Check out the beading on that!!

[NothernDan]

On 12/1/2018 at 6:13 PM, ColinBarber said:

NemesisUK and rayanns are the winners. Beading is bad for your paintwork; the water, and contaminants, are in touch with the surface for a very long time as it takes an age for the bead to evaporate, damaging the top coat, and once if finally does dry you are left with water marks. Products that sheet the water and let it run off are superior. 

Not sure I’d agree with that, the water beads evaporate onto the wax coat so unless you live in the acid rain area of downtown a Manhattan the contaminants will never touch the paint. Yes you are left with water marks but the wax coat means they just wipe off with some Quik detailer or waterless wash and wax and you are good as new.

Ceramic coatings and Sealants etc that promote sheeting are great if you just want pure long lasting, low maintenance protection but neither give as good a depth of colour or shine as a good Carnaube based wax would provide.

Just come back from a 2 day training course with a UK distributor for a major car care brand and the messaging there was very clear;

Ceramic coatings and sealants give great sheeting and long term protection to get dirt and water off the car as fast as possible but neither enhance the depth of colour or level of shine above what the factory paint had.

Wax products and synthetic polymers give a greater depth to paint finishes, enhancing colour and shine to show car levels providing prior compounding and polishing has prepared your paint properly (neither of which you want to do if you had a ceramic coating in place). The downsides with Waxes are as you suggest, water beading and evaporation. Waxes also won’t last as long as sealants or ceramic coatings but the two are not designed to do the same job. Ceramics etc are long lasting protection, Waxes are enhancing paint colour and shine along with more limited lifespan protection.

NemesusUK and Raayans have the best sheeting, agreed, but if you are going for show car shine then a wax would give a better result, it would just require more maintenance.

One very interesting thing I learned is that, at present, most aftermarket waxes and retailers will attack a ceramic coating and erode it over time so if you’ve had you car ceramic coated you should not use any other products than a coating specific wash fluid and water to keep it clean. Anything else will be slowly eroding away your very expensive sheeting product.

If you like tinkering and rebuffing every weekend Waxes may be a better bet for you. If you want to treat and forget other than the occasional wash and dry then get you house remortgaged and get a ceramic coating on.

I’m a very active weekend tinkerer so it’s waxes for me.

[PRT68]

I just don't get all this depth of colour business. All the polishing is not touching the colour, only the clear lacquer covering it. Years ago, you were enhancing cellulose. I have a Prius that gets a quick going over with Mr Sheen after a wash and looks very presentable. I've fallen into the trap though and use Meguars products on the ISF, but only because of the Halfords gold discount.

[rayaans]

2 hours ago, PRT68 said:

I just don't get all this depth of colour business. All the polishing is not touching the colour, only the clear lacquer covering it. Years ago, you were enhancing cellulose. I have a Prius that gets a quick going over with Mr Sheen after a wash and looks very presentable. I've fallen into the trap though and use Meguars products on the ISF, but only because of the Halfords gold discount.

Very hard to tell the difference between products in isolation. They need to be compared side to side. 

Waxes are oily and tend to make the colour appear darker and deeper as such but you wouldn't notice unless you'd just put it on. 

Sealants tend to leave a glassy effect. Sort of like having a lot of clear coat on the car.

[NothernDan]

9 hours ago, rayaans said:

Very hard to tell the difference between products in isolation. They need to be compared side to side. 

Waxes are oily and tend to make the colour appear darker and deeper as such but you wouldn't notice unless you'd just put it on. 

Sealants tend to leave a glassy effect. Sort of like having a lot of clear coat on the car.

I agree 100% with that description Rayaan, a very simple way of describing what is happening.

For a good example of this you can see my car next to Big Rats old ISF at the Kemble meet in late 2017 somewhere in the history of these threads. My car has just been waxed, his had not. The pics show a clear colour difference despite them being the same colour and in person the pearlescent flake in my car was far more evident.

All the wax does is make things more reflective and plays the trick of “getting  past” the flatness of the clear lacquer coat, letting the paint show off it’s reflective characteristics, giving the impression of more depth to the colour, more reflection, more shine. Waxes make it much harder to see where the surface of the paint begins and brings reflection from what looks like several layers down.

“Exhibit A” from North London Meets SU2C event a few weekends back. Shine and reflection thanks to Meguiars UK....

[NothernDan]

Here’s another good example of wax finish and how it gives a totally different result to a ceramic coat. Most o& the ceramic coats I’ve seen, as Rayaans points out, seem to just add an additional layer of extra water repellent temporary lacquer. With waxes my seemingly silver paint has a much more golden glow;

[Twellsie]

looks stunning Dan! 😎

[JonP]

Indeed, the colour is amazing.

[B1RMA]

12 hours ago, NothernDan said:

Here’s another good example of wax finish and how it gives a totally different result to a ceramic coat. Most o& the ceramic coats I’ve seen, as Rayaans points out, seem to just add an additional layer of extra water repellent temporary lacquer. With waxes my seemingly silver paint has a much more golden glow;

I must admit I agree with your approach, I know a chap who is a very well respected detailer locally, he uses a lot of Swissvax products and some of his clients with Lambo's etc have him apply eye wateringly expensive waxes to their cars. He introduced me to the Swissvax Leather Milk, at first I thought nearly £40 for a dinky little bottle of leather cream was plain stupid but you use so little it actually lasts quite some time and the results are superb.

I have brought up the subject of films and nano coats several times with him and I've drawn the conclusion like you that provided the preparation work of removing swirls etc is carried out properly first a decent wax applied on a regular basis is my preferred route. Although my last car did have a film on the front and it worked very well and I may still go down that route later.

I've won a few awards at car shows for shiniest car (and still have the engraved piston and other bits as proof) and the wax I've been using for the last 10 years is the Pinnacle Souveran wax, when I first bought it it was about £40 for a tub it is now £80+ per tub but still a lot cheaper than a lot of others.

It goes on like butter and comes off with a wipe and despite its rather high price does the car at least 5-6 times. Having invested in a DA polisher many years ago I quite enjoy the whole scenario. As I haven't ruined any of my cars yet I'll still stick to the current regime of regular waxing.

[NothernDan]

12 hours ago, B1RMA said:

I must admit I agree with your approach, I know a chap who is a very well respected detailer locally, he uses a lot of Swissvax products and some of his clients with Lambo's etc have him apply eye wateringly expensive waxes to their cars. He introduced me to the Swissvax Leather Milk, at first I thought nearly £40 for a dinky little bottle of leather cream was plain stupid but you use so little it actually lasts quite some time and the results are superb.

I have brought up the subject of films and nano coats several times with him and I've drawn the conclusion like you that provided the preparation work of removing swirls etc is carried out properly first a decent wax applied on a regular basis is my preferred route. Although my last car did have a film on the front and it worked very well and I may still go down that route later.

I've won a few awards at car shows for shiniest car (and still have the engraved piston and other bits as proof) and the wax I've been using for the last 10 years is the Pinnacle Souveran wax, when I first bought it it was about £40 for a tub it is now £80+ per tub but still a lot cheaper than a lot of others.

It goes on like butter and comes off with a wipe and despite its rather high price does the car at least 5-6 times. Having invested in a DA polisher many years ago I quite enjoy the whole scenario. As I haven't ruined any of my cars yet I'll still stick to the current regime of regular waxing.

Couldn’t agree more David!!

SwissVax best of show was recommended to me but it drowns light coloured cars and gives a muddy look to any pearl in the paint. ZLooks amazing in darker colours though.

After trying many waxes I find that Dodo Juice Light Fantastic gives the best shine on my car but it is just not durable enough for me.

Meguiars ultimate compound and ultimate polish are my preferred prep with a DA polisher but their waxes again don’t seem durable enough.

My current favourite wax is a bit controversial as it’s pretty cheap. Collinite Marque D’Elegance. Gives an unreal finish and will last a good 3 months if kept clean with the ocassional wash (I use Meguiars Ultimate Wash) and either a spray down with Meguiars Ultimate Quik Detailer and/or Quik Spray Wax depending on how good the remaining shine appears.

Like you, I enjoy the process of keeping on top of things and as a result I spot any areas requiring more attention far more rapidly than I would with any of the “apply and forget” products out there.

 

[leelacey17]

Mine this morning after last night's rain.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

[NothernDan]

11 hours ago, leelacey17 said:

Mine this morning after last night's rain.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk
 

Niiiiiiiiiiiicccce!!