One of the most frequent things I hear people say is, “My car doesn’t shine like it use too. I think I need a paint job.” Do you know why your paint doesn’t shine like it use too? Because it has hundreds and thousands of micro-scratches and water spots all over the paint.
What does that mean? Well your car’s paint is protected by a clear coat. The clear coat is the what gives your paint the shine that everyone loves to see. So the actual color of the paint is never the problem- it’s the cleat coat that is causing the faded, dry, and dull look.
If you can protect the clear coat longer and more effectively, the better your car’s paint is going to look.
Many times this can be avoidable- at least to a certain extent. Just as people say, “My car doesn’t shine like it use. I think I need a paint job,” people always say, “I think I’m going to put a wax on it to give it a bit of shine.”
In this blog post, I’m going to discuss a few points about wax and what it does to your paint as well as some tid bits of information to prolong the health of your paint.
Let’s get started…
Types Of Paint Protection
There are three main types of protection, wax is only one of them. The other two are paint coatings and paint sealants.
A coating is by far the strongest and most durable type of protection for your clear coat. Depending on the type of coating that you’re using, you can expect anywhere between 12-months to 24-months of protection through rain, snow, mud, etc…
Than you have a paint sealant which comes in second in terms of protection. Depending on how you drive it and how you store it, the protection can last up to 4-months. But it’s not uncommon for it to last less than that.
Last but not least is the wax. Although it is the more commonly known car product out there, it sure doesn’t have the type of protection that the other two options provide. Although it still protects your car, the time frame in which it’ll last will be between 1 to 2-months, depending on a bunch of other driving and storing factors.
Of course, having any of these three protections on your car will be far better than having no protection on your car. And with the right framework and knowledge, either of these choices will do you fine.
What Does Wax or Protection Do To Your Paint
Well for starters, there’s a system in place. The clear coat on your car is suppose to protect the actual colored paint. The clear coat is what gives it that shine that everybody loves to see. If you add a wax or some other type of protection, you will now be protecting the clear coat.
So in terms of layering, it would be wax/protection> clear coat> colored paint. So when it rains, when you drive through mud, or when there’s sand and dust flying around, all that debris and weather will be touching the first later of protection.
If you used a wax, you’ll have to reapply the wax every month or two to main that level of protection since wax is the least durable of the three. If you applied a paint coating, then you can let it be for up to a year and the protection will still be there.
Secondly, wax or protection covers up some of the micro-scratches in your paint, making your car shinier. Just imagine all those micro-scratches in your paint like pores and they’re white. If you have a dark colored car like black with a lot of micro-scratches that are white, they’re going to make your paint look chalky and faded.
The wax or protection will fill in those pours and will temporary hide them until the protection wares off.