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Hey guys,
I've been doing some reading through the posts on here and it seems to me a common theme that keeps popping up is some confusion between polishing, waxing, and sealing. This is a super common misconception amongst people who may not do this every day, and for good reason. Many manufacturers (Turtle Wax, Zaino, etc) mislabel their products and are casual in throwing out these terms.
The fact of the matter is, polish has nothing to do with wax, and vice versa. Understanding these differences is critical to properly learn how to care for your vehicle's paint. Otherwise, when I say polish, you might be thinking of waxing, and that just will lead to major headaches and confusion.
Below is an excerpt from the newly-added "Learning Center" of my website, in which I am trying to post some general information to help people better understand my processes. This particular segment is on the industry-standard, correct definitions of three commonly confused detailing terms:
Polishing, Waxing, Sealing…What’s the difference?
There’s a lot of confusion in car care between these three terms- and with good reason. Even major car care product manufacturers sometimes throw the wrong term around when talking about a product. So let’s clear it up so that you have a full understanding of what you’re paying for.
Polishing- Polishing is actually an abrasive process that levels clear coat to restore shine. Basically it takes the surrounding clear coat surface down to the same level as the deepest part of the scratch, thus eliminating the scratch. This is where the gloss of paint comes from, contrary to common beliefs.
Your car’s clear coat has thousands of tiny scratches or swirl marks all over. The problem with this is that scratches distort the reflection of light off of the surface. For paint to have maximum gloss, it must bounce the light off and directly back into your eye, or as close to possible. In order to do this, we must minimize as much of the scratching as possible (it is never possible to remove them 100%, but your eye can't see that small anyway).
This is corrected by using a machine polisher with polishes that have microscopic pieces of grit which remove a microscopic layer of clear coat, while still leaving plenty behind to protect your paint beneath. By using progressively finer polishes and pads, the finish can be made optically flawless.
In some cases, a scratch may be too deep to safely remove. In this case, polishing can still be beneficial to reduce the appearance of the scratch by smoothing the edges and reducing the overall depth. This allows the light to bounce off of the paint more directly, even though the scratch is still there. The illustration below shows an illustration of such a scratch. The blue is the top of the clear coat, the green being the color coat.
Sealant- A sealant’s job is to add a protective layer to the paint to seal in all the hard work done in the polishing step above. Sealants are synthetic protectants that shield your car from water, bird bombs, and other environmental wear and tear your car is subjected to every day. A good quality sealant can last anywhere from 3-6+ months. These days, there are even coatings which will last years, or even permanently.
Wax- Waxes actually perform the exact same job as a sealant, with a few slight differences. Wax is also designed to protect your paint, but it’s made naturally. I only use top-grade carnauba waxes. Carnauba is known for its ability to add tremendous depth and “wet” look to paint. This comes at a trade-off though, as waxes don’t last nearly as long as sealants. You can expect anywhere from 2-4 months from a quality carnauba wax. Waxes are extremely effective when layered over a sealant for the best of both worlds.
I've been doing some reading through the posts on here and it seems to me a common theme that keeps popping up is some confusion between polishing, waxing, and sealing. This is a super common misconception amongst people who may not do this every day, and for good reason. Many manufacturers (Turtle Wax, Zaino, etc) mislabel their products and are casual in throwing out these terms.
The fact of the matter is, polish has nothing to do with wax, and vice versa. Understanding these differences is critical to properly learn how to care for your vehicle's paint. Otherwise, when I say polish, you might be thinking of waxing, and that just will lead to major headaches and confusion.
Below is an excerpt from the newly-added "Learning Center" of my website, in which I am trying to post some general information to help people better understand my processes. This particular segment is on the industry-standard, correct definitions of three commonly confused detailing terms:
Polishing, Waxing, Sealing…What’s the difference?
There’s a lot of confusion in car care between these three terms- and with good reason. Even major car care product manufacturers sometimes throw the wrong term around when talking about a product. So let’s clear it up so that you have a full understanding of what you’re paying for.
Polishing- Polishing is actually an abrasive process that levels clear coat to restore shine. Basically it takes the surrounding clear coat surface down to the same level as the deepest part of the scratch, thus eliminating the scratch. This is where the gloss of paint comes from, contrary to common beliefs.
Your car’s clear coat has thousands of tiny scratches or swirl marks all over. The problem with this is that scratches distort the reflection of light off of the surface. For paint to have maximum gloss, it must bounce the light off and directly back into your eye, or as close to possible. In order to do this, we must minimize as much of the scratching as possible (it is never possible to remove them 100%, but your eye can't see that small anyway).
This is corrected by using a machine polisher with polishes that have microscopic pieces of grit which remove a microscopic layer of clear coat, while still leaving plenty behind to protect your paint beneath. By using progressively finer polishes and pads, the finish can be made optically flawless.
In some cases, a scratch may be too deep to safely remove. In this case, polishing can still be beneficial to reduce the appearance of the scratch by smoothing the edges and reducing the overall depth. This allows the light to bounce off of the paint more directly, even though the scratch is still there. The illustration below shows an illustration of such a scratch. The blue is the top of the clear coat, the green being the color coat.
Sealant- A sealant’s job is to add a protective layer to the paint to seal in all the hard work done in the polishing step above. Sealants are synthetic protectants that shield your car from water, bird bombs, and other environmental wear and tear your car is subjected to every day. A good quality sealant can last anywhere from 3-6+ months. These days, there are even coatings which will last years, or even permanently.
Wax- Waxes actually perform the exact same job as a sealant, with a few slight differences. Wax is also designed to protect your paint, but it’s made naturally. I only use top-grade carnauba waxes. Carnauba is known for its ability to add tremendous depth and “wet” look to paint. This comes at a trade-off though, as waxes don’t last nearly as long as sealants. You can expect anywhere from 2-4 months from a quality carnauba wax. Waxes are extremely effective when layered over a sealant for the best of both worlds.