Our suggestion for the best car wax? Find a mid-priced, brand-name liquid wax. Our research and experience shows that premium-priced car waxes do not necessarily hold up any better than lower-priced alternatives. And in some cases, the medium-price products outperform the more expensive brands, though the differences are not huge. If you choose to utilize wax for your paint-protection needs, we've got some general pointers for best practices. We suggest applying any kind of wax (whether it’s a spray, cream or paste) with an applicator pad. Also, it’s best to make sure you’re working in a shaded area and that the surface is cool to the touch. Working one panel at a time, apply a thin coat of wax with an applicator pad. Allow enough time for the wax to haze, usually 5-10 minutes. Then, after it has hazed, buff the surface to a beautiful shine with a soft microfiber towel. Repeat the process on each panel until you’ve finished the entire car. Ideally, paint correction should be performed by a professional, but you can get away with a DIY paint correction using an electric polisher. It’s a ceramic coating that’s just as easy to put on as any other wax product out there, but it’ll easily outperform wax. It gives instant hydrophobic protection and helps protect the paint from grime and other road gunk.

This ceramic coating features SiO2 polymers – silica nanoparticles – which give your car a glass-like look and shine. These polymers also aid in water repelling and sheeting after the ceramic coating cures. In consumer tests, this product not only looks great but also proves it can withstand harsh elements and strong chemical solvents. The dedicated ceramic coatings are more time consuming. They need to be applied by hand to a clean, dry panels before buffing. They usually require curing time too, but the benefit is best protection and longevity. Which ceramic coating product is right for you? Preparation, patience, a sharp eye, and thoroughness are the most important factors in achieving a bright and lasting shine. Here are some prep tips for getting the best results from your chosen car wax: If you’re shopping for a ceramic coating for your car but don’t want to spend a ton, then Turtle Wax Hybrid Solutions is what you’re looking for. It’s an extremely affordable ceramic spray coating you can use on your vehicle and provides protection that lasts up to 12 months. Believe it or not, most ceramic wax products contain zero ‘natural wax’. They are mainly lab created polymer-based ingredients, sometimes infused with SiO2 or Teflon, which are “ceramic” by definition. These two ingredients help to produce a slippery surface or hydrophobic properties that nano ceramic coatings are primarily known.Difficult to Apply: Ceramic coating is best applied by a professional, but adept car owners can do a bang-up job without one, once they beat the learning curve. A new crop of DIY ceramic coating kits also bit into the sales of established wax brands, but the Boomers simply didn’t buy into these watered-down coatings. They preferred the hand application and buffing associated with traditional car waxes. Thus – the ceramic car waxes were born to provide protection against UV rays for the car’s paint surface. Are Ceramic Car Waxes Good? Most detailers will recommend using a clay bar first if you're wanting to apply wax to your car. This will keep your paintwork free of any contaminants so you get a better overall finish. If you want to know more about this process, we've written a guide to clay barring.

Moreover, Turtle Wax Hybrid Solutions is easy to apply and provides tons of water-beading properties to help protect your vehicle and keep it looking great between washes. Turtle Wax Hybrid works on all the hard surface your vehicle has so you don’t need to worry about fenders, bumpers, or even windows – it works on it all!If you’re headed to a car show or maybe a photo shoot, wax can be an excellent option. It provides a warm glow and depth to your vehicle’s painted surfaces, and will protect for a decent period of time. For decades, natural wax products, especially those formulated with carnauba wax, were the standard choice for adding a warm glow, improved shine and a certain measure of protection to any car’s paint. Next comes the drying process using compressed air to reduce surface contamination. Paint correction comes afterward followed by a ceramic coat application. Finally, consider the quality of the brand you’re getting. Some brands, like Chemical Guys, Migliore, and Adam’s have a well-earned and well-established reputation for producing high-quality automotive products.

When you’re shopping for a ceramic coating for your vehicle there are a few things you need to keep an eye out for. First, look at how long the ceramic coating you’re considering should last. This gives you an idea of how often you’ll need to reapply it. If you don’t mind spending a little more and just want the best ceramic coating money can buy, the Migliore Strata Coating is the way to go. Sure it’s a more expensive option, but there’s no arguing with the quality of the results. Make sure your car is as clean as possible and towel dry. Inspect the paint to see if polishing will be needed before you apply your wax. There isn't much point waxing a scruffy, stone chipped mess of a car. If your paint is looking good then all you need to do is make sure your car isn't in direct sunlight before you set to work waxing it. The last group is the paste waxes. We’ve found that they take more elbow grease to apply. Despite that, they don’t outperform the liquid car waxes in all attributes. As a group, they do have a reputation for slightly better durability; the shine lasts a little longer. A good rule of thumb is that protection provided by most waxes starts to wane after about five weeks. And most should be reapplied after two to three months.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

That said, durability and paint protection are not the strong suits of most waxes. Wax is a natural product. It goes onto your car in a very thin layer, and it’s not entirely waterproof. Over time–and especially with each car wash–any wax coating is going to wear away, leaving the surface of your clear coat exposed to the elements. There’s a reason so many people consider putting ceramic coatings on their vehicles. While it’s not a standard automotive finish, it comes with quite a few advantages. We’ve highlighted some of the most notable advantages for you here. UV Protection There are some products marketed as ceramic spray coatings, and others that are designed as paste wax. Some are infused with Silicon dioxide and others are simply chemical polymers that bond to clear coats. Regardless of their exact composition, it is safe to say that a ceramic wax is basically a paint sealant on acid that is applied to your clear coat. The ceramic waxes are also formulated to allow you to build layers over time. That’s one of the nice features of these products. With traditional car wax, you need to remove the old coatings before you apply a new layer. That’s a thing of the past with ceramic car waxes. It costs significantly less money than the full kit, although we do recommend getting the Adam’s Ceramic Boost product to go with it. With the Ceramic Boost Adam’s UV Graphene Ceramic Spray Coating can last for up to five years, but without you’ll need to reapply it every year or two.