Mother's California Gold Ceramic Line

Hours Of Car Washing Fun

Panther Black This Is Not

Nobody is going to confuse the black metallic finish on my 2016 Mazda6 for the spectacular (in name and look) Panther Black paint job Audi offers on their rides. Mine doesn’t even get capital letters. BUT! I will say that when clean, my cherished 6 shines, sparkles, and generally makes me grin when shimmering on a sunny day. So, when the kind folks at Mother’s offered me their latest and greatest in car cleaning wizardry for a test run, I was happy to oblige.

Full Disclosure: Mother’s sent me their California Gold Ceramic Line to review.

Cultivating Filth

You see, my Mazda has been living outside the garage of late. The struggle, it is real. So was the level of filth. Particularly upon learning I would be “forced” to give it a deep cleansing using the California Gold Ceramic Line of soapy goods from Mother. Specifically, I left the poor 6 outside for many days full of trees dropping sap (you should see what the 400-year-old European Beech in my neighbor’s yard can unload) and birds dropping turds. (There is a bald eagle that flies overhead with regularity).

Cultivating Car Nerds

After returning from an out-of-town excursion, I found the box of Motherly goods and set to work. Now, it’s been a minute since I’ve washed my cars in the driveway, let alone waxed them - twice. And by a minute, I mean roughly 6.321 to the power of 6 minutes. That’s how long ago the twins were born and it’s fair to say my car-caring bandwidth has seen better days. But the little wingnuts are not only largely self-sufficient these days, they rather enjoy the fine art of washing thine own cars!

I Want A Foam Cannon

And so, we unpacked Mother’s goods to see what was what. First up, the Ceramic Wash & Wax, a “super-slick, sudsy, foam-cannon-ready wash” that is “pH neutral and designed not to affect ceramic coatings”. Hmm. Not sure what a foam cannon is, but DEFINITELY want one, and though I cannot pretend to have ceramic-coated my black beauty, I felt good about the post-wash prospects.

First A Beading, Then A Sheeting

To be honest, I cannot recall ever coming across a car wash solution that wasn’t super sudsy, but it has been a few years and this Mother’s red fluid definitely lived up to the description. Particularly when applied to my dirty steed. Not only were there many large and fluffy suds, they remained as such even whilst I worked on the rest of a given panel. I also took notes about how nicely the water beaded and sheeted off the car during the rinse cycle. Please don’t tell anyone how excited I get about the beading action of H2O while washing my car.

Mr. Miyagi Lives On

After a thorough dry, or so I thought, it was wax-on, wax-off time. But first, a decision. The back of the Mother’s Ceramic Wash & Box bottle says to follow up with the Ceramic Spray Wax bottle of goo. But the bottle of Ceramic Paint Correction in my possession said the same thing. After much hemming and hawing, I decided to start with the paint corrector as both products seemed to point to the spray-on stuff as the final step. Per Mother’s, this paint correction paste “removes scratches and swirls while restoring gloss,” and I’m here to report that’s basically spot on.

The biggest downside to hours of washing and waxing your ride, aside from a swollen forearm and concerned looks from the neighbors (they are not car folk), is getting up close and personal with the condition of your paint. Dang. After 85,000 miles and nearly 10 years, there’s a whole lotta swirlin’, scratchin’, and imperfectionin’ going on with my Mazda. But I could in fact see some of this damage disappearing before my eyes while channeling Mr. Miyagi, and I can honestly say I enjoy the car waxing process. So shiny!

First It Dries, Then It Puts On The Wax

On that note about a thorough dry, or lack thereof, Mother’s clearly states that before correcting your paint, the surface should be dry. In an ideal world (read: one where I have nothing but time to ponder the flow of my car tinkering days), I would have washed the Mazda on Saturday and waxed it on Sunday. But the fact that I was able to carve out a few hours of non-stop car care on the same day was kind of a big deal for me, and one not to be wasted. Which meant applying all three of the California Gold products from Mother’s back-to-back-to-back.

Rivulets Of Madness

And you know when you’re done washing your car and those little trickles of water magically appear from the door handles, side mirrors, and taillights to drive you crazy? Well, applying pressure with a wax-filled chamois is a really great way to create a whole bunch of what I would call rivulets. Those rivulets mixed with Ceramic Paint Correction make a damn mess and one that instantly botched my zen-like car cleaning state. Swearing was involved. This is not Mother’s problem, it is mine. That sounds like something from the therapist’s couch, but it is not. The point is, make sure your car is REALLY dry before waxing it up.

Liquidy-Gloss Is For Me

Okay, last step was the Ceramic Spray Wax. At this point, IMHO, the Mazda was looking pretty darn dope. But when in Rome, go hog wild with the fancy finish frivolity I always say. And in this case, hosing down the 6 with sprayable wax was the soup du jour. Mother’s says this little bottle of magic will add “deep shine and durable ceramic protection to any paint finish”. Said to be “Super-Hydrophobic” and capable of beautifying your beast with a “Liquidy-Gloss”, it all sounded pretty good to me. Mostly the liquidy-gloss language, that is one I will be adding to the stable of nonsensical phrases.

So Shiny!

Much like the paint correction wax, the spray version gets smeared on and polished off. At this point, even with rotating hands, my arms were fit to burst. But I persevered because someone has to do it, and the results were pretty spectacular. Could I visibly see the increase in shine between the two types of wax? I could not. However, the overall post-wash and wax shine was indeed amazing and knowing my Mazda6 now had “professional-grade ceramic protection” made me happy. As you can see in the photos, I am no Ansel Adams. As such, showing you the before and after is tricky at best. But suffice it to say, this Mother’s California Gold stuff is solid. I’d certainly buy it.