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-   -   All about Car Waxes & Sealants (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/technical-stuff/144323-all-about-car-waxes-sealants-4.html)

I use Turtle Wax Super Hard Shell Wax Liquid and haven't looked anywhere else. Its cheap and best.

Thanks Anand. We would love to help you in case you take up detailing as a hobby. More importantly, we would love to see your work and the pictures of your car :)

Thanks alstonlobo for the nice review, I was planning to pen down a UPGP review, but you beat me to it.

@pedaltothefloor here are few pictures of my car with UPGP 3 coats on it.

Prep:-
1) Clayed the car with Mothers Claybar + ONR as QD
2) Dodojuice Micro Prime + WolfGang applicator pad ( Hand Polished )
3) UPGP 3 coats with a gap of 45 mins to 1 hour.

Amazing reflections Linux, looks like molten glass. It's amazing what such an easy to use product can add in terms of gloss to the paint.

Meguiar’s Waxes and Sealants – Consumer Line

Meguiar’s is arguably the most mass produced and mass consumed detailing supplies brand worldwide. They offer two broad categories of products – The Consumer Line and the Professional Line.

From the manufacturer’s website: "What's the difference between our consumer and professional product?" Our professional products have been formulated for use by paint and body shop professionals, typically with a high speed rotary buffer. Untrained use could lead to more damage than improvement. Our consumer line has been developed for simple straightforward use by hand or with an orbital buffer and application is completely safe in all situations.

Meguair’s offers the the following LSPs (Last Step Product) under their Consumer Line:


NXT Generation® Tech Wax® 2.0 – Paste
From the manufacturer’s website: NXT Generation® Tech Wax® 2.0 produces unbelievably deep, vibrant color and a dramatically clear wet-look. And its Hydrophobic Polymer Technology™ provides relentless water beading and protection.
Insight: Contrary to its name, this one is a true sealant and a pretty decent one in terms of looks as well as durability.



Ultimate Quik Wax®

From the manufacturer’s website: Meguiar's® Ultimate Quik Wax features Hydrophobic Polymer Technology™, making paint come alive with a deep, wet-look shine you would only expect from liquid or paste waxes. And the protection and relentless water beading, lasts for weeks.
• Synthetic, non-whitening formula produces amazing results in just minutes.
• Spray on, wipe off and then marvel at the shine!
Insight: Contrary to its name, this one is a spray sealant and offers a very glossy look. Compared to some of the leading spray waxes, the durability isn’t great but it does hide very minor surface imperfections.




Ultimate Paste Wax
From the manufacturer’s website: Meguiar's® ThinFilm technology delivers our easiest application & removal... even if you have to wax in full sun! We've re-set the bar with a pure synthetic wax that provides extended protection with amplified reflectivity that won't leave a white residue on trim & plastic.

• Our most advanced pure synthetic hydrophobic wax.
• New Thin Film technology makes application easy, even in full sun!
• Extended protection with amplified reflectivity.

Insight: This is the most durable LSP product in the Meguiar’s consumer line. However, it is a sealant and the look is rather glossy and reflective unlike a wax.



Gold Class™ Carnauba Plus Paste Wax

From the manufacturer’s website: Meguiar's® Gold Class Carnauba+Plus Paste Wax is clear coat safe and simple to apply and remove. Our premium formula uses only the best carnauba wax, fortified with long-lasting polymers to glide on and off smoothly, leaving a deep, rich carnauba wax glow.

• Improved formula leaves deeper reflections and a brilliant shine.
• Special blend of carnauba plus clear coat safe protecting polymers.[/FONT]

Insight: This one is indeed a Wax unlike most of the “Waxes” sold by Meguiar’s in the consumer line. It does have synthetic components added for better durability but the look achieved from this product is typical to waxes – warm and deep.



White Wax

From the manufacturer’s website: Waxes for white to light colored cars, require a formula that provides "brightness" to the paint to make it shine. This specially formulated wax is designed to make your paint shine with the help of its cleaning agents.

• Specially formulated for light to white colors.
• Removes light oxidation and contaminants.
• Micro cleaners restore paint brightness.
• Synthetic Polymers provide long lasting, durable, protection.

Insight: Not really a “Cleaner Wax” but has enough cleaners in it to cleanse the paint thoroughly. This is a new product from Meguiar’s and offers a one-step solution for paint in decent condition, rather than separate polishing and waxing.



Black Wax

From the manufacturer’s website: Waxes for black to dark colored cars, require a formula that provides "gloss" to the paint to give it a deep reflection. This specially formulated wax is designed to make your paint shine with the help of its polishing oils, to deliver a show car finish.

• Specially formulated for dark to black colors.
• Polishes while you wax for incredible depth.
• Add gloss while leaving swirl free results.
• Synthetic Polymers provide long lasting, durable, protection.

Insight: Again, a recently launched product and targeted at dark colored cars. Has more polishing oils that offer better gloss but lesser cleaning agents when compared to the white wax.



Pretty much all of the above are easily available throughout India from the Meguiar's or 3M distributors or at online stores like Autofresh . http://www.meguiars.co.in/stockist-locator

:confused:

Can anyone post the difference between warm and deep VS glossy and reflective, if possible with pictures of course.

Here is a picture of my car with a sealant,



This is after one coat of quality nuba wax.



Best is to try side by side and see for yourself. Neither of them are bad, its a personal choice.

Both are the same car! I guess light is playing tricks here. Or is it the LSP?

But I'm still not clear on what exactly is the difference between warm and deep VS glossy and reflective. Both picture looked reflective enough to the layman in me.

In simple words, Sealants reflect more and hence the extremely reflective look. A typical sealant used on my Blue Punto will give a very reflective look, the metallic flakes will pop and it almost hurts the eyes as far as my car is concerned. With a wax, the reflection will be less and hence I will be able to see the reflections clearly and they will look "deeper" and the overall paint will look "warmer".

This is due to difference in the RI (Refractive Index) of a typical Sealant VS a Wax.
Refractive Index (RI) or Haze Value -when light strikes the surface of a material it bounces off in all directions due to multiple reflections. The most familiar example of the distinction between specula and diffuse reflection would be a polymer and a Carnauba wax. While both exhibit a combination of specula and diffuse reflection, Carnauba wax has a higher proportion of diffuse reflection and Polymers have a greater proportion of specula reflection.

• Mirror (specular) – RI: 1.00
• Water - RI: 1.33.
• Carnauba wax – RI: 1.45
• Poly (dimethylsiloxane) – RI: 1.48

It's the way that the light bounces back from a surface.

Oh yea, both pics are of the same car, and yes the light does play some tricks. Try to see the texture, one with sealant looks more like one more clear coat on it and the second one with wax is more rich and non plasticy ( For the lack of word ) feel to it.

Its hard to explain unless one sees it in person both side by side. Let me see If I could post a 50/50 photo this weekend.

Okay, I'm getting a little bit of it. This too helped.

Though it is a personal choice, in general which one would be better on a white or light colored car? Reflections or depth?

That would be really helpful. Thanks.

A Sealant will always add more gloss and since Whites cant reflect like dark colors, a Sealant will almost always look sharper. Even a Hybrid like C845 will look sharp on a White Car. The only time you would choose to go with a wax is when you are able to appreciate the look of a wax over a sealant. You can solve your dilemma by doing half of a panel with a wax and another half with a sealant and find out for yourself if you can tell the difference.

This was my first DIY detailing attempt on 25th December 2012 and I worked the entire car by hand as I did not own a machine polisher.

Process and products used:

1. Dusted the entire Car with Jopasu duster
2. Washed with DG Rinseless Cleanser
3. Clayed about half the Car & then called it a night
4. In the morning, dusted with a brand new Jopasu duster
5. Clayed the remaining Car with the Clay Bar and Clay Bar Lube made from ONR
6. Polished with the Sonax Car Polish (I did not know about IPA then, should have used it after using this polish)
7. Applied the DG 105 Paint Sealant
8. Waited for about 10 Minutes and then Buffed it Off

More about the product Duragloss 105

@Pedalonthefloor - Awesome! what is IPA?

Is the clay bar - shown in picture above - Elastofoam from UD?

I have a series of queries regarding waxes and their use , so here goes -

1. What is a hard wax ? Is "clay" referred to frequently same as hard wax ?

2.If I apply a hard wax and subsequently (on a bi-weekly/10day basis shampoo wash the car - I currently use Formula 1 Carnauba wash and wax shampoo ), how long do these hard wax effects last ?

3. What is the ideal cycle of hard wax, shampoo , wash , plain water wash recommended ? Is daily water wash OK ? In which case how long will the most durable hard wax last and which wax brand is recommended and how long will it's effect last? Are there any good local brands which are easily available ?

4. Is the hard wax for alloys same as the hard wax for car body paint ?

5. Do hard wax and soft wax give the same effective protection life under above - wax- wash-shampoo cycle mentioned in point 2/3 ?

thanks.