Meguiar's Ultimate Paste have gas scent?

[bmarcinczyk14]

So I noticed after fully waxing my Z with Meguiar's paste and then running the application pad through hot water to clean it off I could smell a slight gas scent. I instantly began to worry that I may have swiped over gas residue when I had a gas spill on my bumper and cleaned and waxed right after. I waxed my entire car since that happen so I'm worried I did more harm to it than protection if there is some gas trapped inside the pad while I waxed it. Anyone else notice there wax has kinda a harsh gas type smell to it when running a used application pad through water? I'm just hoping it' s a normal smell and I didn't get gas in the pad.

[SouthArk370Z]

Most of the waxes/polishes I've run into had a VOC smell to them. But not what I would call a gas (as in gasoline) smell. If nobody can give you a definite answer, get some fresh stuff and take a sniff.

[bmarcinczyk14]

VOC?

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[SouthArk370Z]

Volatile organic compound - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[bmarcinczyk14]

What does VOC's smell like then? What I'm smelling is a pretty strong chemical smell to it. But it's really only when I wet the pad it smells much stronger.

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[SouthArk370Z]

VOC is a generic term. Includes gasoline and a lot of other hydrocarbons. Lots of different smells.

My guess is that what you are smelling is a solvent in the wax. Probably normal, but I'm not sure.

[bmarcinczyk14]

Well if anything I think the scent was stuck in the pad before I even started waxing the car, so my OCD self is worried that while I applied the wax over my whole car I was basically whipping gas with it too, instantly removing any effect the wax has and possibly straining the paint as well. No one notices like a sorta strong chemical smell, like faintly gas or nail polish type smell, when they soak the used applicator pad? I'm hoping it's some other chemical I'm smelling that I'm mistaking for gasoline.

[SouthArk370Z]

Pads are cheap - toss it and get a fresh one. Wax a small part of the car and give it the sniff test.

Gasoline evaporates pretty fast (at least the lighter fractions do), so I doubt you did any damage to the paint. Might not do the wax any good, but the paint should be OK. If the wax looks OK, I wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

Edit: getting the pad warm (rinsing in hot water), will boil off all sorts of volatile stuff. If the problem persists, try rinsing in cool water.

[RonRizz]

I believe most paste waxes have a petroleum base, some use different types of solvents to soften the wax. If they didn't it would be hard as a brick.
If in fact it was gasoline, like Southark says, I wouldn't sweat it too much, it wont do any harm.

[bmarcinczyk14]

So I know gas evaporates fast. My question is if say you spill some gas on your fender, the next day will it have evaporated without any scent remaining? Reason I'm asking is because after I spilled it on my fender, I whipped it with water and soap, and then the next day applied the wax. Even if I did miss a spot where some gas residue was left over, would it even be possible to have whipped over it with my applicator pad the next day or would it have completely evaporated by then?

[RonRizz]

I would have to say there would be none left the next day.