“The term wax should not be used in any description of a car wash product unless it can be verified to actually contain a wax which almost all of the products on the market called a wax do not.”
I’m not sure I would necessarily agree with this statement.
“There was a lawsuit (a somewhat frivolous one) by a small manufacturer in Wisconsin back in the late 80's or early 90's regarding the use of the term wax. Although there was no official verdict, most of the major car wash chemical manufacturers settled it out of court.”
Settling out of court can be interpreted in many different ways.
It allows each party engaged in a matter to resolve the matter without admitting to rightness or wrongness.
For example, several years ago I was engaged as an expert in a wrongful death case where a toddler managed to wander into an operating in-bay wash and was critically injured, a real tragedy and a wrong.
The OEM, not the operator, settled out of court.
A toddler is a minor child, without cognition to read warning signs or recognize potentially dangerous situations, etc. in the care of a custodial parent.
What OEM would want to go there even if it was not in the wrong?
Prior to this “wax” law suit (I have to agree with frivolous), I was contacted multiple times by this small Wisconsin manufacturer. He suggested that I (consultant) could be in the wrong by advising my clients to sell wax products that did not contain wax.
Advice given to me was simply to ignore this.
My hunch is this guy simply identified an opportunity to enrich himself at the expense of the carwash industry, and the OEM’s settled out of court to make him go away to avoid the potential expense of a more global situation.
Quite frankly, it is rather easy to take the terms involved in this matter and construe them to have many different interpretations.
For example, “waxing” is a term that is most often used to describe the process of removing body hair.
As Earl mentioned, “conditioner” is a term most often used to describe hair care products.
“Polishing” is the process of creating a smooth and shiny surface by rubbing it or using a chemical action.
“Sealant” has many forms and applications, so does Silicone.
Where can you draw the line in the sand? Moreover, does it really matter?
People want their vehicles cleaned, shined and protected.
If you take the time to explain all of the details that goes into this to the average motorist, mostly likely all you will accomplish is to make their eyeballs roll around in the backs of their heads.
