Product Shelf Life

Rockfish66

New member
So.......

I did some math and I just realized my 32 oz bottle of ONR will probably last me 2 years!



Seems most of the polishes and sealants will last longer than that - I usually only do a "full" polish on my daily driver twice a year.



And that's assuming I don't but any new stuff in the meantime - Yeah, right!



Assuming you're not doing this for a living, or you have a fleet of concourse winners in your garage, how long do most of you guys keep stuff around? Does it go "bad" or do you just use it up or does it get bumped by the next new thing to come along?
 
if you keep your products at room temperature where it's not freezing or extremely hot, they should last you 3-5 years easily (give them a good shake once a month). some have products (paste wax) that are over 10 years old that are still okay to use...
 
I was wondering about this as well as my products grow. Lately I am constantly getting something new, and will probably never be able to use all of it up. I guess the easiest way to tell is if the products start to not work like they used to.
 
how are you not going to go through ONR in one year at most....32oz is only about 16 washes??? thats 4 months at my weekly rate...one time a week...its about 1oz per gallon, and I use a 2 gallon mix...if you are using less than 1oz ONR: 1gallon water, you are washing with water only basically....or a ratio close to that....it doesnt work all that well at a ratio of 1oz:4gallons....



but for shelf life, megs products - I was told 4 years with the occassional mix up to keep the products from separating....which reminds me, the 80 and 83 havent been shaken up in over 6 months...gotta go shake it :bolt
 
There are similar threads where we've been pretty specific, but generally *in my experience* polishes and waxes don't go bad all that often. Well, that's if they are kept in tightly sealed containers and are not exposed to temperature extremes.



Note that companies like Meguiar's have to err on the side of caution lest some consumer gets all bent out of shape if something *does* go bad.



I'm among the people whose paste waxes (and also some liquid waxes) are still good after more than a decade (the last can of #16 I finished lasted over a dozen years and was stored in a very hot/cold garage for most of that time). I have polishes that are over ten years old that work fine too.



The "Interior Wood Trim Wax" I bought from BHMA (actually made by Zymol) in '85 is still good despite a crack in the jar's lid that happened back in the '80s.



Natural/organic products such as leather treatments can go bad and I have some old Griot's Vinyl/Rubber stuff that I wouldn't use on an interior (fine for exterior stuff though). If these products had been kept refrigerated they'd probably still be OK.



QDs can go bad too, you'll notice it if they're in clear bottles as they get thin and transparent looking.

One thing I've done with liquids is to minimize the amount of airspace in the containers, either by transferring to smaller bottles or even by simply squeezing the bottle before I screw the cap on.
 
toyotaguy said:
how are you not going to go through ONR in one year at most....32oz is only about 16 washes??? thats 4 months at my weekly rate...one time a week...its about 1oz per gallon, and I use a 2 gallon mix...if you are using less than 1oz ONR: 1gallon water, you are washing with water only basically....or a ratio close to that....it doesnt work all that well at a ratio of 1oz:4gallons....



but for shelf life, megs products - I was told 4 years with the occassional mix up to keep the products from separating....which reminds me, the 80 and 83 havent been shaken up in over 6 months...gotta go shake it :bolt



Well, I live in an apartment where it's not that convenient to wash the car. I figure with a few "full" washes and a few emergency hose-downs at the local car wash thrown in I'll ONR wash maybe once a month.



The recommended wash ratio is 1 oz to 1-2 gallons: "Add 2 capfulls ( 1 oz. ) of No Rinseâ„¢ Wash & Shine to 1-2 gallons of water in the wash bucket."



So, I take 6 oz to make a gallon of QD (lasts me a year at least) and I have 26 oz left. that's 26 washes at the recommended ratio, maybe only 13 at you ratio.



As for the other stuff, I do a full wash/clay/polish/seal twice a year. Don't use anywhere near a half bottle of any of those products on each detail.



I know a lot of folks (on this forum especially!) wash and details their cars A LOT. I might et to do that one day, but right now I don't have that luxury.



Plus, you guys have me buying so much new stuff all the time I'd NEVER use it all if I polished my car every day! The rough life of an Autopia junky....:chuckle:
 
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