Cost: between £65 and £88 – Shop around!!
Date of Review: 18th August 2018
The Sales Pitch from Auto Finesse:
Auto Finesse Illusion is our award winning show wax, providing results that last up to 3 months.
The Auto Finesse Illusion wax is made up of 48% T1 Grade Brazilian Carnauba Wax by volume, with the remainder being made up by synthetic polymers, and gloss-intensifying oils. Illusion can provide 2-3 months of staying power and has a strawberry-liquorice scent.
All Auto Finesse waxes are carefully blended by hand in Great Britain and treat your vehicle with nature’s own defence against the elements, giving it water repellency, and resistance to environmental pollution (Including UV-fading, acid rain, and bird droppings.).
Whether your car or motorcycle has a modern clearcoat, or a classic single-stage paint system, Auto Finesse waxes will give it the protection it needs to survive the realities of everyday life.
The Sales Pitch from Amazon
Detailing paintwork is the art of creating optical illusions, and in this art, Auto-Finesse Illusion is a true master. Made from a highly innovative blending of natural and man-made ingredients, Illusion’s sole purpose is to push the concept of a ‘Show Car Wax’ as far as it will go. Red glows like a molten pool of lava, metallic flake sparkles like a diamond in the sun, white assumes a gloss that has never before been seen, and black becomes a portal to another universe…. Is it magic, or just an Illusion? All Auto-Finesse waxes are carefully blended by hand in Great Britain from the finest quality natural ingredients available, and bring with them the same philosophy of performance and beauty as the rest of our detailing products. The waxes we use treat your vehicle with nature’s own defense against the elements, giving it water repellency, and resistance to environmental pollution (Including UV-fading, acid rain, and bird droppings.). Let’s take a look at what else makes Auto-Finesse Illusion special… Auto-Finesse Illusion contains 48% T1 Grade Brazilian Carnauba Wax by volume, with the remainder being made up by synthetic polymers, and gloss-intensifying oils.
Sources: https://shop.autofinesse.co.uk/waxes-and-sealants/illusion-150G
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Auto-Finesse-Illusion-car-wax/dp/B00BRZZU9S
What You Get:
Presentation drawstring bag, box and a twist top tin with 150gms of wax
Product Description:
Auto-Finesse Illusion contains 48% T1 Grade Brazilian Carnauba Wax by volume, with the remainder being made up by synthetic polymers, and gloss-intensifying oils.
Instructions:
Application:
I have used this wax a few times now before I decided to write this review. My first experience wasn’t good but I worked it out that it was me doing it wrong. Take the lid of this wax and I wanted to eat it, a delicate strawberry smell greets you and I loved it.
Incorrect application.
My paint was fine and only clay barred a month or so ago, it was smooth to the touch. There was no need to strip wax and start gain. So my problem started with step three where it says ‘apply was sparingly’ I thought I was applying sparingly by using a nice new Meguiar’s sponge pad. Wrong. I tried to spread it out evenly but I made a real mess of it. You can clearly see from these pics how thick it was.
I carried on thinking it wouldn’t be that hard to get off. Wrong. I used a new good quality microfiber cloth and I was in trouble. The cloth clogged up so quickly I was just spreading it around again. So I had to revert to revert to my get out of jail cloth. This was again an Auto Finesse Tweed cloth, designed to stop the clogging scenario. It worked, it removed the wax but it also needed another new cloth to remove the odd smear.
Correct application.
As I said above the paint was fine and waited a while for the wax to wear off a little which was helped along by a downpour at a previous car show. When the weather was fine again I waited until the evening to apply the wax so it wasn’t in direct sunlight. Anxious not to be making a meal of it again I bought the bought applicator for the wax. Auto Finesse Waxmate XL. This applicator is ergonomic but more importantly it’s a perfect fit into the wax tin. To apply the wax it’s a twist 180 degrees with little pressure. I noticed that once the sponge was used and started to absorb some wax, 180 degrees was too much, so I reduced to 90 degrees after a while. This worked for me very well and I will review this sponge on another page.
The difference was amazing, the previous performance of the wax left me dreading to use the wax again to be quite honest. I found the sweet spot for the wax application and it literally went on like a soft butter. You can just about make out the application here in small circles over lapping the previous.
It had become a pleasure to apply.
Removing:
After going around the whole car the first panels were starting to haze a little. A used a premium microfiber, Auto Finesse Premium Plush to buff away. This was dead simple and easier to remove than the Meguiar’s Ultimate hard wax, about the same as Dat Wax but without the streaks. I buffed off once the found another part of the cloth for a final wipe over. You need to keep finding clean parts of the microfibre cloth or you could find a little drag while trying to buff.
I was very pleased with the results, and decided to layer again after a couple of hours later.
Results:
Very good, the first layer was great and looked amazing. The second layer was exactly the same principle for application and removal. Did I see any difference after two layers? Well, I can’t say I did, however I could feel the the smoothness and gloss was there if that makes sense.
This is after the second layer and the paint does indeed look wet, but no difference to the first layer.
The depth of reflection is very good it has to be said.
Rating: 9 out 10
Ease of use – 9 out 10
Finish – 9 out 10
Conclusion
There is a technique to applying this wax, get it right and the results are easy to see, get it wrong and you will have arm ache trying to get it buffed to a shine again.
The wax is expensive, at around £70 or so for a small pot of 150gms. Having said that it will go a long, long way. I have applied five coats of this wax and I can say I haven’t made any ingress on the wax in the tin. So you are paying a lot of money for shorter term application. Other AF waxes will last longer and cheaper.
I used AF’s top microfiber cloth to get this result, but I suspect any premium microfiber cloth will do the job as well. I didn’t think that the Meguiar’s Ultimate would be beaten to be honest, but in a way it has. However this wax will not last anywhere near as long as some other waxes. Even AF say this is for looks more than longevity. If you are showing a car and want to see wet paint gloss then this is one way to go about it, but you will be doing it often. If you want longevity then try a more robust wax as a trade off.
For me waxing my car is a pleasure and I enjoy it, so repeated applications may not be ideal for a daily driver. So the choice is simple, looks or longevity. That choice is yours of course, but I have never let a wax go anywhere near the recommended time before reapplication, so for me longevity is not a problem.
I want the best looks I can get. Is there anything better? Maybe, if you spend a lot of money on waxes I will have to find one day.
Would I recommend it? Yes.
Would I buy it again? Only if it was cheap