To seal, wax or both???

chemguy626

chemguy626

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I've been detailing cars for a while now, but I've never understood if there is an advantage to waxing after sealing the paint. I understand the purpose of both as far as paint protection. Does it actually add protection to seal and wax? What about just wax. If I use a detergent proof, like collinite 476, that lasts 6+ months is there any point to using a sealant? What do you guys think?


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I've never done it, but from what I gather, waxing on top of sealing or coating is not to provide extra protection, but to give the car the carnauba glow that sealants and coatings do not provide. I'll be interested to read the responses. I wonder what percentage of detailers top?
 
The best way to answer this question is to understand what you are trying to accomplish, on what color and type of vehicle.You will find a great variety of answers depending if you are dealing with a show car or a daily driver, a white vehicle as opposed to a dark one.

A wax is normally defined as a natural base product (carnauba wax, bee's wax etc..) in combination with natural solvents and polymers (100% natural wax), or in combination with synthetic or petroleum based solvents or polymers (or chargers), which is referred to as a hybrid wax. To the trained eye, these products will provide more depth, warmth, a richer glow when applied. The drawback is that it does not last but 1-3 months (depending on exposure, heat, humidity and detailing regimentation)

A paint sealant is referring to as a fully synthetic product which thrives in technological advancement. Although it does boast longer protection (6-12 months) and more chemical resiliency it does have the drawback of looking "flat" and uni-dimensional

The purpose of wax over sealant or wax over coating is to have "the best of both world" (ie. the superior protection on the bottom and the superior optical qualities on top). Your game plan will have to be tailored to the vehicle you are working on. If you are dealing with a single stage white daily driver, a wax over sealant will be an overkill and will not give the WOW factor to your client. You may be able to discern the subtleties but they won't find much comfort in the upsell. On the other hand, if you are dealing with a "Saturday" car (ie. a garage queen, weekend driver, local show car), then you will definitely have a leg to stand on with your wax over sealant game plan. Now if it is your personal vehicle, then do what you see pleases your eye best regardless if is a SS white daily driver (since detailing at that point is to cosmetically enhance to your eye's delight). A little experimentation will go a long way
 
Adding a wax over and sealant or coating adds shine or certain kind of glow like stated before but IMO to help the sealant last a bit longer cause the wax is taking the beating from the elements for the first couple of weeks or months thus helps the sealant live longer lastly sealant and wax both give the paint synthetic and natural vitamins
 
With modern sealants, like Blackfire, it really isn't necessary to add wax over the top. The only thing that goes over the top of mine is a good car cover.
 
FLZapped said:
With modern sealants, like Blackfire, it really isn't necessary to add wax over the top. The only thing that goes over the top of mine is a good car cover.
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The other sign of the coin is the Collinite 476 or 845 scenario. They are a hybrid "wax" that looks great and last so long, there is no need for a sealant.

The way I see it, there are a few products on the market like Collinites products or Prima Epic (there may be others) which label themselves as a "wax" or a "wax" with some sort of synthetic ingredients that make the whole wax vs. sealant minefield even harder to navigate.
 
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