Damp Applicator - Wax/Sealant

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shadow85

New member
I am a little confused about this. I thought water was bad for wax/sealant application, yet instructions on some bottle say to use a damp applicator. Wont a damp applicator be bad?
 
shadow85 said:
I am a little confused about this. I thought water was bad for wax/sealant application, yet instructions on some bottle say to use a damp applicator. Wont a damp applicator be bad?
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It helps to ease in the spreading of the product. It will probably vary between waxes/sealants, but as long as you follow the direction you will be fine.



I think it also help reduce the amount of product that gets sucked into the applicator.
 
I don't mind disregarding the instructions and trying some different technique, but generally, IME, when they say to use/not use a damp applicator it's best to go with the official recommendation.
 
ninobrn99 said:
to be safe, why not 'prime' it with a QD instead?
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Unless of course its one of those cases where the wax/sealant doesn't like the QD spray. IME there are times when certain ingredients don't mix too well and end up clouding or hampering the final result.
 
Accumulator said:
I don't mind disregarding the instructions and trying some different technique, but generally, IME, when they say to use/not use a damp applicator it's best to go with the official recommendation.
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Dylan@Adams said:
Unless of course its one of those cases where the wax/sealant doesn't like the QD spray. IME there are times when certain ingredients don't mix too well and end up clouding or hampering the final result.
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+1. Yeah I agree, depends on the product. But most of the time it's just to help spread product. I use Dodo Juice and Swisvsvax waxes and jetseal109 sealant and I don't use any prelube/damn applicators. They all buff off easily
 
Dylan@Adams said:
Unless of course its one of those cases where the wax/sealant doesn't like the QD spray. IME there are times when certain ingredients don't mix too well and end up clouding or hampering the final result.
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This kind of reminds me of a conversation I had with Accumulator just a day or so ago when I asked him if there were any querks when applying Collinite 476s and he cautioned me about doing a qd wipe down after applying 476s. It appears a freshly applied layer of 476s does not get along with SOME qd's.



Accumulator is not the first person to mention something like that. Someone else said on here that some waxes do not like to be qd'ed until their first washing.
 
Been using the damp applicator for over 15 years now. Makes appling the wax a 1000 x's easier. Smoother more even and just plain better. It used to be a " professional secret" for many years.. Now it's so popular they include it right on the instructions on a lot of the different waxes and such.
 
Dylan@Adams said:
Unless of course its one of those cases where the wax/sealant doesn't like the QD spray. IME there are times when certain ingredients don't mix too well and end up clouding or hampering the final result.
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right, i should've been a bit more concise in my post. Sorry. I know some sealants really dont like unclean surfaces or surfaces that have waxes or other sealants. I know that not everyone is made 'molecularly similar' so they wont all bond to one and other.



Safest bet is to just follow the instructions :D
 
Jakerooni said:
Been using the damp applicator for over 15 years now. Makes appling the wax a 1000 x's easier. Smoother more even and just plain better. It used to be a " professional secret" for many years.. Now it's so popular they include it right on the instructions on a lot of the different waxes and such.
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lol...it's been on the bottles for a long time Jake. :D



I've always used damp applicators as well, but with a lot of the new sealants coming out I check the bottle too.
 
It confuses me cuz it is highly stressed that you dry every drop of water off the paint before you wax/sealant. So with a damp applicator, you are wetting again.
 
shadow85 said:
It confuses me cuz it is highly stressed that you dry every drop of water off the paint before you wax/sealant. So with a damp applicator, you are wetting again.
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I could take issue with the idea that you have to get all the water off too. Some sealants don't play nice with moisture, but often it's just not a big deal and when it comes to waxes a bit of water shouldn't hurt anything at all (shades of spit-shining).
 
shadow85 said:
It confuses me cuz it is highly stressed that you dry every drop of water off the paint before you wax/sealant. So with a damp applicator, you are wetting again.
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....water spots are why I used to make sure to dry the car thouroughly. Some sealants will glide right over leaving them relatively untouched. I would say it would depend a lot on the product to be applied & the hardness of your water (it's tendancy to spot) as to how vigilant I would be about drying all water from the car first.
 
What about the synthetic waxes like NXT, can they be used damp? I just finished putting it on (paste) and it seemed to not want to lay evenly.
 
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