Why All Waxes, Silicones and other Sealants will not Protect Your Car Paint for Long

The wax that was applied to your car paint simply will not last long (good for only a few weeks) to provide the permanent protection to shield it from the abovementioned hazards because when wax gets hot from the exposure to heat from the sun and your car engine, it starts to melt and before it is washed away, it become sticky and attracts more dirts and pollutants to it and makes your car looks even more dirty and untidy with dirt streaks and water marks all over the car body which is exactly what you don't like to see and touch. It is also a fact that all waxes need to be re-applied every few weeks and the worst is you could only re-apply the new wax after hard polishing off the old deteriorated wax residue and the dirt that sticked to it. Generally, all waxes do not protect your car paint from UV sunray except to give your car that showroom shine temporary.

The use of silicones in certain types of liquid polishes are much more durable than wax polishes. Silicones were first introduced in a liquid polish for automobiles, planes and boats in the mid 1950's. They were easy to apply, had a greater depth of shine and endured many times longer than waxes. Silicones had a lot going for them but they had drawbacks that created nightmares for paint shops to repaint the surface. Silicones can "crosslink" and "drift" into the painted surfaces and penetrate into the pores of the paint. It is this penetration that has given paint shops so much trouble. Every time the surface is washed, the silicone will be driven deeper into the paint. It will continue to "drift" down into the prior coats and eventually into the base metal. As the silicones penetrate and drift further into the painted surface, they leave the surface exposed to the harmful elements just as waxes do when they melt and are washed off by detergents.

Once silicones have permeated the paint, the primer and the base metal, the new paint that was sprayed over the surface cannot adhere properly to the surface. The silicones make the new paint "foam" which causes minute pockets of air in the newly applied paint. This is called "air entrapment". As the paint is curing and the solvents are flashings off, the tiny pockets of air will slowly work their way to the surface and create what is called a "pin hole". Sometimes these entrapped air pockets cannot reach the surface before surface has cured, and they become entrapped. Hence, three months later, when the paint has cured and with the vehicle left out in the sun the paint softens and the entrapped air expands by the heat will escape from beneath the paint and create more pinholes ! Depending upon the quality of the formulation, silicones will hold their protection for approximately 6 to 12 months. Their demise eventually comes from their ability to drift. They will drift all the way to the base metal !

Conclusion: All waxes, silicones and other sealants are not the answer for long term shine and protection you need for your car paint !

PPS与蠟的比较

汽車美容市面車表產品種類繁多，但鍍膜到底是何種概念呢？從打蠟、封釉到現在的各種鍍膜，誰能真的在車漆表面形成了保護層，各家自有說法，但皆未能提供一套理論性並有實際測試的報告來證明。

其實環境中影響漆面的因素有很多，像是紫外線、酸雨、汽車尾氣、樹汁、鳥糞、炙熱的陽光...等等，皆使得漆面逐漸失去光澤、褪色，嚴重的會龜裂、脫落。想要保護好漆面，最好的方法就是將這些有害物質跟漆面進行隔離，使其無法跟漆面接觸，達到完美保護的效果。

從技術角度來講，傳統的護理專案蠟和釉主要原料是蠟、矽、樹脂、聚乙烯胺，不同的蠟、釉採用不同的配方會產生不同的保護效果。但蠟對漆面的護理不長久，保護會出現空檔期，長期打蠟不但會使漆面褪色，還會在漆面磨下一道道的光圈；釉失效時不但會自己脫落，還會將漆面的成分粘帶下來，重複多次的施工採用的拋光工序會使漆面越來越薄，最後留給車主的將是重新噴漆這個永遠的痛(重噴出來的效果永遠沒法跟原廠的漆是相比的)。