Wax report: Mothers 'reflections'

[aerog]

I wanted to wax the airplane this spring and thought I'd try something new. A few people had talked about using Mother's "reflections" Premium Polish (synthetic wax) so I picked up a bottle at Pep Boys and gave it a shot.

I am, in short, amazed at the result. The airplane was fairly clean to begin with except for some oil stains on the belly, so I didn't bother to wash it. The "wax" is very liquid and coats the paint with ease and wipes off just as easily leaving an absolutely stunning "wet" look to the paint with little to no dust or residue remaining.

I believe there has to be a good amount of petrolium product in the polish because it mixed with an wiped off the oil/grease stains effortlessly - but it still left a stunning "wet" polished look to the belly of the airplane. An hour of going over 3' square areas and the fuselage was done - and glistening like new.

That was last week. Today I did one of the wings that still had some bugs stuck hard to the leading edge of the wing (I usually wipe the wings down with a damp towel after flight to get rid of them, but there always are a few I don't get). The same qualities of the polish that lifted the grease stains lifted the bugs, with a little more effort I admit - but the end result was the same, a stunning glistening paint job.

That wasn't enough though... I went to our company airplane and tried it in a couple of big spots. This airplane has 20 y/o paint on it and is pretty sad looking. The paint on the sides of the airplane (IE: not facing the sun constantly and not really oxidized badly) polished up to the same "wet" look mine did. Incredible results. The oxidized paint went from looking horrible to looking slightly oxidized (I'm going to use a machine buffer with polishing compound to try to bring that paint back to life later).

"Reflections" is intended for clear-coat paints, but our company airplane is anything but clear-coat and it looks fabulous. I did pull some paint with the polish, but not a lot.

I haven't mentioned cars yet...but I did do about half my daily driver ('99 Saturn, dark-red) with it. I had the same initial results - "wet" smooth paint, great looking. I also did a couple of fenders on my 'TD replica (Dark Brown) - again, same results.

It remains to be seen how long "reflections" will keep the paint looking new and fresh. My experience has been that some of the liquid wax products evaporate out of the paint easily, and others start to leave telltale streaks in the paint after the sun starts to bake it.

We'll see how it does in time, but it seems to be worth trying.

 

[waltesefalcon]

Scott,

How is the plane looking now? Its been a month how has the mothers fared? Also how much did it run when you bought it?

Cheers,

Walter

 

[aerog]

The airplane looks as good as when I finished it, albiet a little dusty. Since it's not in the elements all the time that probably isn't the best gauge, but it looks good (I did run it through some light rain at 110mph, didn't seem to wear it off at all - the bugs just dropped off the leading edges).

I just waxed the back end of my new Miata with it too. Actually, I clay-barred it, used Meguiar's Crystal #1 (their paint cleaner portion of their 3-part system), rubbed it out with 3M Swirl Remover, then put a coat of Mother's "Reflections" on as the last step.

I'll probably leave the trunk and rear quarters alone for a month, so we'll see how the sun effects it - and whether it still sheets/beads water after being outside constantly.

I just bought another bottle at Pep Boys - cost something like $10.

 

[Mark Beiser]

Hows it doing now? =)

 

[aerog]

Still looks good but... if you don't need a "cleaner/wax" (or cleaner/polish in this case) give Meguiar's #20 a try. It requires that you use a paint cleaner first, but using any of the Meguiar's paint cleaners then #20 gives a fantastically slick shiny finish. Put a layer on, let it set up for about 20 minutes, then wipe off. For an even deeper shine top with a good quality wax like Meguiar's #26 or Mother's pure carnuba (without cleaners).

 

[t8nwa]

you should email this to Mother's. They have a couple of new MINI's in their stable. The owner's son has one and the VP of sales has another. I am sure they would like to hear your review.

Maybe Basil could twist their arm for a Rally sponsorship!

I have used the Reflections too. Seems to hold up a couple of months before another coat is needed. BTW - for any black rubber or vinyl trim, use their Back to Black product. Really does a nice job but does attract a little dust on the Cooper. The Doh'Rango's mirrors came back nicely from the near dead.