Know Your Automotive Waxes

Most plants have a thin protective coating of wax.. Most fruit trees and vegetables plants have wax on the fruit and vegetables they produce that we eat. Waxes are also produced by animals, even man makes wax for his ears. Other wax components are found in minerals and petroleum. And the are Polymer or synthetic, manufactured by man waxes. We get waxes from a variety of sources really.

Carnauba wax is on the leaves of the carnauba palm trees. The best Carnauba wax comes from in my opinion the Palm Tress of Brazil. You can tell a good carnauba wax by the water beads. Candelilla wax comes from a plant that grows in parts of Mexico, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Guatemala and sometimes in the southwestern United States. It is a brown wax and not only have people used it on cars it is used in phonograph records, floor dressings, and candles. Although it is the major component of candle wax, it is mixed in with other waxes normally in the candles we use in our homes.

Polymer wax includes the very popular Teflon, yes a polymer brand Name used by Dupont. Polymer wax is a chain of compounds made of petroleum sources and now days from Corn products. Polymers, which are strung together, are generally applied in specific thick nesses to clear coats on cars and depending on the mixture can be quite incredible indeed. So good in fact that they are often called sealants and some last as long as a year when applied in the right mixtures and thick nesses.

The word Polymer is a very vague in this regard since polymers are used to make plastics, coatings and many other products. Generally short chains of ethlenic polymers are the type that are used by professional automotive detailers and auto detailers a like. Many in the aviation industry use it when doing specialized aircraft cleaning. We estimate that 80% of all automotive detailing and aviation aircraft cleaning commercial wax is petroleum based wax. Petroleum wax is chemically inactive in a sense and probably why it is so widely preferred. It is also cheaper to make than to harvest and has tons of uses. You cannot smell it unless cleaners are added which is often the case, but still it will not react to cause odor.

Bayberry wax, which comes from the berries the shrub with that name, used in candle making too. How is this produced? From bees, the same wax in making hives. Beeswax, is used for many things which are common to man. Things such as candles, polishes, cosmetics (mostly make-up) crayons, flowers (artificial kind). Bees Wax is another wax that yes you can use it on your car and it is hard to spread and it will give off a great shine. The problem is gathers dust too quick, but it does look cool

Wool wax from animals is also common to man. Lanolin, it is called, after purification is used in soaps in the industry, and also cosmetics as well as certain ointments for first aid and which doctor stuff.

Petroleum wax can also be made hard and then we get a new type of wax. Paraffin; used in paper products, graffiti, petroleum jelly. All Synthetic waxes are compounds of hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, and/or chlorine. Chemists will forever be trying to make the perfect wax for cars, boats, aircraft to protect us from the harsh climates on the surface of this little blue planet. And these chemists are driven by desire and need and the possibilities are endless as new compounds are adding to existing ones to bring up whole new blending ideas, some will revolutionize our industry but most will simply b duds. Some will be hyped even though they do not really solve a problem or fix a need. Never the less, the race goes on to find the best and we should be thinking about what is in that product before we put it on a customers car, boat, aircraft or prize possession. This is what the professional detailer does, this is why we are experts in car care and call ourselves auto detailers, rejuvenation specialists and professional auto detailers.

There are so many types of waxes that we know of really. From the organic waxes discussed containing carbon materials, which melt at fairly low temperatures. The chemical and biological make-up of waxes is so diverse and complex as well as consideration for grades, properties, surface uses and life spans that to really understand waxes in depth as they apply to the automotive detailing industry, also to aircraft cleaning, that this short essay may need to be supplemented by proper training.

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