PR: Sonax Premium Class Paint Cleaner and High Speed Wax

[Shane731]

First off, I would like to thank Meghan for sending me a couple of the new Sonax products to review. That was very sweet of her, and I appreciate it. Thanks Meghan!


Sonax Premium Class Paint Cleaner


Packaging: Flip top lid, slender bottle
Labeling: easy to read instructions
Pricing: $29.99

Pros
1. Easy to use
2. Easy to remove
3. Got pretty good results with my application

Cons
1. Product is a bit thin, and so it can come out of the bottle rather quickly if you're not careful
2. Price


Sonax High Speed Wax



Packaging: Nice-sized bottle with rather fat sprayer head - ergonomically easy to hold
Labeling: easy to read instructions
Pricing: $16.99
Durability: N/A
Beading/Sheeting: N/A

Pros
1. Easy to hold bottle
2. Nice mist out of sprayer
3. Easy to apply - similar to Pinnacle Liquid Souveran spray wax in the way it applied and removed
4. Very slick - Easily as slick as Optimum Car Wax or Meguiar's Ultimate Quik Wax

Cons
1. Price

I did apply Sonax High Speed to our 1990 Honda Accord Thursday night after washing it - very slick on the paint. Keep in mind this is the car that sits under the trees all the time. Had a look at it today - it looks like it just got washed maybe this morning, and didn't have a lot of crap from the trees on it like it usually does. Sorry I didn't take any pics - it was getting dark when I finished (I have to wash our cars in the evening, usually after 5 PM). This is definitely a product to keep an eye on.


OK, now for some pictures. I am working on detailing our 2000 Honda Odyssey right now, and found a good place to test out these products and see what they were made of, specifically the paint cleaner (I already knew I liked the wax) - the license plate light area, a pretty commonly missed area.

Before (after wash only)


After clay, paint cleaner on piece of terry cloth towel, and spray wax


I also used the paint cleaner on both my terry cloth rag and Q-tips to get in the door handle area. Just an after pic - sorry about the picture quality:


Conclusion: Both products perform as they are claimed to. Would I buy the paint cleaner - no, and for pretty much one reason - the price. It is just way too much money for what you are getting. Go to Wal-Mart and get yourself a bottle of Swirl-X instead. Will perform pretty much the same for less than a third of the price of the Sonax. Keep in mind that the Sonax paint cleaner is a primarily chemical paint cleaner, with some mild abrasives in it. I think you can find better out there for the price. Would I buy the spray wax - yeah, I would say so. It competes very well against some of my favorite spray waxes - Optimum Car Wax, Ultimate Quik Wax, and Liquid Souveran spray wax. A bit pricey perhaps, but not so much it would prevent me from buying it. No noticeable problems with streaking with this product either - I was applying it as it was getting cool out and didn't have any streaking problems, so that is a big plus for me. In conclusion, based on my limited experience with two randomly picked Sonax products, this line is definitely worth checking into if you have not already done so. Who knows, you might find something else to add to your (cough cough) collection!


Sorry I'm no Cee Dog. Just tried to call it the way I saw it. Thanks for looking!

[agpatel]

Nice review, I agree that speed wax is great. Used it for last month or so and has worked great. I do sometimes get issues with buffing on hot panels (but that was expected) as i just wanted to see how it was if car was washed in sun and product used in sun on 90+*F day. It worked, but buffing was a pita. Finish is slick as you described as well.

[ScottB]

nice review ... seems quite fair too.

[CEE DOG]

Shane, I must have missed it when you first posted this. Thanks for the review! Appreciate your honest opinion.

[Old Tiger]

Very good review. As Fox News likes to say "Fair & Balanced" I got the spray wax but havent tried it yet. I wont try it in the sun. I passed on the polish for the reason you noted. Can you compare it to PCL?

[Shane731]

I passed on the polish for the reason you noted. Can you compare it to PCL?

Is PCL the Pinnacle stuff? I haven't tried that, so I can't compare it to that. Even so, it's only 8.4 ounces compared to the 16 oz. bottle of the Pinnacle stuff, so it's like half the product for the same price. To me, it seemed to be pretty comparable to Meguiar's Swirl X or Deep Crystal Paint Cleaner (which is discontinued). Little bit more info I forgot to include:

The paint cleaner is white with a slightly gritty feel to it. You can definitely feel it if you rub it between your fingers. Not much of a smell. The spray wax has a milky white look to it. It has a light smell I'm not how to describe. Not the most pleasant smell I guess, but not a chemical smell either. Very subtle. You don't really even notice it. I probably need to do some car washing next week, so I'll probably use it again then.

[Meghan]

Thank you for taking the time to do the review, nice and honest just how I like them.

[mg6045]

Ive been playing with the paint cleaner a bit and it will do some correction with a PC. i was actually pretty surprised. I used it on a repainted panel, on my jeep and it smoothed down some washing swirls for sure. IMO its more of a polish than a paint cleaner. But at the same time it does a really good job of degreasing the paint, which is really noticeable. its expensive, a little goes a long way I guess though.

for somebody who only hand polish's (with non absrasive , filling paint cleaners) , i think this would be a great product and more effective than most. But for someone who use's a machine and has the proper polish's, Its likely not worth it, but it will kill two birds with one stone i guess.