I was looking around for a new boutique wax for my Shelby and I had zeroed in on Wolfgang Fuzion Estate Wax and then saw a comparison to that and McKee`s 37 saying that they performed very similarly and the McKee`s was quite a bit less than the Wolfgang.
So I figured I would give the McKee`s a shot and came across their wax challenge which was even better! I could try it out with only the stipulation that I give a review... so here it is
The box, jar, and bag are nice and are very similar to Pinnacle Souveran, aside from the color of the bag (blue for McKee`s, Gold for Souveran), you also get an applicator sponge and a nice towel.
This shot is right after I waxed my Shelby with the McKee`s. Notice the flake is very prominent and the paint has a very nice shine.
Upon opening the jar the smell, color, and even feel of the McKee`s is again very similar to Souveran. I would suspect if you had both side by side without labels you would be hard pressed to tell which is which.
The wax is WOWO so it`s very easy to work with and really a pleasure to apply. I decided to apply it to my red Scirocco since I knew the red would show off the wax better and I was curious about durability.
My Scirocco is my daily driver, and it`s also not garaged like my Shelby so it was a better candidate for that particular test.
After application, the red in the Scirocco looked AMAZING. A very wet and deep look that only carnaubas can really offer. I generally run DG105 on my Scirocco for the durability and I do happen to like the looks quite a lot, but I will say that this wax made that paint look incredible. Much wetter and deeper than the DG105.
One really nice feature of the wax as well, and it would probably only be noticed on colors like red or black, is there isn`t a problem with streaking. It`s one of the easiest waxes to apply that I`ve ever used.
In comparison, the DG105 can be quite streaky and sometimes difficult to get an even coat without the use of some Aquawax to knock down areas.
Here are the shots right after application to the Scirocco.
That paint looks miles deep and is so wet. Carnaubas remind me of the old lacquer paint jobs on the old muscle cars, very deep looking paint, McKee`s Trademark gives you that same look... beautiful.
So looks-wise this wax is amazing, but I also wanted to test durability. We`ve had rain almost every day this last week so it was a good gauge to the durability and protection the McKee`s offers.
This is after the first rain. Notice the tight beading and uniform look. It was a fairly heavy rain so the wax held up quite well, actually better than I expected.
In this top photo, you`ll notice the beads in the center ar fairly large. This is pretty standard for this car in that the rain tends to "collect" in the middle.
Nice tight beading on the sides.
After about three days of rain, some of it hard some of it small mists/showers, this is what the hood looked like. Notice the beading is starting to be farther apart and less uniform. The slickness of the paint surface at this point was noticeably degraded.
Notice the beads here are much larger and less uniform than before.
These photos were taken 5 days after initial application. At this point little if any product was left on the paint. Beading was non-existent on the top and nearly gone on the hood. The paint felt completely bare as if no product was left.
So in the end the McKee`s actually performed better than I expected. It rained, as I wrote, nearly every day and it stood up to the rain for about 4 days fairly well. By the 5th day it was gone though.
So even though I wasn`t as interested in durability since I was looking for a wax for my Shelby, which stays garaged, and at this point only goes out on sunny days, it was nice to see that the McKee`s stood up for a while to some pretty crap days.
I wouldn`t recommend this wax for a daily driver, simply because the longevity isn`t there, but that`s not what this wax is geared toward.
Anyone looking for a wax in this range is looking for a show car wax and this is exactly that. A beautiful, and I mean BEAUTIFUL wax that is a genuine pleasure to apply and the looks are just fantastic.
If you`ve used Souveran this wax, I believe, will yield very similar results, but at about 40 bucks less than Souveran so you really can`t beat that. I think this wax is a bit more durable than Souveran too. It`s been a while but I remember Souveran pretty much washing away after a couple of rains and this wax seemed to last a bit longer.
I`ve used a lot of waxes... A LOT... like most here I`m sure, and Souveran was the best looking wax on red that I ever tried aside from maybe Zymol Vintage.
This wax is very much in the same league. The only difference is you`re not paying over 100 or even 1000 dollars for McKee`s Trademark. You`re paying 50 bucks for a wax that, in my opinion, outperforms nearly every other wax I`ve tried in the looks department for a fraction of the price.
I`ll be buying it again when I run out.
OH and here`s a couple shots of my Shelby since.. ya know... I actually intended to put it on the Shelby in the first place
It was tough to get good shots today because... yes... it`s raining... again :/
So I figured I would give the McKee`s a shot and came across their wax challenge which was even better! I could try it out with only the stipulation that I give a review... so here it is
The box, jar, and bag are nice and are very similar to Pinnacle Souveran, aside from the color of the bag (blue for McKee`s, Gold for Souveran), you also get an applicator sponge and a nice towel.
This shot is right after I waxed my Shelby with the McKee`s. Notice the flake is very prominent and the paint has a very nice shine.
Upon opening the jar the smell, color, and even feel of the McKee`s is again very similar to Souveran. I would suspect if you had both side by side without labels you would be hard pressed to tell which is which.
The wax is WOWO so it`s very easy to work with and really a pleasure to apply. I decided to apply it to my red Scirocco since I knew the red would show off the wax better and I was curious about durability.
My Scirocco is my daily driver, and it`s also not garaged like my Shelby so it was a better candidate for that particular test.
After application, the red in the Scirocco looked AMAZING. A very wet and deep look that only carnaubas can really offer. I generally run DG105 on my Scirocco for the durability and I do happen to like the looks quite a lot, but I will say that this wax made that paint look incredible. Much wetter and deeper than the DG105.
One really nice feature of the wax as well, and it would probably only be noticed on colors like red or black, is there isn`t a problem with streaking. It`s one of the easiest waxes to apply that I`ve ever used.
In comparison, the DG105 can be quite streaky and sometimes difficult to get an even coat without the use of some Aquawax to knock down areas.
Here are the shots right after application to the Scirocco.
That paint looks miles deep and is so wet. Carnaubas remind me of the old lacquer paint jobs on the old muscle cars, very deep looking paint, McKee`s Trademark gives you that same look... beautiful.
So looks-wise this wax is amazing, but I also wanted to test durability. We`ve had rain almost every day this last week so it was a good gauge to the durability and protection the McKee`s offers.
This is after the first rain. Notice the tight beading and uniform look. It was a fairly heavy rain so the wax held up quite well, actually better than I expected.
In this top photo, you`ll notice the beads in the center ar fairly large. This is pretty standard for this car in that the rain tends to "collect" in the middle.
Nice tight beading on the sides.
After about three days of rain, some of it hard some of it small mists/showers, this is what the hood looked like. Notice the beading is starting to be farther apart and less uniform. The slickness of the paint surface at this point was noticeably degraded.
Notice the beads here are much larger and less uniform than before.
These photos were taken 5 days after initial application. At this point little if any product was left on the paint. Beading was non-existent on the top and nearly gone on the hood. The paint felt completely bare as if no product was left.
So in the end the McKee`s actually performed better than I expected. It rained, as I wrote, nearly every day and it stood up to the rain for about 4 days fairly well. By the 5th day it was gone though.
So even though I wasn`t as interested in durability since I was looking for a wax for my Shelby, which stays garaged, and at this point only goes out on sunny days, it was nice to see that the McKee`s stood up for a while to some pretty crap days.
I wouldn`t recommend this wax for a daily driver, simply because the longevity isn`t there, but that`s not what this wax is geared toward.
Anyone looking for a wax in this range is looking for a show car wax and this is exactly that. A beautiful, and I mean BEAUTIFUL wax that is a genuine pleasure to apply and the looks are just fantastic.
If you`ve used Souveran this wax, I believe, will yield very similar results, but at about 40 bucks less than Souveran so you really can`t beat that. I think this wax is a bit more durable than Souveran too. It`s been a while but I remember Souveran pretty much washing away after a couple of rains and this wax seemed to last a bit longer.
I`ve used a lot of waxes... A LOT... like most here I`m sure, and Souveran was the best looking wax on red that I ever tried aside from maybe Zymol Vintage.
This wax is very much in the same league. The only difference is you`re not paying over 100 or even 1000 dollars for McKee`s Trademark. You`re paying 50 bucks for a wax that, in my opinion, outperforms nearly every other wax I`ve tried in the looks department for a fraction of the price.
I`ll be buying it again when I run out.
OH and here`s a couple shots of my Shelby since.. ya know... I actually intended to put it on the Shelby in the first place
It was tough to get good shots today because... yes... it`s raining... again :/
