M66 has been around a long time, it's on par in quality with any top shelf cleaner/wax.
It's versatile in that it can be used by hand, DA, or Rotary. It cleans using diminishing abrasives and some type of chemical cleaning action. It polishes with Meguiar's unique polishing oils, and leaves behind a combination of natural and synthetic protection ingredients.
My guess is the 2-3 months longevity under normal and friendly circumstances would accurate as it would be for similar products.
Everyone always wants to know how long a wax or paint sealant will last and while it's common sense that the actual protection ingredients themselves are a huge factor, just a huge of a factor is how the paint is "touched" after the wax is removed.
- Start taking the car to a car wash or washing it with detergent washes and you'll see the longevity fall off.
- Store the car in a garage and you'll see the protection last a long time...
"If you want your car to look like it was just waxed... then just wax it"
Car waxes and Paint Sealants are
Sacrificial Barrier Coatings. Here's a couple of excerpts from an article on this topic...
Sacrificial Barrier Coating = The purpose of a wax or synthetic paint sealant
Mike Phillips said:
Sacrificial Barrier Coating
The primary purpose of a car wax or synthetic paint sealant is to act as a sacrificial barrier coating over the surface of your car’s paint. The idea being that anytime anything comes into contact with your car’s paint, before it can cause any damage to the paint it first has to get past the layer of wax or paint sealant. When your car’s paint is under attack, the layer of wax or paint sealant sacrifices itself so your paint doesn’t have to sacrifice itself.
Or in other words, the layer of wax or paint sealant gives itself up so your car’s paint doesn’t have to give itself up.
And this one...
Mike Phillips said:
Two extremes and people in-between
How often you need to apply a coat of wax or a paint sealant is a personal decision that only you can make. That said, there are two basic categories of car waxers... the Minimalist and the Maximallist, and a third catagory... everyone in-between...
Minimalist
My guess is a minimalist is more than likely going to be the type of person that looks at their car as a means of transportation. Wax your car 1-4 times a year. This would be a benchmark number for the minimum number of times you can wax your daily driver and expect the paint to hold up over the service life of the car and for it to look good to some level. Assuming your car is a daily driver, parked outside, then waxing your car just one time a year won’t probably maintain your car’s finish to show room new condition but everyone has their own standards and expectations so find a routine that works for you.
Maximallist
My guess is a Maximallist is more than likely going to be the type of person that looks at their car as an extension of their personality. This type of person usually doesn’t need anyone telling them how often to wax their car because they already wax their car often. They wax their car often to protect and preserve the paint but just as important to them is to make the paint and by default, the car look good.
In-between
My guess is that waxing your car is something that never makes it on to your "A-List" of projects and probably not even your "B-List" of projects. It probably gets done by you or someone, it's just not a priority or your passion.
Oil Change
Whether you’re the Minimalist or the Maximallist, or someone that falls in-between, here’s a better method to the madness as to determining when or how often to wax your car, two words… Oil Change
No I don’t mean wax your car every time you change your oil, what I mean is think of waxing your car in the same way you think of changing your oil. Here’s what I mean…
PM = Preventative Maintenance
Most people change their oil every 3000 miles as that is what the manufacture recommends to prevent pre-mature failure of the moving parts inside the motor. The motor won’t blow up at 3001 miles as going past 3000 miles doesn’t mean the oil is no longer lubricating the moving parts, it’s a Preventative Maintenance Practice.
The idea being to remove the old, worn out oil BEFORE it’s so worn out that damage can occur. This approach to engine maintenance works and millions of miles on millions of engines documents this practice.
Now take that same idea and apply it to waxing your car’s paint… that is re-apply a fresh coat of wax before all of the last coating has completely worn off. Apply a coat of wax BEFORE there is so little protection left on the surface that damage can occur.
If you car is in fact a daily driver, then a good minimum number of times to apply a coat of wax to your car’s finish to insure that it’s fully protected against attack would be 4 times a year, that's once every 3 months.
In a perfect world, if you have the time and inclination, then waxing more often certainly won’t hurt anything, you can decide how often for yourself. I put a coat of wax on my daily driver truck at least once a month. For me it’s different than it is for others because I work in the car wax industry… I usually have a new wax to test often enough, or a new wax I’m curious about that it’s just so easy to go out into the garage and apply a coat of wax. So don’t use me as a benchmark…
Feel free to read the entire article as it's better in it's entire context.
M66, like any quality cleaner/wax should give your car, or your customer's car 2-3 months of wax protection but in a perfect world, if the car is a daily driver that sees wear-n-tear every day... then a fresh coat of wax should be applied before the previous coat has completely worn off.
If this is your car then re-applying a coat of wax is up to you.
If this is your customer's car, then explain to them the above and then sign them up on a
"Maintenance Program" where
--> you <-- will be happy to re-apply future coats of wax to "maintain" their car's finish.
Either way, the good news is that after you've done the initial detail, that is wash, clay and use a cleaner/wax on the paint, if you stay on top of a daily driver, future detailing sessions are easier... and faster...
Hope that helps...
