Winter has finally arrived in the Los Angeles area and it feels as if it's been raining for weeks. I know that many people across the country have already been battling their winter snows for months, and our cars are taking their toll in the weather. A quick trip through the automatic car wash will remove the majority of the dirt that the nasty weather has thrown on your car, but it doesn't do much to make your car look shiny, does it?

The folks at System 51 were kind enough to send us a product sample of their spray on auto wax from their System One line of products. They promised that it would be exactly what we need as a quick final detailing spray wax, and that it can be easily applied for last-minute touch-ups. Its super-fine-mist carnauba wax can be sprayed on to a wet or dry surface and then wiped off with a microfiber towel to restore the paint's shine without requiring two wiping steps, or the kind of elbow grease we dread when using thicker paste and liquid waxes.

I promised them I would send my 16-year-old son out to try it on our family car, but the recent rains in Los Angeles have prevented any such weekend activity. Unfortunate, too, as I had envisioned this entire scenario of me, lounging in a sun chair with an umbrella drink in my hand, snapping the whip while he washed and waxed the car. (I'm saving that for a sunnier day, lest he should think he has escaped the efforts.)

However, I was recently loaned a gorgeous black Suzuki Kizashi for a vehicle test, and even though it is practically a brand-new car, it appears that the last driver may have washed it with a brillo pad. On the hood and body panels are many fine scratches and swirl marks that indicate it might have been wiped down when it wasn't entirely clean. And so a lightbulb went off over my head: "Why not see how the System 51 spray wax performs at shining up the paint?"

I drove it through an automatic touchless car wash to get it clean, and then pulled it into my garage for the final application of spray wax. System One recommends spraying the wax onto one body panel at a time, wiping with one side of the supplied microfiber cloth, and then buffing it to a final shine with the dry side. (Car care experts these days advise against the familiar standby of cotton towels or diapers saying mIcrofiber is a much better product to use than cotton.) The water-based formula dries fast without white film, residue or fumes, and wipes and buffs easily, without even causing me to break out into a sweat. Their custom-engineered spray wax can be used anywhere on the body, bumpers, grill, plastic trim, and chrome without fear of leaving white residue.