Here is the thing....
Vintage is absolutely not magical. It is the same as any other wax out there, that it is it has solvents, oils, silicon, and #1 grade YELLOW carnuaba wax.
So lets get this out in the open, these are things that are absolute falsehoods about Vintage
-It has 61% (or whatever) white carnauba wax by volume which is of course stupid and impossible.
Why is it stupid? Because the look and durability of 'carnauba wax' is FAR more dependent on the oils and additives added to the wax, not the amount of wax (the cheapest product in the mix, fwiw). In fact more wax percentage not only negatively effects application, but effects the transfer of the wax to the paint's surface, which effects durablity.
Why is it impossible?
There is NO such thing as white wax. ALL paste waxes use #1 grade yellow carnuaba wax, so this is lie. However some companies bleach or micro cut the wax to make it look white, so I guess if it kinda looks like it could be white, then they will just say it is (fwiw, carnuaba wax is yellowish brown in appearance)
Not enough...
How about the advertisted about of wax in the product. Keep in mind that the amount is FAR less important the other ingredients (which generally cost much more anyways, so you would be may be paying more for a less expensive part anyways) to final appearance of the wax.
When in its natural state carnauba wax is harder then concrete, it MUST be cut with solvents to make it soft enough to be applicable to a painted surface. Some companies claim to blend it with natural oils, but based on the amount of carnuaba they are claiming to have in the product, these 'natural oils' must be stronger then acetone if they allow for such a huge volume of wax to be softened to the point of application. (Then apply these nasty oil/solvents with your bare hands, you are luck to have skin left!)
The truth is that modern California regulations have limited amount solvent that can be used in the product, and the strength of those solvents. Generally speaking, it is impossible to get a product that has more then 35% (most waxes are in the 14-17% window, fwiw) carnuaba solids to work.
So how does Zymol measure their wax (to state it is 61% or whatever)? I don't know, and apparently Zymol doesn't.. I called twice asking specific questions about how they measure the content of their wax and twice I didn't get call backs. It seems to me that they would openly share this information because the measurments they claim (and many refute since they are impossible to achieve) since it would only establish their credibility. What are they hiding?
It seems to me like they are hiding dubious marketing techniques. For example...
Take a 100 gallon drum and fill it with 80 gallons of feathers. It is now 80% full right? Then take water and pump it into the drum. You might be suprised to see that it will probably swallow 80 or more gallons of water. So now we have 80 gallons of water and 80 gallons of feathers in a 100 gallon drum? What doesn't add up? Well it depends on how we look at it.
On one hand we could say that the drum consistest of 80% feather by volume. Notice we don't say volume of what or specify volume in any other way. This is based on the premise that at point, the fluffy dry volume of the product took up 80% of the drum (before water was added). Of course this is dubious science and should be disregarded.
On the second hand we could say that the drum consists of 50% feather by volume. Again we are not specifiying the volume, but only saying that 80 gallons of feathers are mixed with 80 gallons of water so it is 50%. The problem is that we know that you cannot fit 160 gallons in a 100 gallon drum, so what is going on? We are measuring dry volume against wet volume which is responsible for the gross miscalcuation and could be twisted into the mistruth.
On the third hand (I don't know who has 3 hands, btw), we could measure the combined (same state volume) of both products and determine quite fairly that the the drum is 80% volume by water and 20% volume by feather. However in a market that thrives on inflated numbers, this doesn't sound quite as impressive. Fortunately for new wax manufacturers, there is not regulatory body that oversee's the scientific validity of the numbers they use.
What does water and feathers have to do with carnuaba wax? Water is wet and would be similar to solvents and oils added to the mix. Carnauba wax is very flakey and lacks density, think if the feathers where made of feathers.
Also, the hand application is a myth. If the product has so much wax you have melt it in your hands (or has enzymes) imagine what happens in the heat of the sun... The texture of the wax is what allows it to be hand applicable or not. And it is not the heat of your hand, but the friction of the application to your hand that introduces the solids to the solvents (causing it to melt). Take Vintage in your hand (or any soft textured wax) and hold it there... It will just sit there. Also in Florida, it is often warmer in my garage then in my hand, and the wax hasn't melted. The wax the product is mixed and cooked is what effects the texture, but it is just more dubious marketing...
So in the end you have a wax that cost $2200 (which costs a couple dollars to make before being placed in a $100 'crytal glass contanior) which sells for a market up that is laughable.
There is the problem, Vintage is a great wax. It really would do well with out the lies and dubious marketing that surrounds it, it looks as good as some really good waxes. It should as it features the same types of silicones, solvents, oils, and carnuaba wax.
There is nothing wrong with paying more for a product that does something better or different but keep this in mind.
-EVERY single claim that Zymol makes about Vintage and how it is different then other waxes (content, application, protection) is a SCIENTIFIC IMPOSSIBILITY. Every claim....
-The product cost and manufacturering process for most carnauba waxes is around 1 dollar to 5 dollars. Some guys have told me that the packaging and labeling cost far more then the product itself. Now Zymol would like to seperate their wax in a class above this, but then again every claim they make is false..
In the end the facts don't matter however. If the product looks magically better or stands out, or if you are just plain happy with it for the cost, it is a good value. I know that if I was so confident that my product (regardless of what it was) was so much better then anybody elses that it justified the cost differnece, I wouldn't hide behind myths and dubious marketing....
