Australian off-the-shelf
To give you some idea of Australian off-the-shelf supply:
- Meguiar’s, Mother’s, Auto-glym, and several other ‘lesser’ brands (Kitten, Turtle Wax, Armor All, Eagle One, etc).
- Our main auto chains are Repco, Super Cheap Auto, Autobarn, Autopro, Auto One. Of these only Super Cheap Auto has comprehensive products listed online.
- Even stockage of off-the-shelf Meguiar’s products is hit-and-miss where I live.
- That's it!
hmmmmm…. Autoglym may be worth a look. Although I have no experience with it myself, I have heard good things about it over the years. I recall their SRP (super resin polish?) was supposed to have some god filling ability which might help take care of some existing marring you may have. It is an AIO (all in one) product from what I remember so it should have some minor correcting ability as well as protection. AIO’s are not typically known for durability but perhaps you can follow up with their EGP (extra gloss protection sealant and/or their HD wax you can extend the durability. In either case, I would suggest doing searches on sites like Autopia.org using keywords “autoglym SRP”, “autoglym EGP”, “HD wax”, etc. It may be the retail solution you’ve been looking for.
Shipping
As the products generally contain petroleum distillates or other solvents I don’t hold out much hope of shipment from O/S- it rules out airfreight and I’m not sure how they’ll go (if at all) surface- sweltering across the equator in a hot steel box perhaps! Shipment costs are usually high. Have not actually checked it out
Australian online supply
The following are Australian-domain online supply specialists, referenced against their listed brands. I checked the products you listed Blackfire Wet Diamond, Finishkare FK1000P, Optimum Opti-seal and Wolfgang Fuzion were carried, although some of them are listed out of stock. As you can see, quite limited. Initial google.com.au search criteria was “brand-name (glaze,polish) site:.au”. Have not checked Ebay.
- Waxit.com.au/poorboys.com.au: Collinite, Duragloss, Klasse, p21s, Wolfgang, Zaino
- Zas.com.au: Blackfire, Finishkare, Optimum
- Carcareproducts.com.au: Collinite, Duragloss, Optimum, p21s, Zaino
- Uniquecarcare.com.au: Klasse, p21s
- Optimumcarcare.com.au: Optimum products
- Gtechniq.com.au: Gtechniq products
Blackfire Wet Diamond seems to be out of stock, same with Finishkare FK1000P (both zas.com.au only) and Optimum Opti-seal on carcareproducts.com.au.
I see Waxit.com.au has quite a few decent product lines including the ones you listed and Poorboys, Menzerna, 1z, DP, etc. What you might want to do is look through their product descriptions of the various brands offered by each manufacturer and then do a search on some of those detailing websites I have mentioned. You should then have a better feel for how the products behave and what sort of longevity you can expect from them. I wouldn’t get too hung up on specific brands we might recommend here. By all means, include those in your research, but also make sure to consider other alternatives as well.
Back to my wishes...
My head’s now spinning, not from the fumes from all the products and their relative differences! I suppose if I tighten up my criteria and environmental conditions it may help:
1. Australian Environment generally: Very high UV, high temps, dust, dirt, pollen, birds, sea salt (coastline only), no road salt.
2. I’d prefer a polymer sealant or synthetic/polymer reinforced wax, perhaps with a slight polish/swirl remover- must be able to withstand UV/heat. Also not something that chemically permanently bonds onto the finish such as the Optimum products seem to do and requires a perfect surface and environment. This comes back also to a non-ideal application environment at my place (outside, near/under a tree which randomly releases fine yellow pollen or seeds with resin and harbours birds that drop other, more liquid things, dust is also a problem. No proper under-cover).
3. Wipe on, let dry, wipe off is fine but prefer the ‘let dry’ to be 10-15mins (whilst I finish the car). Wipe on wipe off I can deal with. Wipe on walk away I could learn to deal with. I think my conservatism is showing.?
4. Do like the ‘depth’ provided by waxes/polymer sealants rather than just a glaze over the top.
5. Coming back to the Meguiar’s Deep Crystal Wet Look Polymer Sealant- I think what ended up so good about that was that it was a fine polish and protectant in one- therefore maintaining the finish as well as sealing it (albeit for a short time).
6. Hand application only (no machines)
I’m currently considering the Collinte 845 Insulator Wax, Zaino Z2 Pro, GTechniq C2 Liquid Crystal Concentrate or perhaps Klasse High Gloss Sealant Glaze. But these may mean I need to get a polish (for the older cars) first.
Some random info/comments that may help you in your decision when researching some of these products in the various forums (note: LSP = last step product; wax, sealant, etc.)….
Collinite: Popular products you will see mentioned will likely be # 845, # 915 and # 576(?). 845 is a well liked product due to its relative ease of use and decent durability. I’ve used it a few times myself and found it to be a good product with so-so looks. I’ve seen a fair # of folks choose this one as a “winter LSP”. 915 is apparently even more durable with better looks but perhaps a bit more fussy to apply/remove.
Optimum: Opti-Seal is simply a sealant and will not permanently bond to the finish as their Opti-Coat does. OC applies the same but if you do not knock down high spots, they can be visible once the product sets up in 15-30 minutes. OS on the other hand can be wiped down at any time after as I mentioned in my earlier response. ….although the object is to apply a thin layer so this is not an issue. One of the cool things about WOWA sealants like Opti-Seal, Ultima Paint Guard Plus and Zaino-CS is that they can bee applied quickly and easily after a wash if you want to. ….so even if the product doesn’t last
that long, it’s at least not a pain to throw on another coat. I typically use OS over existing LSP’s as they being to reach the end of their life (to keep some sort of protection on the paint between full details/corrections).
FinishKare: Their FK1000P is a sealant that looks like your typically old-school paste wax. It has great durability when layered with an additional coat IMO/IME. However, the trick is that you should allow time for the fist coat to cure first. I usually wait a week until I the next time I wash the car. Something I noticed and have heard others say is that FK1000P tends to change its appearance (for the better) a few days later after applied (getting glossier, more reflective, etc.). FK1000P is also touted as a “High Temp” wax which is supposed to resist the effects of heat but honestly, most good sealants should do just fine in your environment I would think.
Duragloss I have seen several comparisons by some folks to Zaino when talking about DG products. In fact, there is a thread somewhere on Autopia.org that makes direct comparisons to each product. Both are great product lines that stand on their own but thought this might be interesting to you in case you wanted something close to Zaino but at a cheaper price.
Zaino: I’ve been a long time user of Zaino sealants like their Z-2 and Z-5 as well as their AIO (ZAIO). Zaino is a product line that is quite easy to use but a little time consuming. In a dry climate, drying times can be cut down but I have had situations where it took a little more than ½ hour between coats before the product would pass the finger-swipe test. Their Zfx accelerator will help speed up cure times, help with durability and allow you to apply up to 3 coats consecutively within a 12-24 hour period. Z-5 is a sealant on it’s own but provides some minor filling ability. Z-2 is a pure sealant with no filling characteristics but better gloss/reflectivity.
Boutique systems like Zaino, Adams and Griots are typically popular with novice DIY’ers since there generally provide everything you need. Their products are also generally better than what those folks are used to using. That’s not to downplay their effectiveness or quality, but if you frequent the detailing forums like I do, you can see
I don’t use their LSP’s as much as I used to but they are still a decent choice. I could usually expect up to 6 months of protection from about 3 coats.
Wolfgang: Their Deep Gloss Paint Sealant 3.0 is what is on my Challenger right now. I was fairly impressed with how long one coat has lasted on my car and found it quite similar to something like Zaino Z-2 in the way it applies/removes and performs. I absolutely love their Fuzion but it is quite expensive and not something that would your criteria in other categories I think. It’s more of a wax that you might use on a weekend toy that is mostly garaged IMO.
I could go on for hours but I hope this kind of gets the cogs moving a bit for you. I really think your best bet is what I suggested earlier about picking a few products and then researching on those websites for other opinions/experiences. If you were to force an opinion out of me, I would probably put FK toward the top of my personal recommendation list given the contamination and other environmental challenges you mentioned. ….but again, that’s not to say there isn’t a better product out there for your situation. The only downside might be with the application/removal as I mentioned earlier. It’s definitely not a trim or crevice friendly product.
I hope this helps.