Wax and Petroleum Distillates and long term paint removal..

[davam1]

Guys,
Please help me with this. A long time ago, I was told that the most brilliant shines are due to the adding of petroleum distillates into the mix, and that over the long run, these waxes actually remove a bit of paint each time. I was told to use Mequires #26 Yellow Wax only as it did not have petr. distillates in it and that it would not remove the paint over the life of the car.

Is this true? Does Zaino and NXT and the high end products have distillates in them? and if so, am I better on using the Yellow wax at the sacrifice of not having the most brilliant shine possible?

I've read the Mequires site on this, which makes mention that petr distillates are required, but in the right amount.

Any and all comments are welcome. I have a new GT as well and will take the advice of the Sticky but I'd like to know more about what's going on with the distillates.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Wax and Petroleum Distillates and long term paint removal..

I'm no chemist so I can't directly answer your question, but thinking logically about how much paint could possibly be removed due to petroleum distillates in a wax or sealant leads me to this:

We routinely polish our paint in order to remove fine swirl marks and other defects below the surface. In order to remove these defects the polishing process actually removes a little bit of the clear coat. We all know this and we're all fine with it. We all also know that if all we ever did was wash and wax, no polishing, that over time the swirls would get to be too much for any of us truly Car Crazy people to stand. But if petroleum distillates in the wax were removing paint, we probably wouldn't have all those swirl marks, and we'd never need to polish. What little chemistry I do know tells me that those petroleum distillates are likely very small in quantity, probably quite volatile and therefore flash off pretty quickly anyway.

[the other pc]

Re: Wax and Petroleum Distillates and long term paint removal..

Hi davam1, to MOL!

I don’t know who told the thing about petroleum distillates in waxes but I can guarantee you they weren’t a polymer chemist. It’s waaaaaay off base.

First, keep in mind that modern paints are made of synthetic plastics. They are themselves petroleum by-products. So saying “I don’t want to use anything with petroleum this or that on my paint” doesn’t make a lot of sense to begin with.

Chemists at companies like Meguiar’s are well aware of what materials are compatible with coatings and how to create products that are safe and effective for your finish.

So feel free to use NXT or #26, whichever you like. Zaino is another company altogether but plenty of folks love their products and if you trust that Sal knows what he’s doing go ahead and use his stuff. Whatever makes you happy.

It’s true that some of Meguiar’s products, like cleaners, cleaner/waxes and cleaner/polishes will remove microscopic amounts of paint. The more aggressive products like compounds can remove a fair amount of paint. But that doesn’t mean you should immediately rule out those products. Each has its uses and when applied properly can improve the condition of your finish.

Toothpaste removes a small amount of your teeth when you brush. You don’t hear anybody say “I never brush my teeth because I don’t want to use toothpaste on them.” The gunk that builds up on your teeth will rot them out long before the toothpaste will have a significant detrimental effect.

Paint gets covered with contaminants too. If do don’t remove them they will rot your finish.


PC.

[Thejoyofdriving]

Re: Wax and Petroleum Distillates and long term paint removal..

what? meguiars said that there paint cleaner and polish does not remove any clear coat.

[gb387]

Re: Wax and Petroleum Distillates and long term paint removal..

what? meguiars said that there paint cleaner and polish does not remove any clear coat.

That may be true with their pure polishes but cleaners, cleaner/polishes will remove a tiny tiny bit of paint in order to remove the scratch, swirl or other defect, Meguiars points this out in many posts on MOL as do other companies products intended to remove defects... here are a couple threads:
What it means to remove a scratch out of anything...
How to use the G-100 to remove swirls

[the other pc]

Re: Wax and Petroleum Distillates and long term paint removal..

I said some of their products. #66 for example is a cleaner/wax with about the same cutting ability as #80, which is a cleaner/polish.

Pure polishes like Deep Crystal Polish (step 2) don’t have a cutting action.

ScratchX is a cleaner that does have a cutting action. You can’t remove swirls without removing a little paint.


PC.

[the other pc]

Re: Wax and Petroleum Distillates and long term paint removal..

Oops, gb387 was faster on the draw.

Thanks.


PC.

[Brian Hann]

Re: Wax and Petroleum Distillates and long term paint removal..

davam1,

Click on the link below. Check out FAQ #27 on meguiars.com. I think you will find it informative.


http://www.meguiars.com/faq/index.cf...29&section=_29

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Wax and Petroleum Distillates and long term paint removal..

Don't believe everything you read on a discussion forum, there's a lot of misinformation posted all over the place by well-meaning people but they just don't have all the facts.

There are all kinds of "Petroleum Distillates", for example my lips are a little chapped as we live in the desert and it's kind of dry around here, to help with the problem we're going to use some Chap Stick brand lip balm which is made from 44% Petrolatums. Petrolatums are Petroleum Distillates.




Sometimes you just have to put your trust in the name on the bottle.

Meguiar's history is making product for car manufactures and body shops, these are the people that are spraying paint on our cars, we've been doing this as long or longer than any car wax company most people can post a link to on the Internet.

More Best of Show Winners and Best of Class Winners at the Pebble Beach Concours D'Elegance use Meguiar's since recored have been kept. We've been around for over 100 years, that's about how long cars have been around, if there were really a problem with the petroleum distillates we use in any of our products then we can guarantee you it would have made news sometime in the last 100 years and all we have today is misinformation. (The kind of stuff you were told)

For sure there are products on the market that contain

• Nasty petroleum distillates - (there are all grades of PD's some are good, bad and ugly)
• A lot of petroleum distillates

But that doesn't include our products. Modern clear coat finishes are dramatically more resistant to attack and corrosion as compared to older single stage paints and our products don't hurt or harm single stage paints, so they're sure not going to be an issue for you and your car.

In fact, here's a car that was rubbed out 4 times with Meguiar's products last weekend and it went from ugly to the owner has decided not to have the car re-painted.



Before











To do this rub-out we're going to use Quik Detailer and some detailing clay followed by Meguiar's 3-Step Deep Crystal System as this system provides everything we need to turn this diamond in the ruff into a glistening gemstone.








This is the second coat of Deep Crystal Carnauba Wax and
we've performed the Swipe Test to see if the wax is ready to
wipe off and the results show that the wax is dried and ready to wipe-off.





We taped a large section off and didn't touch it except to clay it and wipe it clean and dry.

After
Cleaned, Polished & Wax x 2







Before section
Note the tape is out of focus but the focus point was set on the car reflection in the picture, not the surrounding areas.





We snapped a couple shots of the trunk while the sun was at the right angle to capture a before and after shot of the paint condition.









The owner won't be here till after 5:00pm, so we can't move it outside for some better shots until then, so here's what we can capture of the results after the first coat of Deep Crystal Carnauba Wax while it's in the storage garage, the sunlight causes some glare but you'll get the idea... smooth, glossy paint with a deep, wet shine.







Again the point being if our products contained harmful petroleum distillates that could hurt paint or even just dull paint then the true test would be an antique, single stage lacquer finish that was dulled and scratched up to start with because old single stage paint in this condition is the most susceptible to attack or dulling, not a modern clear coat.


Your car is perfectly safe with any of our paint care products and we have a long and proven history that backs-up the fact that over time, Meguiar's products will maintain a showroom new look for your car's paint if you'll simply,

1. Evaluate the condition of the finish
2. Choose the right product
3. Use good technique

And that's where this forum comes in, we're here to see you through to success when you go out into your garage to work on your car.

[Thejoyofdriving]

Re: Wax and Petroleum Distillates and long term paint removal..

How did all of those scratches disappear with out removing any paint?

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Wax and Petroleum Distillates and long term paint removal..

How did all of those scratches disappear with out removing any paint?

You're kidding me?

In case you're not...

I used a paint cleaner and the purpose of a paint cleaner is to remove paint in an effort to remove a defects.

The original poster of this thread was concerned about a specific ingredient removing paint in and of itself.

See the difference?

Spend some time reading this "thejoyofdriving", it should help you to understand the paint polishing process and specifically what a paint cleaner is used for.

Meguiar's 5-Step Paint Care Cycle

We would like to thank you for asking the question however lest anyone that ever reads this thread is also confused about the question the member posted and the purpose of a paint cleaner.

[davam1]

Re: Wax and Petroleum Distillates and long term paint removal..

PC, Mike, Brian,

Thanks for the insight and I appreciate the great responses! I've always wanted to ask the experts this question. I'm glad I asked and thought the question would generate some responses. I have been using Meg. Yellow wax now for about 15 years actually on my 92 stang and have been very happy with the product. I'll now try NXT on the new stang with no trepidation.