How long should car/bike liquid wax should be considered to be safe (on vehicle body) and effective to use?

Question

Note: My question isn't about how long once the wax is applied on bike gonna protect the surface. It is about how long the wax product itself won't go bad in the bottle so that I can use it again and again in coming years.

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So I just bought a liquid Turtle Wax Original for my bike and I was really surprised to know that it doesn't have mentioned an expiry date.

It has mentioned a date 25/09/20 which is probably manufacturing date. So it's 1 year old already.

The product is a bit expensive for me. Now I'm wondering if I invested in right product or not, in terms of how long I can use it.

For example, it just last 1 more year, it would be waste of majority my money spent because I'm not gonna use that much.

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To know more about expiry, I read some articles which have mixed views. Some say they aren't supposed to expire soon. So that's why no date of expiry.

Some say that they work best for first 2 years. You should change it if you are car enthusiast.

Some say it's fine for 3-5 years.

Some say it can work fine and be effective even after 10 years!

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So I wanted to know some expert views. No similar question has been asked on this site.

Given all that, how should you know that your wax is not effective/safe any more? And how long can we expect car/bike wax to last?

Answer 1

Realistically, it is going to depend on the product itself, as every one is going to be different. They should remain good in their original container for quite some time. If you have any worries about a product which you've had for some time, the best/easiest thing for you to do is to try it on an inconspicuous portion of the finish (ie: door jam or inside of the trunk lid) on your vehicle and see how it comes out. For most finishing products (like wax), about the only thing it might do is to make a slight color change. If the wax is liquid, it may separate and you'd need vigorously shake it first. Most of the time, this will reconstitute it without issue.

While not a bad idea to check with the company which produces the product, one of the downsides of doing so is that they may be of the mind to cut the life of the product short so you'll want to buy it new (keeps them in business). Some companies will be completely honest about it, while others may only have the profit margin in mind. Again, if you follow the advice above, it shouldn't steer you wrong and will work for whatever product there is out there without ruining the visible portions of your finish.

Answer 2

I'm writing this answer based on my conversation with the product manufacturer itself and a few articles I read.

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During conversation, I cross questioned them to find out if it's true for this brand only or for others too. Of course they didn't comment much about other brands and but here's how they responded:

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1st I called the customer care in India who imports these products. I asked why it doesn't have expiry. They told me that even if it doesn't have expiry date, it lasts for quite a long time. They said that when they import these products, they get "7 years" written in the official documents/mails. It might feel thick after that but should be fine if stored in okay conditions.

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2nd I contacted the actual manufacturer in UK via their website support option.

They just told me that it doesn't have an expiry date. They said it's a chemical based product (stable chemicals) so they do not expire and so it's not possible for them to give it an expiry date.

I cross questioned them by saying that some other brands have expiry dates mentioned on them. So they said, "Other brands may use particular chemicals that lose stability over time."

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So based on my research on some other articles and this conversation, I concluded that it should be usable even after 3 years of its manufacturing date. After that, I would try to check if it's still usable (as described in the other answer).