Stage 5 – Sealed
By The Wax Man
Your cars paint should now be fully clean and beginning to show the promise of the shine to come. When you lightly caress the paint with your palm there should be no resistance, no grit and a light gloss that is capable of reflecting the light sufficiently that on a sunny day the lightest clouds are visible in the paints surface.
I remember an advert once for a spray wood polish, I forget which. A gentleman stood by his freshly polished wood furniture with a six inch ruler. As the camera panned onto the ruler’s reflection the numbers were visible and his comment was, “Look at the depth of that shine”. The first time I restored a car, I remember laughing to myself, “wow a whole 6 inches of depth. I’ve got 10,000 feet of depth here!”
Anyway time to seal. Absolutely always seal when the car paint is as cold as possible without retaining a dew layer. You would, of course, not be detailing your car in the bright sun or after you have just driven home anyway, but sometimes it is unavoidable.
IMPORTANT
If you attempt to seal when the paint is warm or even, god forbid, hot... the acrylics can get too far into their curing process before you remove the excess. This makes the excess almost impossible to remove.
Should this happen it can be easily removed by adding more Signature Pro-Seal AT5 in small areas and buffing immediately. The layer that has bonded to the paint will be left intact and only the excess will be removed.
It is quite scary the first time it happens, "Oh no... What have I done!" is the first thing that goes through your mind but it can be rectified as above so don't worry.
Apart from the sealants that claim to do several jobs at once there are three main sealants types on the market today. Polymer, Wax and Acrylic.
Right back at the start of our little journey I said I would explain why I did not like polymer sealants. Firstly of course because we don’t sell them, but we do not sell them for a reason. Polymers are capable of being extremely hard wearing but are more prone to dissolving in various petroleum solvents. This is great for the guys that make them, but not so good for you. Why is this? Because Carnauba wax is dissolved in petroleum distillates to make it soft enough to work with. All synthetic waxes are based on a petroleum distillate base. Therefore waxing a polymer Sealant usually removes the sealant as part of the process… and you sealed your paint, why? To protect it of course. The wax is an added gloss layer to afford some protection to the sealant and it cannot protect it if it first removes it.
Carnauba wax sealants suffer from a similar problem; however the clever guys at Smartwax have blended their SMARTSealant with an amino protein molecule that affords some protection. This sealant can last 6 months or more if properly applied and regularly topped up with a good waxing.
The sealant of choice, however, is an acrylic coating formula that bonds a solid layer to the paint. There is no distillate base, simply a carrier solvent. The acrylic, once fully bonded, can withstand virtually anything the weather or environment or indeed distillates can throw at it and apart from physical damage, though that is also reduced, it is pretty mark resistant.
Signature Pro-Seal AT5 is a blend of 5 different acrylics that are able to find their own level and cross bond so when you add one coat you are building five layers of plastic, two coats builds ten layers, three is fifteen… etc. It is easy to see how this can shortly become a real aid to protecting your beautifully finished paint. Because the acrylic is self levelling, it can also hide any marks that were left behind… Yes we can all get a little lazy occasionally.
To effectively seal the paint the sealant needs to be applied evenly and without too much scrubbing. Use a Microfibre pad to gently smooth the sealant onto the paint and move it only enough to even it out. All the polishing has been completed you are now adding layers to the paint rather than trying to polish it further. Both sealants can be removed as soon as they have hazed. This is simply a case of removing the excess that was not required by gently buffing with a Microfibre towel. Again we use only Microfibre as this is less likely to remark the paint and shines the layer far better than the so-called polishing cloths that are available.
For real protection and with Signature Pro-Seal AT5 we recommend leaving this for about 5 minutes to allow the acrylics to begin their curing process. This curing can take 6 hours to complete so subsequent layers should not be added until this has completed, preferably the next day. In sufficient coats usually three or more Signature Pro-Seal AT5 can afford protection for upto 3 years, but we recommend de-waxing and adding further coats and an annual basis.
Your paint is now sealed against the elements and virtually anything the environment can throw at it. The final stage is where your vehicles shine is perfected and that is next…