Car wax is a greasy substance used to polish the surface of car. Car wax can be made up of various chemicals and is used generally after thorough cleaning of cars. A car wax chemical may or may not be applied to the plastic, metallic and leather surfaces depending upon the make of the car wax and it is always better to confirm the applicability of car wax to specific surfaces before its use. One can easily see the most expensive cars being polished with car wax and one should not carry a misnomer that only the cheap cars are taken care of by polishing them with car wax. It is basically because of the fact that car wax is so safe that people entrust them with such expensive and well maintained cars.
A surface in cars has to be freed from unwanted oxidation of metals, swirls, scratches, water deposits and other similar imperfections and hence a car wax is desired to be applied. Where a clay bar when used on a vehicle, removes only contamination, polishes remove surface imperfections. Polishing using a car wax is a time taking yet a very enjoyable activity for vehicle owners who can not bear with even the lightest of surface imperfection.
Car wax and polish were considered to be different earlier. Polish is used for cleaning purposes basically and on the other hand car wax takes care of the oxidation of the vehile metallic parts. However, this difference is vanishing with the arrival of new hybrid products that help achieving both the aims with just one chemical applied to a vehicle.
Waxing increases the gloss and depth apart from the shine of a painted surface and ultimately this results in providing more protection. Wax comes in many forms such as cream, paste, and liquid. The basic properties of car wax can be attributed to a chemical compound called carnuba which has high amount of fatty acids in itself which gives the lustrous screen to the surface. This fatty acid of the chemical carnuba creates a solid coating between the paint and the outside matter which tends to stick to the surface which protects it, and gives it a smooth finish when car wax is applied to a vehicle. Man made waxes also form a UV protective layer over a surface and protect the paint from the direct action of sun rays which may cause loss of paint from over it. While a warm and wet look is achieved by carnuba, the man made artificial wax gives a high gloss look to a vehicle which makes it an eye catcher and head turner.
Scientist are everyday struggling to give more substitutes for the conventional chemicals for car wax. The ultimate objective of all these efforts is to develop an all encompassing product which give better protection and shiny looks to a vehicle and soon such car wax will be overshadowing the other products in the field.
July 14, 2009

