Review: BLACKFIRE BlackICE Hybrid Montan Sealant Wax

[Mike Phillips]

Review: BLACKFIRE BlackICE Hybrid Montan Sealant Wax


Blackfire recently introduced a brand new wax called BlackICE, which is a hybrid wax using a blend of highly refined Carnauba Wax blended with highly refined Montan wax to create to create a super high quality finishing wax for paint in new or excellent condition or for paint that has been polished to perfection. Blackfire chemists state they have pioneered a "color-charging" process to increase the waxes darkening effect making it perfect for black and dark colored cars.

I wanted to test this new wax out and just by chance I had the perfect candidate car in need of a show car makeover, a rare, 1987 Monte Carlo SS with single stage black paint.

Unlike a clearcoated car, when you're working on single stage paint you're actually working on the paint itself, not a secondary clear layer over the colored layer. Single stage black paint in my opinion has the potential to look deeper and darker than any clearcoated black paint because there's nothing between your eyes and the pigmented coating of paint.

What you need to maximize any type of finish, be it a single stage or a clearcoated finish is a wax that can bring out the deepest, darkest, wettest looking shine and this means a highly refined wax that does not contain any type of abrasives, cleaners or dulling solvents. This means you need a finishing wax and Blackfire BlackICE is a finishing wax perfect for this project car.

Smooth, hand application
This wax is intended to be applied by hand using the included polyfoam applicator pad. When I first used this foam applicator pad the first thing I noticed and liked about it is how thick it is and how both sides are smooth and flat.




The thickness helps to spread out the pressure from you hand and also to allow your fingers to depress into it a little helping you to grip it as you spread the wax. Nice.




Hold the pad between your thumb and fingers and the place just one end of the applicator pad into the jar and swipe it against the wax to get some wax onto the face of the pad.





Then using a gentle, overlapping circular motion, spread out a thin layer over the paint.






That's how you should apply it by hand.

After you have applied the wax to the entire car, allow the wax to dry for 10 to 20 minutes depending upon the temperature and humidity. You want the wax to fully dry before you wipe it off.


Machine Application
Anyone that's ever worked with me on a car project knows I prefer to do as many steps as possible by machine. Nothing wrong with hand application but a machine like a dual action polisher will always do a better job of applying and spreading out a thin uniform layer than the human hand.

So after we machine polished the paint on the Monte Carlo to perfection, the next step is to machine apply the BlackICE wax.


The inside diameter of the BlackICE wax jar is 3 5/8"





The outside diameter of the Rupes 4" pad measures right at 3 3/4" AND the face of the pad is tapered, not cylindrical.



You can see the tapered design in the below picture and what this means is...




The foam face of the Rupes 4" pad will compress easily and slip right into the jar...




Like this...




Then *blip* the on off switch a few times on the 2-3 speed setting and...





Voilà! you have wax on the face of the pad and you're ready to start machine waxing!





So lets get busy...





Here's Chris, Craig laying down some BlackICE wax on the perfectly prepared Monte Carlo paint...




Here's another buddy named Chris laying down the wax on the back of the car...







Here's Frank machine waxing the front clip...




Here's me being artistic...




Wipe-off
After letting the wax dry for about 15 minutes or so it's time to carefully wipe it off, to do this we all wore microfiber gloves and used the very plush green microfiber towels...




Oh yeah....

[Mike Phillips]

Continued...


Now for the beauty shots showing the results...





























On Autogeek.net

BLACKFIRE BlackICE Hybrid Montan Sealant Wax

Bright Green Microfiber Towel, 3 Pack

Microfiber Gloves 6 Pairs

Griots Garage Professional Random Orbital 3 Inch Polisher

Rupes 100 mm (4 Inch) Foam Pads

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

Wow that black paint is deep and rich with color.

Looks incredible.

[Mike Phillips]

Wow that black paint is deep and rich with color.

Looks incredible.

It really looks like that in person too... the owner and his car buddies were blown away. I'm going to have the cousin to this car here for my next Detailing Boot Camp Class and I think it's basecoat/clearcoat, if it is we'll use the BlackICE on it too and then I'll get both cars together for a duo picture.

[spiralout462]

That Chevy looks wonderful! What a turn around! I have single stage black on my dd truck ....It NEEDS Black Ice!!! It's nice to see the bright green towels being used. They are some of my favorites!

[SSTG]

What's your personal opinion Mike? Does it live up to the hype?
I just received my jar today. I will be using it on my Black Corvette.
I'm excited to try it, but unfortunately it wouldn't be the first time I've been let down by hype.

Edit: I just seen your post, but I would still like to hear if you think this is more than just a new wax on the market. And it truly outshines the others? Pun intended!

[sasson]

WAW! I was very skeptical about this product because it was new, and a bit expensive with no reviews...

This seems ... amazing!
If it has good protection too... I guess... Well, I guess I will buy it when I will meet you!

[FUNX650]

Hi Mike...

What is your opinion of the recent upsurge of interest in LSP's proclaiming
the virtues of montan-wax...that they have contained within them.

Don't get me wrong...
-I, for one, appreciate that this information is divulged regarding BlackFire BlackIce.

-But it seems like it was only yesterday, that the search for waxes containing only
the highest-grade/% of carnuba-wax...and carnuba-wax only!!...was the craze.


RE: Color charged.
-I still suspect that "color-charged" has nothing to do with the: "Visible-colors".

-It may just be the naming-convention that Physicists developed for a
mathematical-system to explain their observations about quarks, anti-quarks, etc.

I could very well be wrong though.




Bob

[Mike Phillips]

That Chevy looks wonderful! What a turn around! I have single stage black on my dd truck ....It NEEDS Black Ice!!! It's nice to see the bright green towels being used. They are some of my favorites!

I like the new florescent green microfiber towels, you'll probably see me use more of these on projects into the future.

What's your personal opinion Mike? Does it live up to the hype?

Yes. At least it put the finish on this Monte Carlo over the top. The final results with any "finishing wax", ALWAYS starts with a great foundation.

I just received my jar today. I will be using it on my Black Corvette.
I'm excited to try it, but unfortunately it wouldn't be the first time I've been let down by hype.

Edit: I just seen your post, but I would still like to hear if you think this is more than just a new wax on the market. And it truly outshines the others? Pun intended!

Do the right prep work and then lay down a thin layer and let it fully dry before wiping it off. The directions on the webpage say about 10 minutes but I found in our garage it took closer to 20 to 25 minutes before it was fully dry.

It wipes off very easy when it's dry. If it's not dry, well then wiping it off is like applying it because it's still wet, the opposite of dry. Temperature and humidity and even air flow affect how fast or how slow a finishing was dries, as well as the thickness or thinness of the application.

Use the "Swipe Test" to determine if the wax is dry and ready to wipe off. If the layer of wax does not swipe clear, then give the wax more time to dry.

Here's Bruno and I showing how to do the Swipe Test




Here's Matt and I showing the Swipe Test
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byK5mffnJh8]How to perform the swipe test with Pinnacle XMT series - YouTube[/video]

WAW! I was very skeptical about this product because it was new, and a bit expensive with no reviews...

This seems ... amazing!
If it has good protection too... I guess... Well, I guess I will buy it when I will meet you!

As long as I get the Grand National here you'll get a chance to test it out in person.

Hi Mike...

What is your opinion of the recent upsurge of interest in LSP's proclaiming
the virtues of montan-wax...that they have contained within them.

Don't get me wrong...
-I, for one, appreciate that this information is divulged regarding BlackFire BlackIce.

-But it seems like it was only yesterday, that the search for waxes containing only
the highest-grade/% of carnuba-wax...and carnuba-wax only!!...was the craze.

For years I've been asked what I think about ingredients in products and I always state I'm not a chemist so I have to leave the chemistry specifics up to the actual chemists.

Instead, what I do and what I recommend is to go with a brand name you trust and trust that the chemist have done their homework.

RE: Color charged.
-I still suspect that "color-charged" has nothing to do with the: "Visible-colors".

-It may just be the naming-convention that Physicists developed for a
mathematical-system to explain their observations about quarks, anti-quarks, etc.

I could very well be wrong though.




Bob

I've seen the pendulum swing to extremes both ways in my life, there was the "synthetic" crowd that held strongly to the belief that any product that changed the color or darkened the color was a bad thing. They didn't know what they were talking about. And there's the time tested camp that likes a product that adds darkness which is better stated as clarity to a paint. I'm in this camp.

With a clear coated paint job on ANY car, I want the clarity of the clear coat to be maxed out so my eyes can see the color underneath of it.

With a single stage paint job on ANY car, I want to see the full richness of color.


A quality finishing wax will do both to either type of paint.

[Caleb@ImpeccableImage]

Very nice turnout!