TURTLE WAX ZIP WAX SUPER CONCENTRATE

This has been around for years & I was surprised to see it was not catalogued so I put in a product suggestion & am writing the first review on it to let you know how good I think it is.

Yesterday, as my partner had a day off work & was staying with me for a long weekend, we decided to go outside in the sun & wash our cars together.

This is not a job that I enjoy or embark on very often. In fact my car is lucky if I wash it twice a year & I also usually rely on the dealer to wash it when it is serviced!
My partner on the other hand, runs his through the car wash regularly or as of late when funds have been a bit tight, has washed it regularly at home. He also polishes it sometimes.

Armed with two buckets, two sponges, a brush for the alloy wheels, a hose reel connected to the outside tap & a huge bottle of Zip Wax that I had found in the garage, we ventured outside to begin.

Our bottle of Zip Wax (left behind by my sons who always use this brand) is 5 litres! This size claims up to 300 washes.
It is manufactured by Turtle Wax.
It claims it is the World's most popular car wash & wax. It's unique fast acting formula deep cleans, shines & adds Turtle Wax in one easy step to give your car a shining, streak free finish every time.
Adds a Turtle Wax shine as it washes.

Instructions are to rinse off loose dirt with cold water prior to washing.
use one capful to an empty bucket then fill with warm water.
Wash vehicle then rinse with clean water.
Dry with chamois.


~How we used it & why~

My car is only 2 years old & has a metallic finish. Partly chosen because I like the look & partly because I think I can get away with not having to polish it! The last time I had shampooed it I used a small bottle of Halford's shampoo which came in a car care kit that I had at Christmas. The finished result wasn't awe inspiring.

I took a look at the sorry state of my car. I occasionally have to wash a large bird pooh off (living on the coast we regularly get bombarded with huge seagull poohs!) & for this I use washing up liquid on a piece of wet kitchen tissue. I leave it on for half an hour or so to soak the dried on bird pooh so that it comes away easily. It does leave it very smeary though. The day before the big wash we had driven through salt water on a tidal road beside an estuary. You can imagine how bad it looked, covered in dirt, brake dust caking the alloys, salt water mingled with dirty windscreen & bodywork & dried on, & the residue of cleaned off bird poohs - lovely!!

We set to work, my other half with the hose & bucket of warm water into which he poured a couple of capfuls of the Zip Wax (he used more than the recommended amount as it was so desperate!) He rinsed the car with clear water first, then started 'soaping' it all over with the shampoo & a sponge, including the wheel arches, windows, headlights, windscreen & mirrors. He then rinsed it all off with clear water from the hose pipe. Meanwhile I got going with the alloy wheels. Everything is very close together on my alloys, which makes it very difficult to get between them & to clean properly. With the other bucket I also put a bit of the Zip Wax in the bottom & topped up with warm water. I had a little brush which I had purchased specially for the purpose & so I stirred up the shampoo & water mixture & began dipping in the brush & inserting it between all the 'spokes'. The front wheels especially were very dirty, being thick with brake dust & before half a wheel was done I had a bucket of black water! I continued with the dirty water however & it did an excellent job.

Now on to my partner's car which is not metallic. This is an old vehicle but one that has been lovingly cared for over the years. He regularly cleans it & polishes it, sometimes at the garage car wash, sometimes at home. He is very proud of the finished appearance. I have to say that the frequent use of car washes at the garage is not my idea of looking after the car paintwork, as I think it scratches. Also, whichever price wash you choose, it never seems to be able to tackle alloy wheels. In my opinion if you are using a mechanical car wash, you might just as well have the cheapest one as it doesn't do any of the other promised jobs properly.

Looking at his car we observed that it was covered in dust (probably from the Sahara or maybe volcanic ash or some such!) & looked a bit sorry for itself. The alloys didn't look that bad. As he has been a bit strapped for cash lately, he had been using washing up liquid to wash his beloved car at home! It hadn't been looking as good as it used to.

We set to work again using the same methods as with my car before. His alloys are fairly flat looking & don't have 'spokes' or anything about them which you would need to get between. I used the brush anyway, as it was a good way to apply the shampoo & give them a bit of a rub. Needless to say the dirty water was only light grey as against black when I had done my wheels!

Now I know you are supposed to use a chamois leather to get the water off after washing a car, but it doesn't get done if you use a garage car wash, you just drive out with it dripping. Unless you are going to give your car a thorough polishing afterwards, I can't really see the point of putting all that effort in with chamois leather, & this Zip Wax doesn't leave any streaks.


~Results~

Our finished results from using the Zip Wax for everything were amazing! My partner's car is a dark maroon & there were no streaks at all. He kept saying all afternoon how good his car looked. As this product is a shampoo which incorporates wax, it gives a lovely shiny polished finish to be proud of. Possibly there won't be globules sitting on the paint when it rains, but to all intents & purposes you would think it had been polished & buffed lovingly, without the need for all that elbow grease.
My own car looked so good, that I have to keep looking out of the window to admire it! The alloys look great, shiny silver, the bodywork looks a different colour & positively gleaming! Overall it looks like a different car!

The cheapest price I found
is £2.99.from Halfords for 500ml with an offer of 3 for 2!

So for the cost of the Zip Wax & your metered water you can have a finish that's comparable with polishing without buying separate shampoo & polish plus all that effort needed. I know which I would choose!

~My opinion~

My overall opinion is that this is an excellent product which I would recommend & I would always buy it in future.

I agree with all the claims that it cleans & waxes & the finish is streak free.

The only thing to be wary of I would say, is that if you go over the windscreen with it, the wax leaves a film on the glass that prevents the windscreen wipers from doing their job properly, so ideally you need to clean the windscreen afterwards with something like a glass cleaner, meths or white vinegar.

Update 19/3/2012 - Recently bought a cheaper car shampoo supposedly with wax but was very disappointed. I would say, even if the genuin Zip Wax/Turtle Wax is more expensive it is worth it as nothing else matches up to it.