Illusion Show Car Wax

The main difference comes in the way these protection layers bond to surfaces. A wax (like those in our Signature Wax Collection, along with Radiance Carnauba Creme and Mint Rims Wheel Wax), will physically hold on to the top layer, creating a strong bond and leaving a layer of wax protection that's separate to the paintwork. Waxes can be durable from a few months, right up to 8-months or so, depending to the content of hard wax and other ingredients in the blend. A ceramic coating however, will chemically bond to the surface, essentially becoming an integral part of the top layer, and this is the reason why coatings tend to have more durability, because these molecular bonds are more resilient to chemicals and abrasion, making them more difficult to remove. The Si02-based coating in our Paintwork Protection Kit for example has a durability of up to 12-months for exactly this reason. It's also explains why a ceramic coating cannot be applied over the top of a wax layer, because the wax will block the chemical bonding process, but a wax can be applied over a (fully cured) ceramic coating, because it will happily bond to almost any surface. Both types of protection layer are impermeable to moisture, make your paintwork appear deeper and shiner, and ensure that the vehicle is easier to clean the next time around, simply because the grime won't stick. When it comes to choosing between the two, Waxes tend to be slightly easier to apply, and ceramic coatings tend to offer more hardy protection for daily drivers, but the truth is that, for the most part, it's all down to personal preference, especially when it comes to looks. Ceramic coatings are man-made and engineered to be perfectly clear, allowing light to pass through and back to the eye completely uniformly. Hard waxes have a certain amount of natural impurities that bend and soften the light as it comes back to your eye, this is what gives them their trademark warm glow.

The difference is in the specially developed microfibre weave, which offers slightly different physical characteristics to make the Micro Tweed Buffing Towel the ultimate cloth for use with car waxes, such as the premium protection products you'll find in our Signature Hard Wax Collection. This tweed construction not only gives the Micro Tweed a significantly higher surface area for increased garb on residues, but it also leaves special air pockets in the material that are ideal for catching and locking away excess wax deep within the cloth. The idea here is to prevent wax clogging, which is especially common when too much product is applied to the vehicle. Keeping these wax residues in the cloth, and ultimately away from surfaces, makes it quicker and easier to safely buff your paintwork, along with other sensitive areas, without marring the wax layer underneath. 

Aside from making sure surfaces are clean and free of contaminants, this always depends on the circumstances. Are you topping up wax protection from a previous full detail or adding wax protection for the first time. This is important because, first and foremost, polishing will remove any protection layer, the reason why we don?t use abrasives during routine maintenance, and only polish paintwork when it's absolutely necessary. In this case of maintenance, we'd assume that any paint correction needed had been carried out before adding the first round of wax protection. When it comes to adding wax protection for the first time, we'd always recommend getting surfaces to the best possible level of refinement first. Although it's wholly possible to apply a wax to car with swirly paint, and it will still bond, protect from grime and offer extreme water behaviour and beading, what it won?t do is hide any major defects, so essentially, you'll be locking these in. Pure waxes are non-abrasives, so they're not designed to correct or obscure defects in the surface underneath, they are purely for protection and to add extra gloss. So, for the best results, we'd always recommend correcting or enhancing any paintwork you're not completely happy with the condition of, and fully preparing the surface, before applying any protection layer. The advantage with waxes over ceramic coating in this instance though, is that you don't have to consider the chemical bonded needed for an SiO2 coating to adhere, so you can utilise any of our correction products and cleansers depending on the finish you require regardless of if they already contain waxes and paint glazes. This includes our Revitalise V2 System Compounds, One Step All-in-One Compound, Tripple All-in-One Polish and Rejuvenate Paintwork Cleanser. For more information, and some top tips on preparing your vehicle for a hard wax, see our full guide: Getting The Most From A Hard Wax.