Machine, pad by hand, or just your hands? Regarding option 3, any benefit/downside of massaging a bit between your hands and applying directly to the paint? Seems logical that warming carnauba with some friction beforehand would allow it to spread more evenly. How much should I be using (i.e. dime size, quarter size for a single panel?)

 

Don't know which wax, but I always recommend by machine.

 

When I use to use Zymol, I would apply it with my bare hands. Since then, I use Swissvax and find that our CCS Applicator applies a more even and uniform application of the waxes. Also, for personal health reasons, I stopped applying with bare hands and wear gloves now. I won't go into it, but my days of applying carnauba with bare hands are over until there's a safer product out there.

 

OK Moe I'll bite-tell me more, Carnauba wax is a health risk?

 

We're learning a lot since developing our line. It's not the carnauba, it's the other ingredients that go into the completed emulsion that worries me. Let's just say our chemists strongly suggested I don't apply the waxes by bare hands and I also refrain from eating it during tech events. Yes...I use to eat the stuff to prove how safe and natural the product was. Those days are over. Well, at least for the time being

 

First time I've heard of any harmful effects (other than what's posted below) and I've been 'hand' applying wax for about 30+ years

Extract from MSDS – http://bit.ly/7uM4QA
Potential Acute Health Effects: Very hazardous in case of ingestion.
Hazardous in case of eye contact (irritant), of inhalation

I do not doubt your source but if you could provide irrefutable information / source, I will have to withdraw my recommendations on 'hand applied waxes from both my book and the Tech papers

 

Yikes. Thanks for the input fellas. Never crossed my mind that hand application would be hazardous. That's discouraging. I was hoping to massage my car with some wax I have coming in Got a CR Spotless coming from Moe and a few others things to get ready for my car detailing weekend after the New Year.
Guess I'll have to use an applicator...

 

For confidentiality reasons, I cannot disclose the actual lab results. The MSDS you have shown is for pure carnauba...as you know, that's not the ONLY ingredient in waxes made for car care. Carnauba is simply one component. There are solvents, carrying agents, secret ingredients that make one wax different than the other, etc. The Carnauba in itself is harmless. It's all the other ingredients that go into refining the carnauba to make the wax you hold in the jar spreadable and unique.

I did not mean to startle anyone. I can only make a decision for myself based on the data that has been laid in front of me. You can take what I do with a grain of salt. I'm not by any means telling others to do the same. I may also be overlly cautious since I do this for a living. The amount of exposure I have to wax in one week is about as much as the average person has in a year or two.

This is partly why we're developing our own line of certified organic products. On a more personal level, I'm bringing the romance back into my way of detailing that was taken away from me. I just couldn't take being at the mercy of others and realized that I can only change myself and how I do things. Sorry to rant about this stuff; I'm sure you guys have better things to read about.

Bottom line, do your own research and homework and make your own educated decision. I would take what everyone tells you about car care with a grain of salt when it comes to your personal health. We professionals have to be more careful about what we use and how we use it since we do this daily.

 

[....The Carnauba in itself is harmless. It's all the other ingredients that go into refining the carnauba to make the wax you hold in the jar spreadable and unique.]

These are usually oils and solvents (the reason they advise against ingestation) as a Chem E I know that an MSDS does not include all the ingredients, but they have to by law, divulge any health hazardous content

Material data sheets (MSDS)
A Material Safety Data Sheet should be available for every chemical you use. Read these and follow the recommendations for safe use and disposal of the material. As required by the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA), the target audience for information in a MSDS is the occupation worker who may be exposed to chemicals at work. However, much of the information is also relevant to consumers.
Read the manufacturers application instructions and then obtain and read the MSDS sheet to ascertain the chemicals used. Although it should be said that an MSDS is a document that contains details of the hazards associated with a particular chemical and provides information regarding its safe use. The MSDS is required to state the chemical's risks, safety and impact on the environment.
A Material Safety Data Sheet is a fact sheet developed by manufacturers describing the chemical properties of a product. Material Safety Data Sheets include brand-specific information such as physical data (solid, liquid, colour, melting point, flash point, etc.), health effects, first aid, reactivity, storage, handling, disposal, personal protection and spill/leak procedures.