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So my this question results form a conversation in chat of some different question. Where an experienced user shared some of his views which makes sense to me. So I want to go in more details.

Simply, I have a liquid wax. And I'm new to motorcycles and waxing.

So I waxed my bike only once, 1 month ago. When I applied it, it got dried with a white layer and then I buffed it and it became glossy/shiny.

I read at some sources that if wax is done properly it makes water beads/drops on the paint. Which I guess is one of the ways to find out if bike is waxed or not.

Also, the user shared few more important/useful things like:

You have a liquid wax:

  1. If it leaves no wax film at all, then it might be a bad product
  2. It doesn't contain 100% carnauba (so okay but not very good wax)
  3. If it leaves a long-lasting high-gloss film, then it is assumed a good product

So considering all things above, my confusion is I don't even know how to check if the wax I have applied is done properly or not?

I'm even more confused because my bike is new and it already has a glossy paint. So I can't figure out if the wax applied has a layer on it or not.

One more good reason to understand this is you'll know better when to wax your vehicle next time.

Given all that, what are some ways to find out the wax you have done on your motorcycle/car is done properly and the product definitely did left some layer/film over the motorcycle (e.g. wax layer in case of this wax product)?

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  • Isn't this a matter of opinion? I consider any wax to be a waste of time and money, even dangerous on glass swept by wipers.
    – Weather Vane
    Mar 7, 2022 at 18:39
  • @WeatherVane I don't think it's an opinion. It's pure facts. Either it applies a coat over vehicle or it doesn't. So we just need some ways to find if it is applied on it or not.
    – Vikas
    Mar 7, 2022 at 18:43
  • You are asking about the quality of a product.
    – Weather Vane
    Mar 7, 2022 at 18:44
  • @WeatherVane so how do you avoid fading colors or scratches/swirls on paint?
    – Vikas
    Mar 7, 2022 at 18:44
  • 2
    @WeatherVane - And all of that would be "your" opinion. The question is basically about, how does one know if the job was done right.
    – Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 ♦
    Mar 7, 2022 at 19:08

1 Answer 1

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There's two ways:

By Touch: if you gently run a clean, dry finger tip along the paintwork before and after waxing you should feel a difference in friction - it should be appreciably reduced after the wax coat.

Hydrophobicity: you should see any water on the waxed surface forming either small "beads" that easily run off the car or potentially even "sheeting" where the water simply runs off the surface entirely. As this effect begins to lessen that's a sign that applying maintenance coat to the wax sometime soon is a good idea.

To address your specific points:

If it leaves no wax film at all, then it might be a bad product

It should leave some wax/sealant layer behind, if it doesn't at all then it's not just a bad product, it's fundamentally failed at it's purpose.

It doesn't contain 100% carnauba (so okay but not very good wax)

It doesn't need to be 100% Carnauba - indeed many very good waxes aren't (there's some great synthetic polymer liquid waxes out there too!), and many cheap crap products use a low wax-content (but all of it being Carnauba) to claim that magical "100% Carnauba!!" on the packaging but are well.. crap.

If it leaves a long-lasting high-gloss film, then it is assumed a good product

Well.. not necessarily. That's certainly an indication of a good product. But there's more to it than that - how well it protects the paint from sunlight damage, how well it protects from water, ease of application, and so on. But if you're mainly looking for something to keep the vehicle looking decent and protect the paintwork better that's darn good place to start. It doesn't have to cost a great deal and you can usually keep on top of it with a wash and re-coat every 1-2 months (depending on environment).

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  • Hi. I'm little confused in the 1st way: Shouldn't the friction decrease after waxing?
    – Vikas
    Mar 10, 2022 at 17:05
  • @Vikas yes, that's what I said: "it should be appreciably reduced after the wax coat"
    – motosubatsu
    Mar 10, 2022 at 17:06
  • Ah okay I didn't understand it properly. One more thing. Is it okay to wax even before the previous waxing is still present on the vehicle? Or you must remove the old layer completely before applying it again? (I have read that simply washing bike doesn't remove wax, which is a good thing actually. So I might need wax removers)
    – Vikas
    Mar 10, 2022 at 17:11
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    @Vikas Yeah there's no need to remove the old layer before re-application. Generally you would only need to do that if you were completely changing to a different type of sealant/protectant
    – motosubatsu
    Mar 10, 2022 at 17:14
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    @Vikas good spot - typo fixed!
    – motosubatsu
    Mar 10, 2022 at 17:15

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