Cost: £20 for 100ml
Date of Review: 28/5/2018
The Sales Pitch from Dat Wax:
“I gained a fond interest in detailing a couple of years ago through attending various car shows and seeing posts on social media. A mass array of detailing shampoos, polishes, glazes and waxes etc. Of course I needed to try THEM ALL.
My main interest swayed toward the finishing / waxing stage. I started to collect waxes of sorts, different textures, colours and scents. This got me interested in to how these waxes were made and how different mixtures and ingredients can effect all sorts of factors.
I began to experiment with different raw waxes and oils to try and achieve a wax which I found to be pleasurable to use yet look awesome and pleasing to the nostrils yet provide epic gloss and clarity whilst giving a good protection. After months of research, experimentation, tweaking and critique from professional detailers DAT WAX was born.
This is just the beginning, I am constantly developing my mixture and trying to conjure up ways of improving DAT WAX even further. KEEP AN EYE OUT”
Source: http://www.datwaxuk.com/datwax
What You Get:
100ml of hand blended luxury carnauba wax
Product Description:
Coloured like the blue sky, the ocean, a mesmerizing galaxy or some funky kind of Blue cheese, But with a un-forgettable moreish scent – DAT WAX
Formulated to offer a deep gloss finish, A perfect show wax!
Excellent after sheeting abilities along with the beauty of water beading. Easy spread and low pressure buff removal.
Apply DAT WAX with a foam applicator pad to well prepared paint work, only apply a thin coat as a little goes a long way.
Leave to cure for approx. 5-10 minutes or a little longer in warmer weather before buffing with a quality microfiber cloth leaving a luscious glossy reflective shine.
PS. Don’t be alarmed if your applicator pad turns blue 😉
Instructions:
“Leave to cure for approx. 5-10 minutes or a little longer in warmer weather before buffing with a quality microfiber cloth leaving a luscious glossy reflective shine.”
Test Environment:
Purchased with my own hard-earned money.
Warm sunny day, the car was not in direct sunlight as it was late afternoon at and the weather was 26c.
Application:
I went old school for this with a quality sponge pad.
The first thing to notice when you take the lid off; it’s a scent of bubble gum blueberry scented that smashes into your nose like a freight train. It’s so strong, but very addictive, I loved it. Wipe on sniff, wipe on more and sniff.
The mixture is a semi solid and not like the harder pastes such as Autoglym or Meguiar’s. The rub of the pad immediately takes on an amount to be spread. Rubbing gently the product onto the roof the first thing that springs to mind – butter. It feels like you are spreading a film of butter on the car. It was super easy to apply and no effort to spread. This pic shows half the roof covered;
A little does indeed go a long way as they said. After applying to the roof the sponge had gone blue, well greenish on the yellow pad.
The rest of the car didn’t take long to apply at all and was quicker than Meguiar’s Ultimate Wax paste.
When you get this on your hands you know it as the super soft wax coats your hands. Wiping onto a paper towel will show the grease marks straight away. The car smells gorgeous now though.
Removing:
I kept checking the wax expecting it to “dry” like the other waxes I have used in the past. With that in mind I left wax for twenty minutes and it was still that soft wax feel on the car that you could drag your finger tip through.
The quality microfibre cloth was a brand new cloth and de-labelled. After a buff of the corner of the roof I knew this was going to be different technique to remove. This picture is supposed to show the left hand side of the roof buffed.
After roof buffing I found that the cloth needed to be turned frequently to avoid the wax drag on the cloth. If you don’t turn frequently you can leave a small smear. Find a clean part of the cloth go over it again and its gone. I used two cloths in the end to buff to a shine. Here the cloth after the roof buff can see excess wax removed.
Although the buffing was not hard work by any means, it did take care not to drag a coated part of cloth back over the paintwork leaving a wipe mark.
Results:
The shine was great and wasn’t much hard work at all. Although I didn’t see any marked difference to depth of shine compared to the Megs ultimate wax.
Trying to show the depth of shine on the car using the neighbours sidewall. You can make out the bricks in the reflection.
Tiny faint micro scratches are disguised with the wax sitting in the swirls. The shine in that respect is better than the harder waxes I have tried. The gloss looks even and deep shine.
Rating: 9 out of 10
I marked it down a little for the fact you get some obvious wax drag when buffing to a shine, frequent and clean parts of the cloth are a must. I recommend two quality cloths to get the best results. You do have to keep checking the paint for slight smears then buff again.
Ease of use – so simple to apply like spreading butter. Wiping of is a little more work than the harder compounds made by the big brands.
Finish – The depth is very good and I tried to show that with a few pics above. However, the feel to touch is not a “dry” feel and you can tell that a wax has been applied to the car. It’s not sticky or anything like that at all, but it doesn’t just feel dry to the touch, it will show slight finger prints if you touch it. I suspect this type of finish will be awesome with the water beading. I just wonder how resilient it will be to dust and road grime.
Conclusion:
This costs £20 for 100ml of wax, for £30 you can get a big tub of Meguiar’s Ultimate Wax. To put this into perspective for the same amount of Dat Wax that would set you back £60. Now there are some serious, really serious contenders for bespoke waxes at that price. Would it cover as many cars as the leading manufacturers on a like for like basis? I don’t think it will just by the way it’s applied, you have to dip into the pot a little more as it’s smaller trying to get some out, not a gentle wipe over the surface of a larger area.
Would I recommend it? That will depend on the next trip out and how the wax settles on the car. I will update soon.
Update: yes it was still there after a trip, and the shine was still there.
Would I buy it again? Yes, but it’s an expensive treat for a car if it’s a daily driver as you will be applying it more often. Longevity needs to be considered, as this is a show wax it won’t last last as long as some other brands. This is to be expected for a show wax vs protection wax.
But it does have the best smell of any car wax I have ever used, and I have used lots.