Review & How To: Auto Finesse Rejuvenate & Passion Luxury Car Wax

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Review & How To: Auto Finesse Rejuvenate & Passion Luxury Car Wax

Auto Finesse has a rally nice line of products that's quite extensive and their tag line is the same as the title of the first edition of my how-to book,

The art of detailing


I've been wanting to try out their paste waxes and it's been over 50 days since I last waxed the paint so I decided to give two of their products a test run.


Auto Finesse Rejuvenate Pre-Wax Cleaner
AF Rejuvenate is a light paint cleaner to remove any previously applied waxes or sealants and get your car's paint down to a fresh base to work with. This pre-wax cleaner is specifically formulated for use before application of Carnauba waxes.

While many pre-wax cleaners also called simply paint cleaners are chemical only in their cleaning ability, Auto Finesse Rejuvenate contains micro-fine abrasives plus chemical cleaners to completely ensure any topical impurities, dirt staining plus any residual wax or sealant has been removed.


Auto Finesse Passion Luxury Car Wax
Passion is what I call a finishing wax, that is it doesn't contain any chemical cleaners or mechanical abrasives with the intended purpose of cleaning the surface. There are cleaner/waxes and their are finishing waxes and this wax falls into the finishing wax category.

Finishing waxes can only be used on and should only be used on paint that is either in excellent condition as defined in my how-to book or after first pre-cleaning and/or compounding and polishing. The point being, a finishing wax like this should really only be used on paint that is clean and smooth to the touch.

Bot products are recommended to be applied by hand but I'm kind of a machine guy so I'm going to apply both by machine.



Step 1: Wash and dry vehicle
You can also wipe your car clean using a waterless wash or spray detailer, etc.
Since I wipe my truck down almost daily, I chose to use a waterless wash.



Step 2: Clean paint using Auto Finesse Rejuvenate Pre-Wax Cleaner
For this step I used a Lake Country Flat Blue Foam Waxing pad on a Porter Cable 7424XP on about the 5.0 speed setting. I'm not trying to remove swirls and scratches just remove any previously applied waxes and get the clear coat paint down to a fresh base.

Super Easy Wipe-off
The Auto Finesse Rejuvenate Pre-Wax Cleaner has to be one of the easiest paint cleaners I've ever wiped off. Removal absolutely effortless.



Translucent after application
When I took this picture it's after completely applying the Rejuvenate to the entire side of the truck. It's a very transparent product after application and that's why you don't really see anything on the paint but it's there.

In this shot there's a thin film of product over the paint on the door that I'm getting ready to buff off. I had a hard time capturing the thin film with my camera on the passenger side.

After wiping down the passenger side I next applied the Rejuvenate to the driver's side, I had already completely knocked out the hood before I started in on the sides. If you look careful just in front of my hand a few inches you can see a very thin film of pre-wax cleaner that I'm about to wipe off.

Here I was able to light up the side of my truck be using the flash on my camera and now you can see the thin film of residue that is almost translucent.

Wiped Clean
Here's after wiping, the paint is completely clean and smooth. It's actually very slick feeling and shiny looking.

Step 3: Apply Wax
I'm a HUGE fan of the Griot's 3" Mini Polisher with a 4" soft foam pad for machine applying waxes and sealants. I think you can apply a thinner application of a paste wax by hand but I think you can do a better job faster by applying by machine.

For this I simply tipped one edge of the pad into the jar and then blip the on/off switch for a a few seconds and that does a pretty good job of getting the wax onto the face of the pad. The speed setting is usually the 3.0 speed setting as you don't need the pad to rotate as you're not removing defect you do want it to rotate to make moving the pad over the paint effortless.

Here's 'the hood all waxed up, I did the hood first and then went down the passenger side, tailgate and then the driver's side. I try to leave a pattern behind in the wax for the camera to pick up on.

Product Beauty Shot
Plus you can see I have a fairly uniform layer of wax over the paint.

Step 4: Remove wax with microfiber towel

I found the wax wiped off about as easy as any quality Carnauba wax I've ever used. I tend to use small overlapping circular motions for the first pass at taking the wax off and then for the final wipe change to a fresh, clean microfiber towel and repeat only with larger, more encompassing overlapping circular motions.

Microfiber Gloves - The only way to wipe wax off...
I'm also a huge fan of microfiber gloves when wiping off a finishing wax, sealant or coating. The gloves give you extra gripping power over the microfiber towels, kind of a like attracts like thing going on. If you've never worn MF Gloves when wiping wax off your car add some to your next purchase and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Step 5: Stand back and admire the results!
Maybe take your ride for a cruise to show off the shine!

I did the above at the end of day last Friday and only took a couple of after shots, if the sun breaks through I'll try to take a few more outside and inside the garage.



On Autogeek.net

Auto Finesse Passion Luxury Car Wax

Auto Finesse Rejuvenate Pre-Wax Cleaner

Lake Country 5.5" Blue Flat Foam Waxing Pad

Rupes 4" White Foam Finishing Pad

Porter Cable 7424XP Dual Action Polisher

Griot's Garage 3" Mini Polisher

Microfiber Gloves

Gold Plush Jr. Microfiber Towel - 16 x 16 inches

Auto Finesse Rejuvenate & Passion Luxury Car Wax​

 

[erichaley]

Nice write-up!

I received a sample of AF Passion, and I did half of my hood with that and the other half with BlackICE. In the end, I couldn't really tell the difference. Almost everything was the same, though the BlackICE sheeted slightly better.

How do you think they compare, Mike?

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Just stepped outside and snapped these two shots... she's red and shiny!

:xyxthumbs:

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

How do you think they compare, Mike?

The products themselves are very different in texture in the jar and for application, the BlackICE has more of the texture of a Humus Dip while the Auto Finesse is more of the texture of real butter when it's hard in a cold fridge.

Both spread out really well and I'd say Blackfire wipes off a little easier but then I didn't lay down a thin coat of the Passion, in fact I laid down a more medium application instead of a thin application but I wouldn't call it a thick application.

BlackICE is intended for black cars and that's how I've used it for I think 3 out of 4 or 5 rigs I used it on. This is my first time with Auto Finesse and I wanted to start with the Passion wax.


It rained this morning and when I went out to my truck the water beading was tight, small and tall, just the way you want good water beading. Next time it rains I'll try to take a picture.


Sure is shiny though... I think my neighbors hate me because nobody's car, not even the brand new cars in my neighbor hood are as clean and shiny as my old truck.



:laughing:

 

[erichaley]

Did the beading look like this?

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

I drove into work today during a horrendous downpour, right after I parked my truck at work I took these pictures...

Here's what I found out... I'm horrible at capturing water beading shots! :laughing:

My truck is too tall, have to hold my camera over my head and use the flip out display to see what I'm shooting.


But there you go... water beading and lots of it...


:xyxthumbs:

 

[Pinpoint_Precision]

Nice. I was waiting for you to review this products Mike. Thanks. When will you doing a clinic make over using Wolf's products? I would like to see how their products hold up. Have you ever used their product line before? Thanks in advance.

 

[Setec Astronomy]

My truck is too tall, have to hold my camera over my head and use the flip out display to see what I'm shooting.

How do you get in and out of that thing, Mike? I know you're in better shape than I am, but I'd yank my shoulder out trying to climb up and sprain my ankle trying to get out, from the look of things, anyway.

 

[willtothewong]

Great review!

I've been using the AF line myself.

Instead of Rejuvenate, I've been using Tripple. I noticed it is a bit more difficult to spread with a mf applicator but much easier with a foam applicator. However, with an mf applicator, more dirt stains are lifted and transferred into the pad. The foam method was a lot easier to apply but did not stain the foam pad as much.

So that leads me to believe using Tripple with a mf applicator "cleans" better than foam. Can't go wrong with either method though!

 

[erichaley]

How do you get in and out of that thing, Mike? I know you're in better shape than I am, but I'd yank my shoulder out trying to climb up and sprain my ankle trying to get out, from the look of things, anyway.

With a rope made out of microfiber towels, of course...

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Nice. I was waiting for you to review this products Mike. Thanks. When will you doing a clinic make over using Wolf's products?

I have a number of really nice but swirled out street rods on the list and I'll probably use one of these cars for a Wolfs Extreme Makeover.

My detailing boot camp class is coming up in about 4 weeks so I have to get some cool cars and some mundane transportation cars lined up for this fast approaching class. I'm supposed to have Jay's 1971 Chevelle at this class to teach people how to wetsand and use rotary buffers.

I'd say anyone signed up for this next class will be in for a real treat. Where else does anyone get this kind of hands-on experience?


Jay's new muscle car projects - Wetsand, cut and buff...

Have you ever used their product line before? Thanks in advance.

Not yet. Kind of stay busy around here at least enough that when I do test out a product I first line up a GREAT candidate car for both testing and eye candy. For example we had the CarPro Orange Peel Removal Pads here for months but it wasn't till I scheduled this 1949 Chevy 5-Window Pickup with crazy orange peel on the hood that everything fell into place and now that it has, in less than two weeks the YouTube Video has over 2000 views.


How to remove Orange Peel using a Porter Cable Dual Action Polisher


Demarcation Line
In the below picture you can see there are two sides to the results, this is where the tape-line ran across the hood.

So in the right time... the right project will come up and as is the NORM I'll post a picture of the car and the link to the sign-up page to the bottom of the AGO forum homepage.

How to find out if there's a Thursday night project going on?

 

[Pinpoint_Precision]

Cool Mike, thank you so much. Looking forward to it.

 

[Joech92]

Nice work Mike.

I also found Rejuvenate to work well on a rotary polisher also!

Auto Finesse Rejuvenate - YouTube


Joe