***** and Other Expensive Waxes

[Dogged]

[Edit: Regarding use of asterisks in this thread, see posts #15 and #20]

After reading a post by paddy328, I read a little bit about ***** and Swissvax waxes. I did not know waxes existed at that price points of the most expenses waxes on the market.

The most expensive waxes I found were

***** ****** Glaze $7,118.00
(lifetime refills at no charge) (70% Carnauba Sap/Wax by volume, 100% white)

Swissvax Divine $1,980
(over 60% by volume of ultra pure Brazilian white carnauba, made to order)

***** ****** Glaze $1,852
(lifetime refills at no charge) (61% Carnauba Sap/Wax by volume, 100% white)

The charge seems to be the same number of dollars whether payment is made in US Dollars or British Pounds. That does not make much sense to me.

Swissvax Divine may be the most expensive of the waxes in the long run. I did not see any free refills for life promotions. I hope a little goes a long way. A lifetime refill, of course, lasts only as long as the vendor who is to honor the refill requests. I wonder whether the Royale Glaze is really noticeably better than the Vintage.

Let's see. If I waxed my car one a month for twenty years, the ***** ****** Glaze would cost a little less than $30 per month.

I am not really the target customer for these products. As a weekend detailer, I would not use enough of the product to get all that many refills.
I suppose the target customer is a professional detailer with a good exotic car customer base, some wealthy individuals where price is no object, and a small number of dedicated detailers willing to stick with the product for many years. I read paddy328's comment on Zymol Vintage Wax that "if you can afford it and don't mind sticking with the same wax for years to come, then this is a superb product." No matter how good the wax may be, however, I would not want to stick with the same product for life. I like to experiment with different things.

[picus]

Vintage is an interesting wax; I know this sounds weird but it literally puts most other waxes to shame. There is a clarity to it that is just astounding. If it weren't for the ungodly fees to use it commercially I would own it, but for $1700 I would want to use it on customer cars.

[Dogged]

Originally Posted by picus

****** is an interesting wax; I know this sounds weird but it literally puts most other waxes to shame. There is a clarity to it that is just astounding. If it weren't for the ungodly fees to use it commercially I would own it, but for $1700 I would want to use it on customer cars.

Does the cost I quoted for ******, with lifetime refills, not apply to commercial use of the product? For commercial use, is there a lifetime refill policy even at a higher cost, or is commercial use excluded due to the larger volume of material that would be used?

[picus]

Commercial use is excluded from the lifetime refills because of the larger volume used - to get the refills you need to be a "Zymol Licensed Detailer". Interestingly, I just inquired to Zymol about this and was told the up front cost is:

$7,400 for the license.
$2,000 for a mandatory "school" in California
$2,400 yearly after that.

So ~$11,000 to get off the ground, then $2,400 a year. At ~$100 an application of Vintage it'd take about 200 applications over say, 5 years to make that back, minus the added time involved. Not worth it, imo. Better to buy Vintage for $1,700, charge $100 an app, get ~150 apps out of a tub ($15,000), then buy it again at $1,700.

[derek80]

Yeah, seems like too much money and hassle...
Kev, so about this mandatory school, is it training? Like "how to apply wax with your palm/fingers"?

[picus]

I guess so!

[lax01]

Can the forum buy some Royale and split it up and then send in for refills

[paddy328]

Its the same thing over here. It costs 6k british pounds to become zymol detailer but then you attend a 2 day course at zymol uk. This is free i think. We have a few zymol details over here now. Most with royale. It comes with two pots, one white (for light coloured cars) and a blue wax (for dark coloured cars). i know of one guy that has a red wax instead of the blue because he mainly does ferrari's.

It would be alot cheaper for me to buy it over in america and have it sent over here. I would make a 40+% saving.

You could use it on your details, just dont tell the world or advertise what you do.

Ive seen a few cars finished with royale and they look awesome. So does divine though. With divine, you get 400ml of wax in 2 pots but you dont get free refills, so you would have to charge alot more for a detail. I was offered a pot of divine for 350 quid but i didnt have the money at the time. They brought out a range of two or three generic pots for swissvax detailers. I was offered the one for german paint types.

Swissvax dont mind you using their products for proffesional detailing but you are not allowed to use the name in advertising or use the logo, where as zymol say that your just not allowed to use it. It costs nothing to become a licensed swissvax detailer and i think you get 25% off their products when you become one. I asked about it but they dont need any more for now.

Saying that, the most famous detailer over here (paul daulton) uses royale and isnt zymol registered. He told them to piss off and that he's done so much for the brand that he shouldnt have to pay.

go on youtube and search for paul daulton or miracle detail. Is very up his own arse but he is very good at what he does.

[Dogged]

Originally Posted by paddy328

It would be alot cheaper for me to buy it over in america and have it sent over here. I would make a 40+% saving.

Why does ***** charge so much more for the same product in the UK than in the US? Is that a problem in the UK for products generally, or is it an isolated problem?

I saw a thread in the Detaiing World forum you mentioned on buying Zymol from US vendors for import into the UK. ***** apparently has a policy prohibiting US vendors from exporting products to the UK to force UK citizens to pay the higher prices charged in the UK.

Although the price of ****** in the US seems awfully high to me, by UK standards it is dirt cheap.

It sure does not seem right.

Bob

[paddy328]

Your not wrong there mate. Why they just change it from dollars to pounds is beyond me. It really annoys me. I was hoping swissol would do the same but it seems that you guys pay more than we do. Zaino is the same here too. Its double the price it is over there. Something to do with it having to come by boat.

[Silverado07]

Man, I don't know, but for $1800.00 I could probably get another coat of clear shot on my truck and still have money left over to pay someone to put on a coat of Souveran! And $7,000 plus for a carnauba? It is probably a fantastic product ,but it's probably better than my eyes could differentiate.
I would love to see vehicles up close and personal with the different waxes on them, but I would bet that the different colors of the vehicles would change the reflection of the light and make each one appear to be completely different. I guess you would have to do a test of various products on the same vehicle with the same prep.
I will say that in looking on Detailing World and some other sites, many of our fellow detailers have bought detailing with carnauba to new heights. Just makes me want to improve my technique also. Fun to read about! Enjoy

[Silverado07]

Pardon my manners, it's been a long day but I should have started by welcoming Paddy328 to the forum and hoping he likes our growing family at DU. So welcome and enjoy your stay!