 3. wax....the all in one waxes just dont work as well as doing everything one at a time. every now and agian i clay bar works nicely too

heh.

The Zymol that you buy at your local autoparts store is nothing more than good old fashoned turtle wax.

Keep in mind when you are shopping for auto wax that paste wax is *much* easier to keep out of all the crevises that we have on our cars. My door handles come right to mind... Liquid waxes are alright, just don't apply them too heavily.

Nate is right about making a car shine being a multi-step process, but be careful about polish. Polishes are sometimes abrasive, and just because it says "Safe for clear coats" doesn't mean you want it on your car.

Also, see if you can get your hands on a clay bar. MEguires and Mother both make on available through retail. Man does it have an effect on your shine!

Hope I helped.

-neuro-

Buy the real zymol paste waxes or (what I perfer) the Pinnacle paste waxes. Each have about 40-50 percent carnuaba, alot more than any other availabel waxes.

PS-They dont stain vinyl white, they come on and off easy, and they smell great. Not yer everyday turtle wax as others assume.

I agree that Pinnacle Past Glaz works great, and the fact that it doesn't stain the vinyl trim is a big plus for me.
I've used the Meguires yellow #26 and found it to be good but I like the Pinnacle better. I wrote to Meguires and asked which of their waxes would give me the longest protection and they told me that would be their Medallion wax, which is a liquid. I've used that and it does seem to last pretty well.
I think it just comes down to what you're happy with. To me, it is more pleasurable using a high quality carnauba wax like Pinnacle or Zymol and since it's more pleasurable, I'm likely to wax more often.

Thanks for all the recommendations. I do polish a couple of times a year, but mainly I want to stay ahead of the curve by washing and waxing often enough that not too much gets through to the paint.

Otherwise, I'm not a fanatic about this stuff--pretty much every time I've waxed my car I come away thinking, "looks pretty good to me..." so my main criteria is long term durability. I think I'll go back to paste for a while and see how it works.

Don't know if you guys will agree that the inexpensive original turlte wax works quite well. It feels like there is a coat of oil on the surface of the paint after applying it, and it is easy to use too. I know that good polish/wax requires multi-step, but I wonder which one is the best one step wax for people who can't spend too much time on car care? I just bought the Zymol Cleaner Wax, is it one of the one step wax? If not, what is it?

I've heard great things about Klasse, but I haven't used it because none of the stores that I live around carry it.

I got Autoglym from www.properautocare.com
Prior to that I'd used Meguire's Gold. All I can say is I was/am extremely impressed with Autoglym. Let's just say a week later I ordred more of the stuff, inclucing their shampoo wash. I used their Resin Polish and Gloss Protectant (wax). The protectant goes on (and off) easier than anything I have EVER used and the car has more gloss/shine/smoothness/etc. than anything else.
My $.02.