I had a few hours to spare on Tuesday, so I thought I would wash and wax my Luthien. She's been a bit neglected over the past two weeks. We have had lots of rain, which has both limited my detailing time and made washing and waxing even more urgent. But my time and energies have been required elsewhere. Then last Saturday night I accidentally backed into a parked SUV. The SUV just happened to be parked in my driveway. And it just happened to belong to my wife. Yes, Luthien went toe to toe with Ripley, my wife's brand new CR-V. Luthien lost. It was dark. With the freshly waxed Taurus still sitting in the garage (awaiting a buyer yet to be revealed), I had forgotten that the CR-V was outside in the driveway, tucked back just enough that I could not see her through my tiny rear window. I didn't do any damage to Ripley--the license plate apparently sustained all the impact--but I sure put a nice circular dent into the left corner of Luthien's rear bumper. Luthien goes back into the body shop on Monday. Sigh. I've been sick about this for days.

After washing the car, I returned her to the garage. Given my past experiences with body shops, I anticipate that Luthien will require a full claying and paint cleaning treatment after the new bumper is installed (700 bucks-ouch!). I thought, therefore, that this would be a good time to try out Meguiar's Ultimate Quik Wax. I bought it a few days ago to apply to our Taurus, in preparation for selling the sedan. With the Taurus I used a foam applicator to spread the wax around, and it didn't work very well. The paint ended up looking just fine, but I knew that the application had not been as foolproof as it was supposed to be. So this time, thanks to the suggestions and encouragement of the MOL brethren, I applied it with a pre-primed microfiber towel. I decided to follow Mike Phillips's directions, and so waxed the entire car before buffing the surface with an Ultimate Wipe. I know that others prefer a wipe-on/wipe-off approach with UQW, but given that both approaches would seem to take the same amount of time, I couldn't think of a good reason not to follow Mike's directions: The secret to applying Ultimate Quik Wax.

It was a hot, muggy day. By the time I finished sealing the car, the UQW had dried completely. I could discern no residue whatsoever, nor did I see any streaking. I buffed with an Ultimate Wipe (my favorite towel), not because the paint appeared to need it but because that's what the directions said I should do.

UQW left a reflective, slick gloss which reminded me of NXT. I think I prefer carnauba waxes on my solid black Luthien, but I certainly do not dislike the glassy look delivered by Ultimate Quik Wax. The car looks beautiful.

Meguiar's has a real winner with Ultimate Quik Wax. It is easy to use. You can apply it to plastic and metal trim, as well as glass. I did not apply it to my windows, but I did wax the black trim. This is what a modern synthetic sealant is supposed to be like. Given technological advances, why should we have to worry about getting a sealant on plastic trim? UQW is user-friendly and idiot-proof. People are going to fall in love with it, once they try it. I could see folks applying it to their vehicles after every wash--it's that easy. Two thumsbsup!

Ease of Use: 5
Appearance: 4
Durability: ?
Availability: 5
Price: 4

Cheers,
Al

 

nice al

let us know when that durability question mark is replaced... overall pretty close to a perfect score!

 

I doubt I'll be able to award UQW a durability grade. I'm sure I'll be polishing and waxing Luthien again in the next two weeks. From what I have read, folks seem to be getting 3-5 weeks from an application of UQW, which I guess is par for a maintenance or booster wax.