What exactly does wax do?

You put it over paint or clear coat and somehow the paint becomes so much more defined and reflective.

 

Fills in tiny scratches which serve to scatter (and even diffract) light away from your eyes; wax provides a much smoother surface that reflects more/scatters less. I'm sure Guitarman or Daddy-O can get more technical but that's it in a nutshell.

 

Basically a sacrificial barrier that bonds to your paint . I've read where polymers( Klasse, Zaino, Blackfire etc) are "open link " chain molecules and attatch TO your paint, while wax is "closed link" molecules and butt up against it. This is one reason a polymer is harder to remove than a wax.

The "reflecting" part is the important one because it helps keep infarred radiation and UV rays from absorbing into the pigment and breaking it down by drying it out, oxidizing it etc. What's interesting is that the surface temps of a waxed car will actually be less than an unwaxed car, proving this out.

The solvents and oils in waxes and polymer wax blends help with the shine. Silicone is a common ingredient in most waxes, even carnaubas. Remember what silicones do for your tires and dash? They're not always the same exact silicones, but silicones nonetheless. Much of the solvent content labled "petroleum distillates" are dimethyl silicone oils and even stuff like mineral spirits.

I have read even deeper technical / chemical explanations on it, but I'll try to follow mooretorque's lead and keep it simple ( well, I tried anyway, just didn't succeed as well as he did ) .

 

also, if you switch between a carnauba and polymer wax, you will notice how quite different they are. Polymer waxes are simply easier to use, take off, and provides great "shininess" but sometimes there is just no depth in the reflection, and most polymers I've used actually make some scratches and paint flaws worse, as opposed to a carnauba.
Guitarman- Yes or no? Meguiar's #26 is a pure Carnauba? I always thought it was "pretty pure" but now I'm not sure.

 

Not according to their website;

#26 High Tech Yellow Wax
Generally, there are no "pure" waxes out there. Even the best carnauba's have only a percentage of carnauba wax in them, the rest are fillers, silicones, solvents that aid in their spredability and hazing etc. remember, carnauba itself is almost hard as a brick, it has to be made useable, no way around it.

Even Pinnacle Souveran has a polymer additive along with ultra pure white carnauba (this surprised even me ). The marketing of these products is very misleading indeed. It's no wonder people get confused.

 

I thought about this.....although I've been looking for a long time for pure carnauba, it probably wouldn't be what I am expecting even if i ever come across it. The quality of polymer synthetic carnauba waxes are different from pure polymers themselves. (duh). If there WAS a pure carnauba wax....it would probably be more damaging than useful to the average person used to polymers. Brazilian carnauba gets very hard quite quickly and is a pain to take off once you've waited too long to take off. It's range of heat tolerance is "weaker" than a polymer wax also. This is noticeable when I use a buffer of any speed, as the wax becomes more pliable in a very short time. Also, a carnauba wax EVEN WITH POLYMER BLENDS lasts very little when parked 24/7 outside in sunny southern california during the summer. I *thought* my eyes were being deceived or my waxing technique was not up to par when I noticed that the carnauba layers i just piled on 2-3 weeks before was starting to noticeably become "thinner." (I always have an idea of how much my wax has faded by checking the trunk lid crevices where I tend to leave chunks on).


thanks for the explanation guitarman.

 

And what would a thread be without mooretorque post followed shortly thereafter by a correction??

"diffraction" should have been "refraction"..................

Thanks Guitarman and meZoom! (Arkansas sun is about as kind as SoCal's, which is one reason I went to Zaino!!)

 

Could you guys also explain me the difference between wax and sealant. What lasts longer? What are the visual differences. What is better to prolong the life of paint. How do both behave under rain? I kind of understand the basic idea but not more then that.

 

WAX == FAT, put a coat of fat oil on your food, does it make the food look more shinely and yummy to you?


well, turn your car into a big fat juice steak, that is how I look at a car with WAX on

 

Well, as you read, the lines between the 2 get blurred, because the MAJORITY of products that are called "wax" as well as "polish" are in fact hybrid chemical concoctions that contain natural wax as well as polymer chemistry. Meguiar's Gold Class is one example of this type product.
There are fewer true "polymers" sold for automotive protection. Zaino is known as a pure cross-linking polymer, with no natural wax or silicones.

To make an analogy, this is a bit like, regular dino oil, semi- synthetic oil, and full synthetic like Mobil 1. I will attempt to use some brevity here;


CARNAUBA WAX: . Deep shine, low melting/fracture point (around 165 degrees), durability on the low end. Should not be applied in the sun.

WAX/POLYMER BLENDS: Various differing shines , somewhat higher melting point, increased durability from the polymers, but not as long as a pure synthetic. Also should be applied in shade since it contains natural waxes.

TRUE POLYMER: Different types of shine, highest melting point (~400 degrees), longest durability. Can be applied in sun.

Those are the basic differences. Also remember that any product with solvent cleaners or fine abrasives (cleaner-wax products for instance) cannot be layered in coats, because the cleaners will simply remove the previous coat. So much of the rest is different for every product, i.e. ease of application, removal, type of shine , UV abilities , some have cleaning solvents and abrasives, some don't etc.

Hope this helps, I was in a bit of a time bind. Cheers.