Zymol: Holy Water or Snake Oil???? (old topic, I know!)

[wolfturbo]

Turned 39 yesterday and I opened a package shipped from my Mom that was full Meguier's car care products. I was pretty psyched. Then my wife hands me a package and, voila, it is full of Zymol car care products. I guess they both know I'm a car geek to the core! (side note: they can't stand eachother - thank god they weren't in the same room when I opened very similar gifts from each of them!!)

So anyhow, I've never used Zymol but heard people rave ad nauseum about it. Bottom line is that I want to know if an amateur like me will actually get better results with the Zymol than with other mainstream products (i.e. Meguier's)?

I would be using it on my '75 Euro Carrera (great paint) and my '69S, which has slightly tired but original paint. I'll continue to let my detailer worry about my Turbo.

Sorry for bringing up an old subject, but I'd love to hear people's thoughts. Best regards to all.

Rob

[yelcab1]

I have it, I use it, but it is snake oil more than fact. The reason I still use it is because it takes 30 years to go through a thing of wax if you only wax your car once a month.

[88911coupe]

I have not been terribly impressed with using Zymol but I think maybe I was not being thorough enough on the buffing. I am finally about to use up the one can I bought and I may try something else. My car was just in the shop and they really got the paint cleaned up nicely so maybe I'll try it again. Let us know how it turns out.

[chuckr]

If I had to choose between the two... I'd go with the Zymol, besides..
the wife is the one to keep happy !

[JonT]

keep em both--zymol for the Porsche. Meguire's for the daily drivers. It will be a good comparison for you and you'll learn first hand which one you like best--then let us know!

[Teutonics]

From my limited experience with Zymol, it looks great when applied to properly prepared paint, but it doesn't last very long. That's great for a garage queen or a show car, but not for a daily driver (unless maybe you wax your car weekly).....thus my limited experience. However, there are a lot of other products out there that also give good results at a lesser price. I like Meguiars professional stuff too (Hi Tech Yellow wax #26), but the same result in that it doesn't last very long. 3M professional is what I use now, it seems to be the best compromise in appearance and longevity for my specific preferences.

I will testify that Zymol stuff smells great.... if that's important to you.

[speeder]

Rob, Haven't tried the Zymol, only the Meguire's. I'm sure that they are both good, most important thing is to keep cars clean and in the shade anyways.

And HAPPY BIRTHDAY, old man! Mine is today, 44 years old and people tell me that I don't look a day over 43! Glad to see that you are enjoying life so much, and it's been really nice to meet you and your all-female support team this year!

[Formerly Steve Wilkinson]

I recently spent a day with Zymol founder Chuck Bennett, at their New Haven "factory," doing an article for my monthly Popular Science "Man and Machine" column. What I learned is that he is a promoter. A very skillful one, but the stuff is no more worth what he charges for it than a half-ounce vial of perfume is "worth" $400. (He's now selling a car wax for $5,000, which admittedly does cover lifetime refills, but there's no way on earth that carnauba and other ingredients cost enough to justify the price. It is purely marketing.)

I also talked to a number of other people in the car-care-products business, and everybody has vast respect for Bennett as a promoter and very little as a maker of good car wax.

The bottom line is that the expensive Zymols provide a very deep, very short-lived shine. (Ask Larry Reynolds at Carcareonline, who was the country's original Zymol dealer and who is about to drop the line from his selection.) they are great for collector cars that never see the light of day, but you're wasting your time putting them on a road car, unless you enjoy waxing every three weeks.

Stephan

[sammyg2]

I did some checking a while back, raw yellow carnauba (correct spelling) wax costs between $16 and $20 per pound in bulk.
I have no idea how much it costs to refine it and process it, but just based on the raw materials cost I can't see how they justify the price of some carnauba wax.

[epbrown]

I'm with Steve here. I like Zymol, it gives a lovely shine and garners compliments everywhere you go, but it simply doesn't last that long. It's a perfect wax for concourse competitors or sunny-day-only drivers, but because I use my cars almost daily I switched to Meguiars. I've got a bit of Zymol left and I use it strictly for when I'm going to RROC events, and even then my car looks like it's wearing brown shoes with a dark suit compared to some members' cars

Emanuel

[wolfturbo]

Great feedback guys. Thanks to all!

It sounds like this Zymol stuff will only be suitable for my Euro Carrera, which has great paint, but spends most of it's time under a cover in my garage. My '69S has paint that is a little tired right now. Once I get it up to standard, I sure as heck don't want to be waxing it every 3 weeks. Not my cup of tea.

Likewise, my '97 gets out enough that I'm inclined to go with a product that offers a longer shine.

I have also purchased many items from Larry @ Car Care Online. He is a prince to deal with and very generous with his time and knowledge. BTW, he is very fond of the "One Grand" products and the "P21S" line and he suggested that I give the Meguiers stuff to somebody I don't like very much!. I highly recommend Larry to anybody with questions. His # is (877) 796-8300.

[scottb]

Does anyone have any thoughts on the One Grand line of products? I've used them in the past, with good results.

If anyone wants to learn more about detailing than they ever imagined, check out this board: Autopia

[BGCarrera32]

Zymol looks o.k., pita to apply, gets pilly at removal if left on for more than a few seconds, the whole "care and feeding of your paint" line is total b.s....last time I checked there were no bees waxes or coconut oil crap in catalyzed acrylic urethane paint. Way overpriced. I do however like their vinyl treatment, car wash, and non-sanforized towels.

[Zeke]

In the past, people have reccommended http://www.zainobros.com/files/info.htm
Never used it myself. More of the same hype?

[epbrown]

I haven't run into anyone that's used 1 Grand or P21S in real life, though I've read good testimonials on the net. Meguiars has been okay for me, but once I've used it up I'm looking to try something else. I'm leaning towards 1 Grand, P21S or Mothers - haven't made up my mind yet.

Nothing against Meguiars really, but I detailed both cars using their entire system (wash, cleaner-polish-glaze-wax, leather conditioner, rubber/tire cleaner/conditioner, carpet/upholstery cleaner) and it was enough wax-on, wax-off rubbing to ensure I can kick Ralph Macchio's ass any day. A Rolls-Royce is too darn big to go over that 5 times in an afternoon! (The gf gave up helping after we'd finished the Porsche, cursing the day she bought me the kit )

How is One Grand to work with?

Emanuel

[chuckr]

As a "retired" Porsche detailer, I have used some of these products.
I have very good results with the One Grand Products, I also have very good results with the Griots Garage products.With the older Porsches, I use the 3M Imperial Hand Glaze followed with One Grand Blitz Wax.The Griots Fine Hand Polish and Best of Show Wax is great on good paint, with maybe light swirls or scratches, Griots for some reason really works well on Guards Red but not Black, One Grand works good on black. I do get some of the products I use from Carcareonline and Larry does know his business. I tend to agree with him on using synthetic waxes on Porsches (Zaino) I have not been impressed with Zaino or any other polymer based wax, natural carnuba works the best and last the longest.

[sasaki]

I've been using zymol and the results are great but the deep shine does not last very long. I dont mind the fact that it does not lasts very long because I try to wash and wax my car every week.
I've just ordered the zaino show car polish and have yet to try it out, but I've heard that it should give my a car a deep shine and it's supposed to last longer than the zymol wax. I'll post and let the group know when I try the zaino stuff out. BTW, my dog loves the smell of zymol wax...


Tim
964C4

[RickM]

Meguires #26 Pure Yellow Carnuba and Final Inspection fan here.

[vesnyder]

I've got some of each in the garage - Zymol, Meguiars, Zaino, etc and the one I have had the best experience with is Zaino. Goes on easy and gives the deepest shine to my Black car (where you can see every swirl mark!). I use meguiars on my daily drivers, but I sure love the smell of Zymol - still trying to figure out what to do with it. Too expensive to throw away!

[azasadny]

I just used 3M's Imperial Hand Glaze on my car and I cannot believe the shine! I'm curious to see how long it lasts, but it was easy to apply and polish off, so it's not something I dread. This stuff is incredible!!