Top of the Line "Trade Secret" Carnauba Wax

Amused said:
Wow Rob...digging out an old thread!

TS - very similar to Souveran in just about every aspect except for price. But being so similar isn't always good, as it suffers from weak durability too...hence, it's in my dog house.
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It's obviously a "beauty wax" and not targeted at people who are looking for the best durability.



People pay $95.00 for a jar of Souveran all the time, knowing full well that it will only last a few weeks. They could buy Trade Secret for nearly 1/3 the cost of Souveran and get similar results.
 
Rob Tomlin said:
People pay $95.00 for a jar of Souveran all the time, knowing full well that it will only last a few weeks. They could buy Trade Secret for nearly 1/3 the cost of Souveran and get similar results.
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Eh...maybe, maybe not ;)



I tried TS (years ago, back when I was using Souveran on the daily drivers) after Irene at TOL told me it was SOOOO similar to Souveran. Guess "similar" can mean different things to different people, but I was sorely disappointed by the admittedly minor appearance diffs and I went back to Souveran. It just didn't look the same :nixweiss Didn't apply/etc. quite the same either, I'd say it's more like P21s in that regard (but not in looks).



If you can't see the diff, then don't pay for it, but if you like Souveran because "nothing else looks *quite* the same" then buyer beware.
 
Rob Tomlin said:
It's obviously a "beauty wax" and not targeted at people who are looking for the best durability.



People pay $95.00 for a jar of Souveran all the time, knowing full well that it will only last a few weeks. They could buy Trade Secret for nearly 1/3 the cost of Souveran and get similar results.
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No doubt they're beauty waxes with weak durability (some of the weakest to be honest), but durability's becoming less and less of an issue with the newer beauty waxes out today (e.g., Race Glaze 55), which I find just as good if not better looking.



Don't get me wrong, TS is a good alternative if you're working with a limited budget.
 
Amused said:
No doubt they're beauty waxes with weak durability (some of the weakest to be honest), but durability's becoming less and less of an issue with the newer beauty waxes out today (e.g., Race Glaze 55), which I find just as good if not better looking.



Don't get me wrong, TS is a good alternative if you're working with a limited budget.
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Ah, now there is a wax that I've been wanting to try (Race Glaze 55). I hear lots of great stuff about it over at detailingworld.com.
 
Accumulator said:
Eh...maybe, maybe not ;)



I tried TS (years ago, back when I was using Souveran on the daily drivers) after Irene at TOL told me it was SOOOO similar to Souveran. Guess "similar" can mean different things to different people, but I was sorely disappointed by the admittedly minor appearance diffs and I went back to Souveran. It just didn't look the same :nixweiss Didn't apply/etc. quite the same either, I'd say it's more like P21s in that regard (but not in looks).



If you can't see the diff, then don't pay for it, but if you like Souveran because "nothing else looks *quite* the same" then buyer beware.
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"Maybe, maybe not" what?



I specifically said they could get "similar results". Even though you were disappointed, you said yourself that your disappointment was with regard to the "admittedly minor appearance diffs".



So, my statement is still accurate even according to you. People who buy Souveran *could* buy TS instead for nearly 1/3 the cost and get *similar* results.



Now that I typed all that, I hope I am not coming across as being argumentative. I do know what you were saying. People who buy Souveran for it's very specific look might be let down by the admittedly minor appearance differences with Trade Secret.
 
Rob Tomlin said:
Ah, now there is a wax that I've been wanting to try (Race Glaze 55). I hear lots of great stuff about it over at detailingworld.com.
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I definitely think you should pick it up. It's probably my favorite paste wax aside from Glasur, no matter the price...and both hover around the $100 range, so they're reasonable.
 
Rob Tomlin- I meant "maybe similar, maybe not", but yeah..I guess I shoulda qualified my comments better. "Similar", "admittedly minor"...eh, we could find plenty to disagree about let alone when I express myself the way I did :o



And yeah, I'm nutty when it comes to how stuff looks on the Jag, but what I was really thinking about what how TS impressed me on my then daily dog-hauler, a white VW Quantum Synchro wagon. As I waxed it with TS, I could see the panel-by-panel diff between that and the previously-applied Souveran, and I didn't like what I saw. But then, sheesh...who else would quibble about how the two waxes differ on that car?!?



Guess I'm just mighty tuned in to that "very specific look" that Souveran offers, and I kinda wonder why people who are *not* so fanatical about it buy the stuff :think: Heh heh, now I'm starting to be just like you on the subject, perhaps (per usual) you and I aren't on such opposite sides of this fence after all!
 
Rob Tomlin said:
Accumulator: how do you cope with the dust attraction issue with Souveran?
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While I did use it on the drivers back in the day, now I only use it on the '85 Jag and that thing makes "garage queen" an understatement; if it gets driven, it gets washed (<18K miles since new).



But yeah, it *can* be a real issue when used on "real cars". Guess it's a matter of the local conditions and what does/doesn't bother the user. For instance, it simply never bothered my wife when I was Souveraning her cars and I didn't really mind it on my VW. But then her cars were always silver and the VW was white. On a black daily driver it'd probably drive me nuts.
 
Accumulator said:
While I did use it on the drivers back in the day, now I only use it on the '85 Jag and that thing makes "garage queen" an understatement; if it gets driven, it gets washed (<18K miles since new).



But yeah, it *can* be a real issue when used on "real cars". Guess it's a matter of the local conditions and what does/doesn't bother the user. For instance, it simply never bothered my wife when I was Souveraning her cars and I didn't really mind it on my VW. But then her cars were always silver and the VW was white. On a black daily driver it'd probably drive me nuts.
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Yeah, that's why I've never been able to justify the cost. Dust attraction *does* drive me nuts. And while I have two silver cars and they don't show dust too badly, I don't think using Souveran on silver would make enough difference in the looks department to make it worth the cost.



I have recently been considering giving Souveran a try again since I now have a bright red vehicle, but it shows every tiny spec of dust, so it is a non-starter for me.
 
Rob Tomlin said:
.., I don't think using Souveran on silver would make enough difference in the looks department to make it worth the cost...
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Or the hassle of redoing it all the time when silver can look nice with something durable. The looks...well...ask my wife :chuckle: She *still* occasionally mentions how that stuff looked so special in her eyes. I can't find anything else that looks exactly the same on the Jag's weird "Rhodium metallic" lacquer so I'll probably keep using it, but I do sometimes think how I also liked how that car looked with Malm's wax, something you never hear about here at Autopia. Can't remember how that stuff was with dust/etc. though...



I have recently been considering giving Souveran a try again since I now have a bright red vehicle, but it shows every tiny spec of dust, so it is a non-starter for me.
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Yeah, reds are tricky and oh-so-individual when it comes to what people like. I bet it's also a chore to keep sufficiently marring-free; I always found red almost as bad as black when it comes to showing flaws.
 
Accumulator said:
Yeah, reds are tricky and oh-so-individual when it comes to what people like. I bet it's also a chore to keep sufficiently marring-free; I always found red almost as bad as black when it comes to showing flaws.
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Indeed. I have owned three black cars, and I can tell you that this red is *every bit* as difficult to care for and keep clean as black. And it is even more prone to marring than some of the black vehicles that I had. Kind of surprising as it is a GM vehicle. It doesn't seem to have that rock hard clear that they are supposedly known for.
 
Rob Tomlin said:
.. it is even more prone to marring than some of the black vehicles that I had. Kind of surprising as it is a GM vehicle. It doesn't seem to have that rock hard clear that they are supposedly known for.
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Huh, just goes to show that you never know what to expect.
 
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