Is Ultimate liquard wax a wax or a sealent?

[VaerO]

This comes from Polishedbliss.com

"We’ve been fans of Meguiar’s products for many years, and we’re delighted with what their new Ultimate range offers in terms of value for money and performance. However, one small niggle remains, concerning their naming conventions. Take their Ultimate Liquid Wax for example. It’s a really good last step product that delivers excellent results in terms of ease of use and finish quality. However, it’s not a wax. Meguiar’s call it a wax because from a marketing standpoint they believe that you won’t buy it unless you see the word wax in the title. But it’s not a wax. It’s actually a state of the art synthetic paint sealant that uses cutting edge polymer technology to deliver a highly satisfying user experience. We hope you’ll try it for this reason, and this reason alone."

So what is it? A wax or a sealant?

[ChevyNick]

It is indeed a sealant

[BillE]

Re: Is Ultimate liquard wax a wax or a sealent?

Like Nick said, sealant.

Basically anytime a manufacturer says it is a 'poly' and wax in the same word/sentence, it is indeed a sealant. They (the manufacturers) continue to use the term 'wax' is to not confuse the customer when all they want is a LSP. The word sealant, to many would mean what.

Make sense, I'm getting confused just trying to write this...LOL.

Bill

[VaerO]

Re: Is Ultimate liquard wax a wax or a sealent?

Ok thanks guys, is there anyone point in using a wax over a sealant?

[BillE]

Re: Is Ultimate liquard wax a wax or a sealent?

Longevity.

'Real' wax has a life span of 'X' whereas synthetics are about double that life span.

The reason I didn't put in an actual time period is that how long a wax last is really dependent on local conditions. As they say, "Your results may differ..."

Bill

[jfelbab]

Re: Is Ultimate liquard wax a wax or a sealent?

I believe that Meguiar's calls Ultimate Wax a wax and not sealant for the benefit of Joe consumer. Joe is the guy who runs into WalMart or Autozone wanting a product to take home and "wax" his car. Joe just wants to protect and shine his car and the term "wax' is synonymous with protect and shine in his mind. The term "sealant" likely congers up thoughts of pipe sealants, caulking sealants or dental sealants.

I don't believe I've ever seen a universally accepted industry definition of a wax or sealant. Meguiar's could use a more generic term like LSP which would probably cause Joe's eyes to glaze over as he walked by looking for a wax. Meguiar's main target audience for this product is, after all, Joe. Meguiar's probably realizes that people like us with an affinity for detailing, will know this is a sealant anyway.

This is not the only example of this naming at Meguiar's. NXT Tech Wax is also a sealant and I would venture that there are others, including hybrid products which contain both carnauba wax and polymer sealant, like Gold Class Plus. While I agree that we who are involved in detailing would find the terms could be more accurate in our mind, this fails when marketing to Joe. There are many, many more Joe's in the world then there are "car crazy" people like us. For the most part, we are smart enough to determine which product is a wax and which is a sealant. Joe doesn't care.

Like Joe, I don't get hung up on the naming, I just like how it performs and for me, UW is Meguiar's finest LSP. Meguiar's has been in business (some 110+ years) by making quality products and knowing how to market them. I'd bet that if the product was called "Ultimate Sealant" their sales numbers would be just a fraction of what they now are.

[wifpd4]

Re: Is Ultimate liquard wax a wax or a sealent?

Here's a useful discussion

http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?55062-Meguiars-carnauba-wax-synthetic-polymer-wax-and-the-summer-sun-heat

Sealants are waxes, but not all waxes are sealants.

[ChevyNick]

Why must the simplest of questions on this website lead to really long explanations and stuff blah blah blah....

I guess its all about the learning experience haha.

[wifpd4]

Re: Is Ultimate liquard wax a wax or a sealent?

Sorry Nick

[ChevyNick]

No apology needed. I was just tryin to poke some fun at the whole idea lol. In all seriousness, there is always something I learn with these long discussions. Again, I just wanted to poke some fun at it.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Is Ultimate liquard wax a wax or a sealent?

What's important to keep in mind here is that detailing enthusiasts, ie those folks who spend a lot time taking care of their vehicles and spend a bunch of time on detailing forums, is a very small percentage of those who actually buy wax, sealant, paint cleaners, etc. Consider this: virtually every car forum on the web has a detailing section, and in virtually all of them you'll see very strong recommendations against the use of Armor All. And you see almost zero positive talk about Armor All on detailing specific forums (MOL, AG, PolishedBliss, Autopia (both of them), DetailingWorldUK, etc). But in the "real world" Armor All sells almost as much of their protectants as we do everything combined. That means somebody (or a huge number of somebodies) don't mind it one little bit.

As for the wax vs sealant thing, you'd be amazed how often we hear the question "I've just sealed my paint, now what wax do I need?". Those of you who frequent detailing forums, even if you are not the ones creating threads and showing off your detailing skills, tend to be pretty darn far ahead of the average consumer when it comes to techniques, process, product choices, etc.

Nick, you actually nailed it when you said "I guess its all about the learning experience".

Regarding Ultimate Wax specifically, yes we may call it "Ultimate Wax" but right on the box, immediately under the name, it says "Pure Synthetic Polymer". So if polishedbliss.com wants to give us a poke about our naming conventions, that's cool (especially since they like the product and are recommending it!). Hopefully they do the same with, say, Zaino and their Z-2 PRO Show Car Polish. That's also a fully synthetic polymer LSP and not a polish in the conventional sense. But it's hugely popular with crazy brand loyalty - a very nice thing for any manufacturer to have!

[ffboy]

Re: Is Ultimate liquard wax a wax or a sealent?

Ultimate wax is a sealant, but does not use the name sealant to appeal to the average detailing person. Sometimes, people may be put off or intimidated by the word Sealant, thinking it may require special steps just to be applied or removed. The word "wax" while it may sound stone age or primitive in this age of high tech synthetic polymer paint protection products, but it is something that many people involved with cars can relate to.

[thurman]

I think that sums it up. Intimidation of the unknown makes people look the other way. That is not profitable to a company that is trying to sell products...to everybody.