With weather permitting today, I finally had a chance to do my first proper wash/wax on the Titanium Gray RX-8. Had only taken the car to an automatic brushless carwash at the local gas station once since taking delivery in late May. Here is the photo of car care products carefully chosen for an owner who's looking to wash once every two-three week and wax every two-three month, with automatic brushless carwash inbetween.

 

Shutterbug on the roof:

 

Here is a photo to showcase the eye-popping reflection captured by NXT/S100 when everything is said and done. Even though I can't really make a discernable difference between just NXT and NXT topped with S100, I like to have the carnauba wax as an extra layer of protection since the car is parked off the street.

 

I like it, it looks better than Zaino.

 

How many coats did you put on it? That's some crazy reflection on a Titanium! I did the Zaino thing (Dawn and claybar and all) and put only 1 coat this weekend. I didn't see much of a difference. I think the Titanium looks the best under a street lamp at night because that's when the metallic flakes light up.

 

The car has a total of two coats in the end. First up, NXT was easy to remove, whereas S100 took quite a bit of efforts. Then again, this is my first time ever in waxing a car with quality products instead of those gimmicks that promise the world but deliver zilch. The whole process lasted from 10 til 5 with catching F1 in Montreal and having meals inbetween.

Lastly, all the shots were taken with Canon S400, which is an excellent digital camera in the good hands =)

 

Nice job on the shine! I have a Tit Gray on also - I have been debating Zaino vs NXT for several weeks now. How much was the NXT? Are those your Potenzas?? I haven't seen that much tread since I took delivery of mine in Oct '03.

 

Nice shine! The NXT's shine is certainly on par, if not better, than Zaino's. I'm a Zaino user myself, but I have a co-worker who used NXT on her dark grey SUV, and it looks great.

Tests are showing that NXT's durability is not quite as good as Zaino and other sealants, such as Klasse, but it is simple to use and looks sweet, so if you don't mind applying it every other month, you're gold.

 

Hey CRX Millennium, I managed to get the Mazda logo off my car the other day, a state tropper shot at me from behind because he could not catch me!

 

Nemesis8,

Nice Photoshop job, though the entry points on bullet impact were a bit too neat =) NXT is inexpensively priced around $15, which is about $5 more than the similiar new synthetic offering by Eagle One's Nanowax.

Onto the Zaino topic, I really wanted to give it a try but the exuberant cost was the entry barrier. Moreover, I found multiple- coat technique required/recommended for Zaino application to be somewhat tedious.

Knowing my objective is to keep the RX-8 looking good with minimal amount of work while avoiding being called a fanatic, I just chose the sensible solution that did not break the wallet.

Thanks for all the praises!

 

Those are actually magents that you can pick up at most auto shops. How often are you going to wax with NXT? Next week I'm traveling, but when I get back I'm waxing and tinting!

 

Nemesis8,

I'll probably be waxing bi-monthly, or quarterly if I can push it. I plan on using the NXT booster spray wax in between full wax jobs to help longevity.

 

I think the booster spray is harder to put on than the NXT wax - I was surprised. The booster goes on sorta "greasy" and takes more time to buff off.

 

I dislike the spray bottle waxes...always seem to get places I dont want them (black plastic areas). I've done the trick of spraying it onto a cloth, then applying, but I might as well be using the regular NXT (or your favorite liquid in a bottle).

I put NXT on the hood, front bumper, front hips and roof tonight, ,can't wait to see it tomorrow in the daylight.