selant

[01SOMSS!]

how do you know when a sealant is needed? selants have abrasives and are fillers and can be used to hide imperfections right? so use a selant when a car has impefections you couldn't get rid of?

[greg0303]

Re: selant

Sealants are synthetic waxes. They offer much longer protection time comparing with natural (carnauba) waxes. Meguiar's Tech Wax 2.0 is a sealant and so is M21 Synthetic Sealant.

They are also cleaner waxes/ cleaner sealants which offer some cleaning ability. These would be ColorX, M20 Polymer Sealant, M66 Quick Detailer and D151 Paint Reconditioning Cream. They are cleaner/ polish/ wax all in one (AIO) products which are mainly used for daily drivers.

The product which would further improve paint look and fill some imperfections would be polish/ glaze or cleaner polish. SwirlX, Deep Crystal Polish, M07 Show Car Glaze or M205 Ultra Finishing Polish would do it.

[Blazebro]

Re: selant

The line between what is a sealent and what is a wax is often a murky and muddled one.

Generally sealents are a synthetic liquid, but then there paste sealents. Most are synthetic, but then there are the ones which contain Canauba.

You could even say that sealents tend to sheet, but then there are those which bead.

When a company calls a wax 'a wax' and a sealent 'a sealent' imo it's a marketing term for which the potential buyers will understand. Most waxes and sealents are hybrids by one thing or another. There are very few 'pure' waxes on the market, most will contain some synthetic polymer of one description or another. In fact I have a wax in my collection which has a canauba content of 56%, but will last up to 6 months (on a daily driver). It wouldn't do this without the 44% that's left being a polymer additive.

Regarding filling swirls, look towards a Glaze, I'm not aware of a wax or sealent that will fill sufficiently for the swirls to disappear.

HTH.

[01SOMSS!]

Re: selant

but a sealant can be followed by a wax right? what's the purpose of people doing that? i know I've done it in the past with a sealer and glaze followed by a wax.

[Blazebro]

Re: selant

but a sealant can be followed by a wax right? what's the purpose of people doing that? i know I've done it in the past with a sealer and glaze followed by a wax.

Some people do choose to use multiple products, I'm yet to see a pro swear by layering products but if that's what they choose to do then so be it.

I'm yet to see any hard evidence to support the claims, which are normally along the lines of as follows:

1) It gives better protection. Well does it? Is there any hard proof to say it does? Is there any proof to say a wax will sit quite happily and bond to a sealent? In fact the theory would point to the contrary. If a sealent hasn't cured properly then the gases would in fact break down the wax, and waxes are designed to bond to paint aren't they?

2) It gives a different look. Well if the beholder says so. At best the difference between say a coat of Zymol Royale and Colli 476s is the slight nuance to a trained eye. The one thing the wax won't do is improve a look. If the sealent takes something out of the paint, the wax won't bring it back.

There's plenty of waxes/sealents out there so ask around and get one that gives you the look you after.

I've tried layering and got nothing from it. When I detail I always use the simplest method to get the results I want. If I want something that lasts, I choose something that lasts. If I want something that gives gloss, I use something that gives gloss. If I want something that gives a glassy finish I use something that gives a glassy finish.......and so on.