How to apply a Wax or Sealant

Applying Waxes/Sealants

Waxes and Synthetic Sealants are two of the best and affordable ways to maintain your car's paintwork. It is recommended to wax your car every 2 months, however it may vary from the brand and also level of wax, how much you drive your car,how often do you wash it or how it's parked on a day to day basis.

To find out whether you prefer a wax or a sealant, check out our paint protection page for more information.

Project Detail are proud to be official Swissvax Applicator

Preparation 

Preparation is the key to good results when comes to applying wax. Good preparation allows the wax to bond well with the paintwork, giving the best results and longevity. We recommend going through a 2-bucket wash method, and a decontamination process to ensure your paintwork is free of contaminants before applying wax.

Things you'll need: 
- 2-buckets with Grit Guard (Recommended) 
- pH Neutral Car Shampoo (or if you want a fresh layer, you can use a stronger shampoo)
- Clay Bar (Highly recommended) 
- Clay lubricant/Quick Detailer
- Wax of choice (Liquid or Paste)
- Foam applicator pads
- Masking Tape

Start by washing your car with the 2-bucket wash method earlier, followed by a clay bar treatment, ensuring the car is completely dry and parked under the shade. You can read our how-to guide on Clay Bar treatment by clicking here. 

Using the masking tape, mask any rubber and trims to prevent wax from going over those areas. Some materials and trims might be sensitive to waxes and it may cause damage to those areas. 

Applicator Foam Pads

- For a paste wax, "dip" the foam pad in the pot of wax. For a liquid wax, shake the bottle thoroughly and apply it on to the applicator pad.
- Start by applying it onto the car in forward and backward motion, working a small section at a time. We do not advise applying in a swirling motion. 
- Apply over the entire car, and wait for it to cure. After it has finished curing, the wax will haze. To check, run your fingers through the applied area and you should see the majority of the wax smudges off.
- Using a microfibre towel, wipe off the remaining wax to a shine. You might use up to 2-3 towels for the entire car. 

Pro tip: Applying sealant first, and then carnauba wax on top of sealant gives a amazing gloss and warmth. This will also prolong the lifespan of the product.

Curing Times

With all products, there is a set curing time that must be met. This allows the synthetic sealant or wax to bond to the surface. These times vary wildly depending on the product applied and the ingredients used.

For example, synthetic sealants typically can be wiped off either immediately or just after 5-10 minutes. Typically for waxes, especially quality paste waxes the curing time is much longer. Waxes like Swissvax Crystal Rock can take up to one hour to cure.

The best thing to do as we suggested earlier is a swipe test, if the swipe is clean and does not smudge that means the product has bonded and is ready for removal.

Hand Application 

Another option for applying waxes is solely by hand. By taking a small portion of waxes, rubbing and warming it through your hands. The wax is then able to be smoothed out allowing a better coverage and more even layer versus an application bad.

We do not recommend this method unless you are using a high quality carnauba wax otherwise cheaper solvents and other ingredients may be bad for your skin.

We hope this article helped you on how to apply a wax or a sealant. To find out more on how Project Detail can help you detail your vehicle check our other articles from our blog here or to ask us a question or if you have an enquiry be sure to click here.

How to Clean your wheels

Cleaning your wheels: The Right Way

Cleaning the wheels is as important as any other part of your car and majority of the car owners tend to neglect them because cleaning them would be quite a nasty job from all the brake dust. Especially on European cars or vehicles with expensive and/or custom wheels.

There are many ways to clean your wheels. Today at Project Detail Studio, we are showing you our way of cleaning them, as part of our 21-Stage Wash and Decontamination.

Detailing Kingdom's Wheel X Wheel Cleaner

Different Wheel Cleaners

Just like any other car care product, there are many different types of wheel cleaners. These vary in strength and also their ability to clean as well. Traditionally, wheel cleaners exist in either an acidic format or an alkaline format. They are both extremely potent and can be diluted into different strengths.

For the weekend warrior or even professional use, we recommend using as close to pH neutral if possible as this greatly reduces the risk of chemical burn or damage to wheels.

Thankfully, nowadays there is a new type of wheel cleaner which relies on an exothermic reaction to break down iron fallout or brake dust buildup. These are generally called iron removers, fall out removers etc. But they rely on that reaction which visually turns purple to show its come into contact with any ferrous materials. This type of product is generally much safer that anything acidic or alkaline based.

Preparation

Wheel Woolies are a great addition to any detailing collection, allowing deeper cleaning.

What you'll need in order to clean your wheels properly and safely. 
- Iron Remover or any suitable wheel cleaner
- Wheel Woolies or any high quality wheel brush
- One dedicated bucket filled with water. Note - seperate bucket than washing buckets
- High Pressure Washer or hose

Fill up the bucket with clean water, rinsing all your wheel brush or woolies with bucket so you'll have a fresh start. 

Cleaning

Valet Pro Car Care Products -  Dragon's Breath is a fantastic wheel cleaner in a gel format.

Start by spraying your wheel cleaning agent onto the wheels, ensuring a full coverage including the inner wheel. If its a iron fallout remover, it will turn purple for any brake dust particles. Let it dwell for a couple of minutes until the product has broken down all the dirt. 

Note - an iron fallout remover with additional gel consistency will stick on the upper arches and not run, allowing better overall cleaning.

As the Dragon's Breath reacts with the Ferrous Particles, it turns purple breaking it down.

Using your wheel brush or wheel woolies  to agitate and clean the wheel surface, including the inner barrel or the wheel. Ensuring all surface has been covered. Rinse the wheel brush with the bucket you have prepared earlier with clean water. 

After rinsing, you will find that the brake dust has broken down and rinsed away.

Using a high pressure washer, high pressure rinse off the wheels. Inspect for any more dirt on the wheels. Repeat as necessary.

Pro Tip - Move the car half a wheel forward or back to check and clean the other half of each wheel thoroughly.

We hope this article helped guided you on how to clean your wheels properly. For any questions regards to car detailing, feel free to contact us here. 

Paint Protection Quartz Coatings

Chapter 1 - Glass Coatings 101

Ceramic Quartz Coating undergoing Infrared curing at Project Detail Sydney.

Beginning this week, Project Detail is beginning a series of article based around facts, debunking fiction and generally providing overall advice regarding Quartz Coatings (aka glass coatings or ceramic coatings) or Paint Protection as it's being currently offered in Sydney and Melbourne.

To start of the series, we wanted to lightly introduce the ideas central to Quartz  coatings. Overtime the articles will introduce more complex information and begin to address some of the controversy related to glass coatings and paint protection.

Toby, from Project Detail Melbourne and myself from Project Detail Sydney will be giving our input, I hope that these series of articles achieves its ultimate goal by arming you the client, with as much information to make an informed decision as possible when deciding on paint protection options from your current detailer or just looking on the market. 

What will be discussed in these articles are very transparent and there may be detailers or businesses in the industry which may be upset. But Project Detail believes the customer has a right to make the right choice for their vehicle while being informed. Because of the level of misinformation surrounding coatings, Project Detail would like to dispel some of these rumours if we can.

Introduction to Coatings

Round water beads on a hydrophobic coated surface.

If you've have a moment, be sure to check out our overview of protection options by clicking here. It contains some brief information which ties in together with that we are covering here today and touches onto waxes and synthetic sealants.

Quartz Coatings are known by a variety of names, such as glass coatings or ceramic coatings. These encompass a range of products which are designed to provide protection to your cars paintwork superior to that of a wax or a sealant. These days there are many brands existing and being offered in Australia to new car buyers and current car owners.

Typically, these quartz coatings consist of two main components. They are constructed from inorganic liquid glass from the element SiO2 (Silicon Dioxide) which can vary at different percentages of volume. And the second component is the solvent which the SiO2 is suspended in.

Knowing this is important as the percentage of the Quartz glass volume is a very rough indication of how the performance of the glass coating should be. The major problem with the coating industry, there are a lot of smoke and mirrors. Many coating brands, fail to mention their SiO2 % or even worse falsify the information in order to make their product look better.

Not just Coatings? - Sydney, Richard Ma

Ceramic Quartz Coatings provide a deep, clear gloss to any polished painted surface.

In my personal opinion, Ceramic Quartz Coatings represents the pinnacle of automotive protection technology at the moment. I have had the pleasure of working with a variety of coatings in the past few years, being a prior official and approved applicator for Opticoat Pro and also Ceramic Pro. Both of these are fantastic products but what I have realised in doing research while developing Project Detail, the technology for ceramic quartz coatings are really in it's infancy.
While they have technically been around for a few years existing outside of the automotive industry, they have really made a profound impact on the car detailing scene for only a few years. Because of this, new companies  and formulations are constantly being released.

What I have found particularly in Sydney is the misconception of what is defined as paint protection. Strictly speaking, it does not need to be a ceramic quartz coating perse but simply a product of any sort that is applied to the paintwork. When we focus on this in more detail, the reason why ceramic quartz coatings make a big deal is because of their performance. Longer lasting, better gloss and improved long term water beading are some of the major benefits.

But going back to what I was saying before, technically a wax or a synthetic sealant is a form of paint protection. It is important to note that having anything on your paint is better then raw and unprotected paintwork. Especially with higher pollution levels in Sydney, treesap or bird droppings.

My honest recommendation is do some research, find out what is best for your car. How long do you plan to keep your vehicle? But realistic and see what the current condition of the vehicle is like. If there are swirl marks, water marks or other paint defects it is strongly recommended to remove these first with paint correction before applying any form of semi-permanent or permanent coating. 

If you have any questions, just contact us and we are more then happy to help where possible.

Ceramic Quartz Coatings - Melbourne, Toby Wong

Ceramic Quartz Coatings provide a highly hydrophobic surface which gives a 'self-cleaning' effect.

Quartz Coatings is a ground breaking nanotechnology that has been introduced to the automotive car care industry in the past few years.  It provides superior protection compared to waxes and sealant that bonds to your car permanently. 

Compared to wax and sealants, I can see why quartz coatings are popular because not only it provides a long term protection, it eliminates the need for regular polishing and waxing and it last anywhere from 2 to 5 years. It varies from product and maintenance schedule. Common off the shelf waxes breaks down after 4 to 5 washes, requiring re-application and most car owners I know of wouldn't realise it and their car paintwork will be exposed without any form of paint protection which it could cause paintwork damage such as clear coat failure from exposing to Australia's strong UV rays, chemical etching, accelerating the paintwork's deterioration very quickly etc. 

Based on my extensive tests on several different panels and cars, coating's physical resistance are superior when compared to waxes when comes to protecting UV rays and harsh environmental chemicals. From my tests, it resist chemicals from the pH scale form 2-11 which wax and sealants fails to resist. Coatings also provides hardness and scratch resistance to an extent. Tests has shown that waxes has a thickness of 0.02µm (microns) and coatings do range anywhere from 0.5µm to 75µm, varies from brand to brand and what they offer. A good coating would provide 2µm to 3µm of thickness. I recommend you to check with your detailer about the brand they are offering and their coating thickness. Our CS2 Titanium is a two-part coating that provides a thickness of 50µm to 65µm.

In my opinion, coatings development are similar to how technology is progressing, companies are constantly doing research and development to improve their products and their products gets better every one or two years. As products gets better, I find that application difficultly gets higher. Hence why it's important for us at Project Detail to keep improving and developing ourselves to adapt to these new technologies.

A quick demo on Mighty Car Mod's famous Mini, see how the water just sheets off the car rapidly.

We hope this first article in our series about paint protection and ceramic quartz coatings helps shed some light into this new industry. If you have any questions regarding how to protect your paintwork or if you need general advice, please contact us here.