Mothers California Gold Pure Carnauba Wax Paste

Solid type. Smells great and looks as good as smells. Lasts well for carnauba and gives that carnauba wax look. This is a cut above a paste I have with a shelled animal on it. Not saying that option is bad but this way out in front in very tangible ways for a still reasonable price. My experience as someone who was fed up spending ages getting tree sap spots off the car. This makes the removal easier from the off and the wax stays good for that for a lot longer.

I have read the negative comments on this wax and wondered what was going on with this product. I had used it for many years in the past and didn’t have these crazy problems.
I ordered a can and received it an hour ago. Wanted to try it immediately. My car is kept clean, so I just did the hood and rear hatch. Washed those areas and dried as usual.
On opening the can, yes, it was cracked and a little crumbly around the edges. That’s normal for this wax, as it says on the instructions inside the cover. This is a hard wax, not a soft past as some products are. A little goes a long way. Don’t try to scoop out blobs of the stuff like a soft paste.

On to the waxing. I applied it to the rear hatch. Used a CLEAN round sponge applicator pad. Goes on very easy. Used small swirls. I let dry to a haze as directed. Used microfiber towel to buff off. PERFECT.
I washed the hood. Dried with microfiber. Applied the wax the same way as the rear hatch. Buffed off by hand with microfiber towel. PERFECT.
So, what’s the problem with all these negative reviews? Well, I can only give the following suggestions:

This product is WAX. JUST WAX. It will NOT clean ANYTHING off the paint. So your paint must be spotless before applying this product. If your paint has water spots, stains, or other issues, don’t put this on the car! You will seal all of that dirt onto the paint.

To get the paint clean first, wash with car soap and then dry with microfiber towel. Use a cleaner. I used Mother’s micro polishing glaze. But you can use what you like to get the paint CLEAN.

Apply this product with a sponge type applicator to one panel at a time. ONE PANEL. Let dry to a haze. Buff off by hand with microfiber towel. I found microfiber towels make a huge difference in your ability to remove the excess wax. Turn the towel often and go over the panel a few times so as not to miss any spots. This is not hard to do, but takes a little time.

As to some here who’ve said it won’t come off, my guess is the paint was still dirty and should have been polished first. If you’re using this product as a cleaner, you are making a mistake. Use cleaner type products BEFORE applying this wax. I would not use it in direct midday sun. I use it in late afternoon sun and it’s fine.

The panels I just did on my car have a beautiful shine and was not much work at all. 20 minutes maybe?
When the directions are followed, you can’t go wrong with this product.

When washing the car between full wax jobs, I use Mother’s spray wax as I dry the car off. Puts on a light, shiny protection that looks great and is very easy to do.

Hope your car looks great!

I actually used to live just a few miles from Mothers in Huntington Beach, Calif. I started using this pure carnuba wax when “Harley” wax went out of business in the late 70’s I believe. I absolutely swear by the entire Mothers line of automotive detail products. They are simply the best in my opinion. As a past auto detail company owner I could go on for pages about the quality of Mothers but suffice to say you are getting the best quality for the price on offer.

J ai testé plusieurs cire, et celle ci c est vraiment la meilleure que j ai pu utiliser
Rapport qualité / prix super
Produit d une efficacité excellente
Effet perlant et hydrophobe sont au rendez vous

That you see a piano in the video won’t matter. It’s from 1948 and it’s the original lacquer–essentially the best black automotive paint of the time. The video is quite long. It will give you an idea of how once you start using this stuff on something with a series of logical panels you can plan on going as long as you keep on going… Be certain to have plenty of EDGELESS microfiber. Even the threads on the edges of ordinary microfiber will abrade the wax before you get in buffed down nice and hard on the surface.

Always be very very very careful with powered buffers! I used the SZFIXEZ Electric Spin Scrubber that I reviewed here but you will need the REPLACEMENT BRUSH SET TO GET THE EDGELESS BUFFING PAD! See my review for more info and ask Amazon about getting some of those buffing pads to buy individually. The rotation speed seems great for this application–very little chance of hurting a surface especially a modern automotive clear coated finish. (It’s not practical for whole cars though–at least I don’t think it would be it’s just not made for that much and the battery…)

What matters is that you have PURE stuff here. That’s likely why you couldn’t find it in any of the auto stores–they just sell the diluted stuff.

The “Ease of” five stars come from experience. This product is indeed easy to remove and use but you have to prepare properly first. And preparing means cleaning. Lots and lots of cleaning. That’s why this is STEP 3 in a process. I’m not sure of their particular process steps but they’re ALL ABOUT CLEANING and prepping the surface for this PURE NATURAL HARD WAX.

Unlike cars–well certainly most of them–the piano has a satin finish. That’s not easy for lacquer and you’ll notice it’s certainly still there underneath that luster. It was literally sanded by drum devices as part of the finishing process. The lines are still there in the right light but they mainly just break up the gloss. That’s why you’ll see me finish the wax application with straight instead of swirling strokes. In later coat(s) I do swirl–everywhere to the right music–waltz 😉 but this one is getting in the grooves and a perhaps touch heavier than the later ones as well

Be certain your surface is UTTERLY CLEAN before applying! The finish in this case was effectively “like new” as it had been completely stripped of old wax, fully cleaned, camouflaged and very lightly polished using the lightest diminishing abrasives. The application pad I’m using is stained–not dirty. Your application pad should never get dirty. Ever. Keep it in the can where it belongs. But if it gets dirty they don’t last through too many cleanings.

This wax is applied VERY LIGHTLY. It dries quite rapidly but you have a generous window of time to remove. Properly applied–and this is not difficult if you keep the application pad similar to what you see–you won’t have “white line” problems–that only happens if you’re using WAY, WAY too much wax or if you’re using something full of cheap synthetic waxes, abrasives, solvents and, perhaps, a bit of carnauba. In the video you’ll notice that at the end of the application step that I wipe in lines instead of the normal swirls. This is because I wanted this coat to get into those old sanded grooves. The next coat(s) are swirled on. Waltzing along…

The pad in the video is slightly blackened due to the reversible nature of my camouflage and earlier use. It’s permanent unless I wash out all the wax with pure turpentine as that’s the only thing that will touch that “stain” and it stains anything–seemingly permanently–to come right off with turps. Some weird stuff they used to use back then when other things were pure as well–amazing how well it keeps all those years–very same stuff an errant servant (or guilty master with a touch of conscience) would use. It even came from the “Amazon” of the day–in a way–Monkey Ward as I used to call it as a little boy.

Note how I apply bits of wax to the pad and then rub it in with my hands–essentially melting it into the pad. The working pad is ever so slightly “dampened” with wax and ordinarily you use very light pressure to apply as you are spreading such a thin coat. It takes quite a lot of time to get a pad ready for working so that also explains why that bit of black staining didn’t bother me. When the pad is used on a car it should be spotless. And stay that way. If you get a hint of dirt on that pad, STOP. Go back step(s). You have not prepared properly! Keep cleaning! AFTER IT GETS DIRTY THE APPLICATION PAD MUST BE FULLY CLEANED OR DISCARDED.