Carnauba waxes over sealants

M

mtrotman

New member
Not exactly a "fun" car, but a great daily driver. With a 25 gallon tank it's not uncommon to drive 750 miles before refueling! A well maintained Mercedes Diesel can easily run for well over 300,000 miles. 1995 was the last year of the "hand-built" Mercedes-Benz.
 
Just keep doing regular maintance on it and should last a long time. You have a safe and solid car. How many miles on it. A friend of mine has a 85 300td. It had 140k miles on it when he bought it, it now has near 200k. He has to keep it outside and he never washes it. The clearcoat is peeling off. He has to do some maint to it from time to time. He says he is getting board with it, I told him that he would maybe get $3-4k for it. Then what would he replace it with for $3-4k. Nothing much! He just keeps on driving it!
 
If durability is not a factor, what are the advantages of putting a layer of carnauba wax over a synthetic sealant? I've prepped my car (polished, glazed. Ready for LSP) and I'm going to wax tomorrow and I'm looking for some opinions on differences/advantages of having a wax over a sealant, durability notwithstanding.
 
One advantage that comes to mind is that a coat of carnauba "just might" save your paint if you happen to have a bird crap on it.

Bird crap ate right through blackfire wet diamond and left some etching on my wife's car. Since then I usually put carnauba on the hood, trunk and roof of our vehicles. Haven't had any etching from bird crap since.

While I have no scientific proof of this, I have heard about this from many detailers.
 
I had a bird bomb etch my paint within an hour with caranuba wax on my hood. I think it depends on the bird and what they eat ! This was a seagull bomb , the worst!:D
 
Will a sealant gloss better than a glaze under wax? Or does it matter?

Will a glaze require a more frequent wax than a sealant to look comparable?

blueberry bird bombs wreak havoc on white and silver cars.
 
detailchick said:
I dont know about etch ratings LOL but the bigger they are, generally the more chance of etching.
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Your worst nightmare... :scared:

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I asked what I thought were good questions but didn't get an answer. Maybe it was the bird bombs that obscured them. :-?

Does anybody know?

Will a sealant gloss better than a glaze under wax? Or does it matter?

Will a glaze require a more frequent waxing than a sealant to look comparable?

Thanks to anyone interested in offering qualified advice.
 
First, those bird bombers are the worst. I don't think anything can protect from those, after all, I have seen granite statues corroded by bird droppings:-?

On the sealant vs wax debate, I like sealants as they are less maintenance in the winter months. Carnauba does seem to give that deep rich gloss a bit better than a sealant, at least for me. It need to be reapplied every 6 weeks of so, thats why I only use it during the warmer months.

Another thing to watch out for is the solvents in Carnauba Wax. Lower quality sealants will break right down if you try to use Carnauba over them. Also be sure to let the sealant cure for a few days before waxing over, if thats the road you want to go down.
 
I topped BFWD with two different waxes--Midnight Sun and Fuzion. I honestly cannot say that I can see a difference between BFWD alone and BFWD plus wax. Maybe there is a difference, but I haven't seen it yet. The car just seems to look great.

The purist in me says, if you want to use a carnauba, then stick with the carnauba.

I love BFWD for my black S2K. I applied two coats of it last October, and it's still holding up well. When I do my spring detail, I'll probably apply another two coats of BFWD, on the unproven theory that pollen will stick less to a sealant than a carnauba. We shall see. After pollen season, I will then return to my carnauba waxes for the rest of the summer. I am itching to try out Victoria Concours Red. It will be back to BFWD in the fall.
 
Mr. Gloss said:
I asked what I thought were good questions but didn't get an answer. Maybe it was the bird bombs that obscured them. :-?

Does anybody know?
Click to expand...

I personally think your questions are great. I will do my best to anwser them.

Will a sealant gloss better than a glaze under wax? Or does it matter?
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  • Ultimately this will depend on the proprites of the particular sealant and glaze. Both sealant's and glazes come in a wide variety of different flavors. Most traditional, oil based glazes, are going to add a richer, wetter look. Most polymer sealants are going to give a crisper, sharper, 'brighter' reflection. Again it is going really depend on the particular products and what you find preferable.

    A good way to test this would be to do two small sections next to each other. Something like two 1 foot squares on the hood. Apply your glaze of choice to one section, and your sealant to the other section, according to manufactureres recommendations. After removing them look at the paint and compare. Ask yourself what which section you like better or if you can even tell a difference. If one side looks dramatically better to you then that is the product you should use under the wax. When you cover either with a wax your car going to significantly 'mute' the difference, but it at least gets you in the right direction.

    "Does it matter".

    I think so. In terms of looks, the difference is going to be small (paritcularly when covered wit a wax), but in protection it can offer a big benefit if you use a sealant under a wax, provided the products work together.

    Pariculary with something that is designed to work together like (shamless plug) our Blackfire Wet Ice over Fire combo kit. Not only (imo) does it product a great look. Keeping in mind that the difference (in looks) between a wax, a sealant, or a combination of both is small (we are talking a to begin with) but I feel that it looks the best.

    This is the exact combination that I use on cars that are competing in concours events where we fight for even that 1% different in gloss, such as the 1 of 1 1959 Aston Martin DB Mrk III (the only right hand drive roadster with the triple carb engine built) that will be competing at this year's Amelia Island. To be honest, I didn't have enough time to make the paint perfect (there are still numerous amounts of rids) as it really needed to be sanded to get everything out, but it still looks amazing with the combo kit in the right light.


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Todd,

Thank you for taking the time to explain the difference.

That is one amazing shine on that Aston Martin.

I'll be working on a relatively new car (7 mos. old) so I'm going to clay, polish, sealant and wax.

Thanks again.
 
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