I recently spoke with a gentleman at 303 Products, and he was of the opinion that wax actually dulls automotive paint over time.
My take...
That could be true for a poor quality car wax and the chances for that would be better in the old days, but it's pretty easy to see most quality products on the market don't dull paint down and if they do then it becomes a topic of discussion on forums like this.
Lots of variables involved too...
For example if you apply any kind of non-cleaning wax to a paint that is dirty, that is to the paint on a car that's a daily driver, then the non-cleaning wax would tend to seal over the dirt build-up on the paint and this could lead to a clouding effect. If a person wants to get persnickety about word definitions, it's possible to have paint that's shiny on the surface but cloudy below the surface so the word dull might not be the best descriptive word to describe the problem.
This is why almost all waxes at the retail level are cleaner waxes. When you go to your local auto parts stores, most of the retail waxes on the shelves do in fact fall into the cleaner/wax category as they are targeted at the average person and the average person is driving what we call a
Daily Driver, that is the car they drive back and forth to work each day and most of the time it’s parked outside. Over time, the finish quality deteriorates and in order to restore it with just a
single product you’ll want a cleaner/wax.
A cleaner/wax is also what we in the detailing industry call a
One-Step product or an
AIO.
AIO stands for
All-In-One. AIO products will do
multiple processes in one step, that is they will,
- Clean the surface
- Polish the paint to a high gloss
- Leave behind a layer of protection
The problem for the average Joe Consumer is that most retail products don’t specifically state what type of product they are? The tell you how to apply it, how long to let it dry and then how to remove it but they leave it wide open as to what the product is and how its best used.
A cleaner/wax is best used on a neglected finish because a neglected finish needs to be cleaned. Cleaner/Waxes, or All-In-One products are designed for a large market which includes do-it-yourselfers and detailers that want to restore a bright, shiny finish to the paint but want to do it in one-step. Their goal is to get a great looking finish without having to invest the time and effort associated with a multiple-step approach which usually includes,
- Dedicated compounding or paint cleaning step
- Dedicated polishing or glazing step
- Dedicated sealing step using a finishing wax or finishing paint sealant
Keep in mind besides the above 3 steps that are the norm for a multiple-step process, there's also,
- The washing and drying step
- The claying step if the car is parked outside a lot and has built-up above surface bonded contaminants. (Most daily drivers need to be clayed).
If we add the above two steps, (washing & drying step and claying step), together with the multiple 3-step approach that would make the average car detailing session 5 steps at a minimum.
- The washing and drying step
- The claying step if the car is parked outside a lot and has built-up above surface bonded contaminants. (Most daily drivers need to be clayed).
- Dedicated compounding or paint cleaning step
- Dedicated polishing or glazing step
- Dedicated sealing step using a finishing wax or paint sealant.
Because the majority of people in this world look at their car as a
mode of transportation instead of an
extension of their personality, its' easy to understand that most people
want and only
need a one-step cleaner/wax.
Anyway, I've seen and used a lot of waxes from the old days, and a lot of them weren't hat great at creating clarity and could in fact dull the paint down, not that back then the paints were single stage and would dull down on their own.
