Quote:
Originally Posted by David Fermani
Are waxes or sealants even necessary with today’s modern clearcoats? If so, how?
Not essential, but helpful.
Quote:
Are they adding longevity to its composition? Hence feeding, coating, sealing.
Any "feeding" effect is due to marketing puffery, and visual effect of mineral/silicone oils seeping into the paint.
Quote:
Are they eliminating UV rays from fading the basecoat?
You are assuming the basecoat is subject to photobleaching. In an old style single stage paint, the pigment was entrapped inside the continious phase of the paint matrix. The paint matrix could oxidise, thus becoming opaque, and obscuring the particles of pigment.
In a clearcoat, the pigment is under a layer of clear resin, which can suffer from UV-mediated polymer scission, causing it to break down, etc.
LSP`s will contain UV absorbing ingredients that provide some measure of protection while they last (till they get photobleached themselves).
Quote:
Are they eliminating acids from rain, birds and insects from etching into the clearcoat?
Yes, because any water soluble corrosive elements, must first pass/diffuse through a hydrophobic layer of wax/polymers/amino-silicones to reach the surface.
IMHO you are ignoring the effect of the unprotected clearcoat, being weakened by enviromental damage, and thus being more susceptible to further erosion when being polished.
No-touch, No-harm.
Quote:
Do they create a sacrificial barrier that eliminates surface marring due to slickness?
To the extent, that surface dirt does not bond to paint, and instead slides off of it, yes.
Quote:
Even though initial slickness falls off almost initially after the 1st few washes, does that mean this so-called protective characteristic has diminished too?
Some of the protective characteristics have diminshed, but others have not.
Quote:
Is beading indicative of protection? If so at what capacity?
Hard to say. However I think it would be difficult to make a durable hydrophilic polish, since the film would become cloudy from attracted water and want to disolve in water.
Quote:
Is the silicone content in LSP’s, (which is what’s really responsible for this attribute enthusiasts cherish/envy/idolize so much that creates a vehicle to bead and sheet water) add any benefit to the longevity of paint? (i.e. waxing an oxidized finish and 3 weeks later it fades right back but still beads water)
Yes, the water beading means the water is not touching the surface of the paint.
Quote:
If you split up a daily driven vehicle into ’s where 1 side was LSP’d every 4 months for 10 years & the other half was lightly polished at the same interval with a non-abrasive finishing polish coupled with a non-abrasive finishing pad (i.e. jewelling) which side would be better preserved over the long term?
The side with LSP, but first we need to define "better preserved".
For myself, Better preserved == Longer Residual life.
Quote:
super micro-marring that’s slowly depleting the appearance of the gloss. The LSP’d side will never correct this super ultra fine micro-marring, thus snowballing the hazing effect, where the regularly polished side will be regularly correcting it.
Any micromarring on the LSP`d side is constantly being filled in waxes/polymers/silicones that are clear and have the same refractive index as the clearcoat, thus creating a smooth and polished surface. :woot:
At the end of ten years, the LSP`d side will be hazed, but it won`t be visible from 5ft away. Especially if the car is freshly waxed, or has some QD on it.
Also don`t forget that many LSP`s have some cleaning abilities, and so will do some polishing of the paint anyways. But the arguments for LSP, still hold if we are talking about a pure non-abrasive product like TW Ice, or Mothers NF Carnauba, etc.
Quote:
Doing the math and acknowledging the thought that many vehicle manufactures don’t recommend removing any more than ~.5 mils(12.7 microns) of clear before *possible* detrimental UV exposure *could* occur, there’s still tons of clear left to still be on the “safe” side. The upside of this comparison is that the polished finish will look totally better than the just LSP’d side.
Be careful here, there are several issues at play, including the residual life of the clear coat over the next 10 year cycle.
Going into the next ten years, the polished side will have less clearcoat, and thus will fail sooner than the protected side, all else equal.
The best way to protect the paint, is to keep it on the car in the first place.
Quote:
Which would you rather have?
The side that was regularly waxed with TW Ice Paste. :2thumbs: