2Shiny
02-04-2006, 12:52 PM
1. The sun causes swirl marks.
Hell no!
2. Swirl marks are created from rubbing/washing/wiping in a circular motion.
No. Swirl marks are composed of tiny, straight-line scratches. They are so tiny and numerous, that there is always one in the right place to make the swirls appear circular. If you look closely enough though, you will notice that the majority of the scratches are in straight lines.
And even if they WERE circular, if you're causing scratches in the paint, that means you're wiping something abrasive on the paint. It doesn't matter whether you're doing it in a circular motion or straight lines...if it's abrasive, it will scratch. If it's NOT abrasive, it will NOT scratch.
3. Waxing too much will take the paint off.
No. A pure wax is merely a protectant, with no cleaners or abrasives. Use of this type of product has no detrimental effects to the paint, only benefits.
Some waxes contain abrasives (e.g. NuFinish, Liquid Glass, EO NanoWax), and do remove a tiny amount of paint upon each application. But this amount is a very small fraction of the paint that is on the car. Even use of one of these products, dozens and dozens of times, will not remove the paint entirely. Polishing is what can remove a lot of paint if a strong compound is needed. Polishing too much can thin the paint to a critical level. Most of the UV inhibitors in automotive clearcoat paints reside in the top ~50% of the clear. If you polish this much paint off, you're relying on the UV inhibiting properties of the wax/sealant alone (that is, if you apply a wax/sealant to it). For the record though, less-aggressive polishes can be used dozens and dozens of times as well. The amount of paint removed is very negligible. It's only when you need to remove wetsanding marks or very heavy oxidation, that a strong compound needs to be be used, and that's when you need to be careful.
4. Paint (especially red) fades naturally over time, and you can't stop it.
BS! All paints will gradually fade if left unprotected. UV radiation is damaging to just about every surface. A protectant serves as a sacrificial barrier to UV radiation. It takes the beating, rather than the surface underneath.
If the paint does get faded, all you need to do is use a strong paint cleaner or a light polish, which will remove the oxidation that is causing the fading. The other possibility is swirls. Heavy swirling will also fade the paint. That's because there are so many scratches, that the light cannot get through the clear into the basecoat (color coat) to reflect back, showing the true color. The light gets refracted from all the scratches, and you never get to see the true color of the paint until you remove those scratches.
5. Soap is soap. I can use dish soap, car soap, or laundry detergent to wash my car. The only difference is the smell.
My dad used Purex laundry detergent to wash his cars the last two times. But hopefully the problem is solved now, because I gave him a sheepskin wash mitt and a jug of car soap for Christmas. But all soaps are NOT the same. Some are designed to produce a lot of suds, some are designed to avoid scratching, some are designed to focus on grease-cutting ability, and some formulated to clean fabrics, not hard surfaces. Car soap is specifically made for washing cars. It's designed to allow you to wash your vehicle safely, and most of them are biodegradeable as well. Laundry detergent and dish soaps will not provide adequate lubrication to safely remove dirt from the car. They often will dry out your door seals and tires as well.
6. The wax determines the gloss/reflectivity of the paint.
No. Paint cleaning and polishing are the steps that make a car look great. Waxes/sealants are designed to protect the car. Most OTC waxes have light cleaners or abrasives, and will restore the paint a little bit, but not the way a true polish or paint cleaner can. If someone says they applied 5 "layers" of Gold Class to their car and it looked better each time, it was merely the action of the cleaners, cleaning the paint more upon each application. Gold Class cannot layer, because of it's cleaning ability. Each subsequent application removes any previous ones. In fact, most waxes (even without cleaners) cannot be layered, because the wax is not strong enough to withstand the solvents of the new application.
7. New cars don't need to be polished or waxed.
New cars are often in great shape when they arrive at the new car dealership, but they will quickly be harmed as they go through the prep process. RIDS will occur if the person removing the protective plastic contacts the paint with their belt buckle, wristwatch, etc.... Swirls are usually created on new cars because dealerships love to have inexperienced, unknowledgeable workers in the "detailing" department, using dangerous rotary polishers. The cars are left to sit in the parking lot, looking worse than when they came in. Go to a dealership sometime on a sunny day and have a look. If the cars are not covered in swirls, it's likely that the paint was glazed, meaning that the swirls are hidden behind a coating of fillers. Within a couple washes, or a couple weeks of time, these fillers will wear off, revealing the swirls that were there all along. So they DO need to be polished, to get rid of the swirls. And they do need to be waxed, because dealerships don't generally wax cars. They just polish them to get any oxidation off. Then they hope for lots of cloudy days so nobody can see what the paint really looks like.
8. Clearcoat paints never need to be waxed.
Clearcoats are just ordinary paint, lacking a pigment. It still needs to be protected. The clearcoat serves as a protectant for the color coat, but the clearcoat needs protection as well. If left unprotected, it will oxidize, and hide the true color of the color coat.
9. I paid extra for the "lifetime paint sealant" at my dealership, so I never need to wax my car.
Wrong. The "lifetime" sealants that dealers apply are a very expensive gimmick. They will not protect your paint for the life of the vehicle. It's more likely that they'll last a month or two. But a lot of people never wash their cars, so they'll never notice if the car beads water or not, and they won't notice the fading of the paint either.
10. I applied Teflon Car Wax to my car, and now it will come clean just like my non-stick cookware!
Wrong. Teflon in car wax was a great marketing idea, because the majority of the population gets a mental image of cleaning Teflon-coated cookware. The reality is that Teflon must be applied under high heat and pressure in order to bond to a surface (something like 340*F or more). Even if you did apply this wax to your car inside a giant pressure cooker, carnauba wax has a melting point FAR below 340*F, so you the wax would melt right off anyway.
11. A nice thick coat of wax is best.
No. Regardless of how thick you apply the wax, the same amount will actually stick to the paint. The thicker you apply it, the more you waste by picking it up in the towel. That also makes it more difficult to remove, because so much excess product is being smeared around on the paint.
12. Carnauba car waxes can be 100% carnauba.
No. 100% carnauba wax would be hard as a rock. There would be no safe way to apply it to any surface. Every car wax contains solvents, which soften the wax (more solvents in liquids) to allow it to be applied to a surface. These evaporate as you apply the product, and leave the hardened wax behind. If a manufacturer claims that their product contains 100% carnauba wax, it's just a way of saying that the wax is refined to remove impurities.
I'll probably think of more. Anyone want to argue any of these? :)
Hell no!
2. Swirl marks are created from rubbing/washing/wiping in a circular motion.
No. Swirl marks are composed of tiny, straight-line scratches. They are so tiny and numerous, that there is always one in the right place to make the swirls appear circular. If you look closely enough though, you will notice that the majority of the scratches are in straight lines.
And even if they WERE circular, if you're causing scratches in the paint, that means you're wiping something abrasive on the paint. It doesn't matter whether you're doing it in a circular motion or straight lines...if it's abrasive, it will scratch. If it's NOT abrasive, it will NOT scratch.
3. Waxing too much will take the paint off.
No. A pure wax is merely a protectant, with no cleaners or abrasives. Use of this type of product has no detrimental effects to the paint, only benefits.
Some waxes contain abrasives (e.g. NuFinish, Liquid Glass, EO NanoWax), and do remove a tiny amount of paint upon each application. But this amount is a very small fraction of the paint that is on the car. Even use of one of these products, dozens and dozens of times, will not remove the paint entirely. Polishing is what can remove a lot of paint if a strong compound is needed. Polishing too much can thin the paint to a critical level. Most of the UV inhibitors in automotive clearcoat paints reside in the top ~50% of the clear. If you polish this much paint off, you're relying on the UV inhibiting properties of the wax/sealant alone (that is, if you apply a wax/sealant to it). For the record though, less-aggressive polishes can be used dozens and dozens of times as well. The amount of paint removed is very negligible. It's only when you need to remove wetsanding marks or very heavy oxidation, that a strong compound needs to be be used, and that's when you need to be careful.
4. Paint (especially red) fades naturally over time, and you can't stop it.
BS! All paints will gradually fade if left unprotected. UV radiation is damaging to just about every surface. A protectant serves as a sacrificial barrier to UV radiation. It takes the beating, rather than the surface underneath.
If the paint does get faded, all you need to do is use a strong paint cleaner or a light polish, which will remove the oxidation that is causing the fading. The other possibility is swirls. Heavy swirling will also fade the paint. That's because there are so many scratches, that the light cannot get through the clear into the basecoat (color coat) to reflect back, showing the true color. The light gets refracted from all the scratches, and you never get to see the true color of the paint until you remove those scratches.
5. Soap is soap. I can use dish soap, car soap, or laundry detergent to wash my car. The only difference is the smell.
My dad used Purex laundry detergent to wash his cars the last two times. But hopefully the problem is solved now, because I gave him a sheepskin wash mitt and a jug of car soap for Christmas. But all soaps are NOT the same. Some are designed to produce a lot of suds, some are designed to avoid scratching, some are designed to focus on grease-cutting ability, and some formulated to clean fabrics, not hard surfaces. Car soap is specifically made for washing cars. It's designed to allow you to wash your vehicle safely, and most of them are biodegradeable as well. Laundry detergent and dish soaps will not provide adequate lubrication to safely remove dirt from the car. They often will dry out your door seals and tires as well.
6. The wax determines the gloss/reflectivity of the paint.
No. Paint cleaning and polishing are the steps that make a car look great. Waxes/sealants are designed to protect the car. Most OTC waxes have light cleaners or abrasives, and will restore the paint a little bit, but not the way a true polish or paint cleaner can. If someone says they applied 5 "layers" of Gold Class to their car and it looked better each time, it was merely the action of the cleaners, cleaning the paint more upon each application. Gold Class cannot layer, because of it's cleaning ability. Each subsequent application removes any previous ones. In fact, most waxes (even without cleaners) cannot be layered, because the wax is not strong enough to withstand the solvents of the new application.
7. New cars don't need to be polished or waxed.
New cars are often in great shape when they arrive at the new car dealership, but they will quickly be harmed as they go through the prep process. RIDS will occur if the person removing the protective plastic contacts the paint with their belt buckle, wristwatch, etc.... Swirls are usually created on new cars because dealerships love to have inexperienced, unknowledgeable workers in the "detailing" department, using dangerous rotary polishers. The cars are left to sit in the parking lot, looking worse than when they came in. Go to a dealership sometime on a sunny day and have a look. If the cars are not covered in swirls, it's likely that the paint was glazed, meaning that the swirls are hidden behind a coating of fillers. Within a couple washes, or a couple weeks of time, these fillers will wear off, revealing the swirls that were there all along. So they DO need to be polished, to get rid of the swirls. And they do need to be waxed, because dealerships don't generally wax cars. They just polish them to get any oxidation off. Then they hope for lots of cloudy days so nobody can see what the paint really looks like.
8. Clearcoat paints never need to be waxed.
Clearcoats are just ordinary paint, lacking a pigment. It still needs to be protected. The clearcoat serves as a protectant for the color coat, but the clearcoat needs protection as well. If left unprotected, it will oxidize, and hide the true color of the color coat.
9. I paid extra for the "lifetime paint sealant" at my dealership, so I never need to wax my car.
Wrong. The "lifetime" sealants that dealers apply are a very expensive gimmick. They will not protect your paint for the life of the vehicle. It's more likely that they'll last a month or two. But a lot of people never wash their cars, so they'll never notice if the car beads water or not, and they won't notice the fading of the paint either.
10. I applied Teflon Car Wax to my car, and now it will come clean just like my non-stick cookware!
Wrong. Teflon in car wax was a great marketing idea, because the majority of the population gets a mental image of cleaning Teflon-coated cookware. The reality is that Teflon must be applied under high heat and pressure in order to bond to a surface (something like 340*F or more). Even if you did apply this wax to your car inside a giant pressure cooker, carnauba wax has a melting point FAR below 340*F, so you the wax would melt right off anyway.
11. A nice thick coat of wax is best.
No. Regardless of how thick you apply the wax, the same amount will actually stick to the paint. The thicker you apply it, the more you waste by picking it up in the towel. That also makes it more difficult to remove, because so much excess product is being smeared around on the paint.
12. Carnauba car waxes can be 100% carnauba.
No. 100% carnauba wax would be hard as a rock. There would be no safe way to apply it to any surface. Every car wax contains solvents, which soften the wax (more solvents in liquids) to allow it to be applied to a surface. These evaporate as you apply the product, and leave the hardened wax behind. If a manufacturer claims that their product contains 100% carnauba wax, it's just a way of saying that the wax is refined to remove impurities.
I'll probably think of more. Anyone want to argue any of these? :)