Meguiar's Hybrid Ceramic Wax

[Nick Winn]

I was very excited to try MHCW and ordered a bottle last week when Amazon got them back in stock. While I am impressed with the ultimate results in terms of gloss and water sheeting, I had an absolute nightmare of an experience with the application. I washed my car as usual, two bucket, top to bottom, under a carport. I then moved the car out into the shade and rinsed it before liberally applying the product as per the directions and beginning my dry. There was an unbelievable amount of streaking on the entire car. Vertical and horizontal panels had streaky haze and I had to spend a literal hour buffing my paint to get every last bit of it off. Overspray on glass took a similar amount of effort and i had to go over most windows several times. My matte black door trim appears to be permanently stained, as I have yet to find something mild that will successfully remove the spotty discoloration.

So I guess this is two things. First, a complaint about what I feel to be a misleading campaign regarding the ease of use of this product and two, a question to find out what a) I might have done wrong or b) how to fix it now that it is wrong.

Much appreciated.

Edit: It should be noted that I watched multiple How-To videos, both from Meguiars (including videos posted in this thread) and online detailers/testers.

Sorry to hear about your trouble and also welcome to Meguiar's Online Discussion Forum.

The one statement which stands out in your explanation is applying the product liberally. We do not state this in any of our how to articles, videos, or on the product label.

Thinking through this more, if you were applying the product in a foundation layer style, sprayed the product liberally to say a small section, and then dried the panel, I do not imagine you would have had this experience. But spraying the product liberally, and from what it sounds like, very liberally, to the entire car, and then coming back with a towel to dry the vehicle, this I can imagine you having an issue, which you did. And regardless we are sorry you dealt with that.

How were you attempting to remove the product streaks?

What did you attempt to use on the matte black door trim?

[16Wrex]

It's entirely possible that I applied too much, I guess I assumed that a base/starter coat would require a higher amount of product coverage. To remove the haze/streaking, I just used elbow grease and clean microfiber towels, as I would have when removing the haze from a more traditional wax. For the door trim, I have tried diluted APC (haven't moved to full strength yet because I'm concerned that would just leave more clouding), quick detailer, glass cleaner, all with reasonable amounts of elbow grease. Thoughts on what might work best?

Knowing now that I probably used too much, my thought is to go back with a stripping car wash and start from scratch. The vehicle is still almost completely clean, so this shouldn't be a huge undertaking. I can then apply an appropriate amount of MHCW. In this attempt, what sort of coverage would be proper and give the best results? Light complete misting of the body panels? Or even less, since the drying action is going to spread the product around?

I appreciate your guidance and prompt response, Nick. Thank you very much.

[Nick Winn]

It's entirely possible that I applied too much, I guess I assumed that a base/starter coat would require a higher amount of product coverage. To remove the haze/streaking, I just used elbow grease and clean microfiber towels, as I would have when removing the haze from a more traditional wax. For the door trim, I have tried diluted APC (haven't moved to full strength yet because I'm concerned that would just leave more clouding), quick detailer, glass cleaner, all with reasonable amounts of elbow grease. Thoughts on what might work best?

Knowing now that I probably used too much, my thought is to go back with a stripping car wash and start from scratch. The vehicle is still almost completely clean, so this shouldn't be a huge undertaking. I can then apply an appropriate amount of MHCW. In this attempt, what sort of coverage would be proper and give the best results? Light complete misting of the body panels? Or even less, since the drying action is going to spread the product around?

I appreciate your guidance and prompt response, Nick. Thank you very much.

If you do have to remove a streak in the future, a damp towel or light mist of plain water onto the affected area, makes removal easy.

Regarding the door trim, you may have to use a stronger version of APC. If you are referring to rubber window trim, or a non painted, not shiny, black plastic, a soft bristled brush can also help get into the pores & agitate out a residue. Conditioning with a vinyl/rubber/plastic conditioner would be a good idea afterwards.

We have a new video which you my have not seen yet, which shows in detail how we recommend applying Hybrid Ceramic Wax & it also shows in detail how much product we apply. You can reference it in the below thread. One recommendation I have for you, to lessen the chance of you having an issue again, when you perform the foundation layer application, I would suggest spraying the product on one panel at a time. This is typically not needed, but this will pretty much eliminate the chance of you having an issue. Here is the new video thread:

How to: Meguiar's Hybrid Ceramic Wax - New Video Feb 2019

Hope this information helps & feel free to keep in touch.

[16Wrex]

Nick,

Thanks for the recommendations. I was just rather frustrated and should have considered that you all wouldn't put a product to market that has these issues, so I appreciate you being very graceful. I look forward to using this product again and other Meguiar's products in the future.

Thanks very much,
Ben

[ingraha3]

Hello,
I put a 'foundation' layer of HCW on my A5 Sportback this weekend. The process overall went pretty smooth. It did take some elbow grease to get the final dry clean. I'm sure it was totally unnecessary, but 24 hours later I then added an application of Maguiar's NXT Tech wax. That certainly did add some additional luster that wasn't there with just the HCW. An inch of rain predicted today . . . let the hydrophobia begin!
Regards,
Chris

[Nick Winn]

Hello,
I put a 'foundation' layer of HCW on my A5 Sportback this weekend. The process overall went pretty smooth. It did take some elbow grease to get the final dry clean. I'm sure it was totally unnecessary, but 24 hours later I then added an application of Maguiar's NXT Tech wax. That certainly did add some additional luster that wasn't there with just the HCW. An inch of rain predicted today . . . let the hydrophobia begin!
Regards,
Chris

Hi Chris,

Thanks for joining and telling us you experience. When applying the foundation layer, did you spray Hybrid Ceramic Wax (HCW) on the entire car & then dry? And then this is when you had trouble? Would be happy to further investigate with you because it should be easy to use. Would you say you applied a lot of product?

If you did spray Hybrid Ceramic Wax (HCW) on the entire car & then proceeded to dry, to complete the foundation layer, here's a recommendation, if you ever do another foundation layer, if you spray HCW on one panel at a time, and then dry, this will lessen the chance of having any of the product drying on the paint.

Also, you do not need a lot of product at all. It's very tempting to use a lot of product with Hybrid Ceramic Wax and it's not necessary.

Hope this helps

[amateur4sure]

I do a lot of rinseless washing.

Would this work in that situation?

I have the same question...has anyone tried HCW as a drying aid for a rinseless wash?

TIA - A4S

[Goldandrubies]

I wonder if this can be used as a substitute for traditional wax. i.e. like how car dealerships use ceramic coatings that "permanently" bond to the paint and "eliminate" the need for wax. I watched the video tutorial (https://youtu.be/NVOFlynVxco), and Meguiar's stated old wax doesn't need to be stripped to use this product. This makes me think of it as more a topper to extend the life of traditional wax. But, it is ceramic, so perhaps not? I saw it at Walmart today with a $5 rebate. But, I don't want to buy it until I completely understand how it works.

[Mario]

Hi Nick
I have one question. How many percent SIO2 is in Meguiars Hybrid Ceramic Wax?

[Mark H]

Did you view the Scott at Dallas Paint correction You Tube.