Meguiars carnauba wax, synthetic polymer wax

Gold Class Carnauba Plus: yes, it’s a carnauba wax but it does indeed have some polymers and other ingredients in it that help with things application, removal, appearance, etc. But the word “polymer” is incredibly broad: (from wikipedia) A polymer is a large molecule (macromolecule) composed of repeating structural units. These sub-units are typically connected by covalent chemical bonds. Although the term polymer is sometimes taken to refer to plastics, it actually encompasses a large class of compounds comprising both natural and synthetic materials with a wide variety of properties. So both natual and synthetic polymers exist and their properties are all over the place. Obviously we’re not going to get into specifics regarding just which polymers we’re using in any of our products, suffice it to say that not all of them will necessarily provide extra protection but could have other benefits to the product. But this isn’t just true of our carnauba waxes (Gold Class, Deep Crystal, M26) but virtually every single carnauba wax on the market. This is because there is no such thing as a “100% pure carnauba wax” in the sense of the bottle containing nothing but carnauba wax. If a bottle did contain nothing but 100% pure carnauba, you could quite literally cut the plastic bottle away and reveal the brick of carnauba inside. Yes, the brick of carnauba. If you had some 100% pure, naturally occurring carnauba wax in your hand, you could bang it against a table just like you would a solid hunk of plastic – sort of like your TV remote control. It’s that hard, and that unusable in “pure” form. Carnauba must be combined with other ingredients just to make it usable as a car wax. Now, when you see a product that claims to be “pure carnauba” or “100% carnauba wax”, what they’re really saying is that 100% of the wax used in that product is carnauba, meaning there’s no paraffin wax, beeswax, monton wax, etc in the mix. Whether the total wax content is 5% or 50% or some other percentage of the total product, all of that percentage is carnauba.

NXT Tech Wax 2.0: this is a 100% synthetic polymer sealant – there is no naturally occurring wax in it. It has the word “wax” on the label because synthetic sealants are used for the exact same reason as carnauba waxes and the two are therefore interchangeable. But the average guy on the street doesn’t understand “sealant” and if he’s looking for a “wax” he won’t give NXT a second glance. In fact, we often get people calling which wax they need now that they’ve applied a sealant to their paint. They simply don’t know. OK, so NXT is 100% synthetic polymer, but even that doesn’t mean every single polymer in it is part of the protection. And again, that’s down to “polymer” being such a broad term.

Ultimate Wax: this is also a 100% synthetic polymer sealant, but it uses different polymers than those found in NXT. This is why, in liquid form, Ultimate Wax won’t stain plastic trim. It’s also why you can apply UW on a warm surface in direct sunlight, and why it spreads so incredibly thin (ie, Thin Film Technology). Ultimate Wax is also our longest lasting, best protecting wax/sealant at the moment, recently knocking NXT off that top spot.

It is true that carnauba can not withstand the temperature extremes, or moisture extremes, of full synthetics so in extreme conditions those synthetics are better choices. Of course, they have their limits as well and they are not impervious barricades against things like acid rain, bird droppings, etc. They will do a better job against these attacks, but it’s not like deploying the deflector shields on the Starship Enterprise just prior to a Klingon attack.

So if synthetics are that much “better” than carnaubas, why does anyone still use carnauba waxes? Because a lot of people prefer the way carnaubas look, especially on darker colors, and that is their primary reason for choosing a paint protectant. They don’t mind applying the wax a little more often, and/or they were just brought up on carnauba so that’s what they like. There’s no real right or wrong here – there’s a lot of personal preference at play here, especially among enthusiasts who liken the subtle visual nuances imparted by different waxes to the subtle nuances of wine tasting, or the acoustic nuances of high end audio.

But when push comes to shove, the wax you choose should be something that’s easy to use, provides the longetivity you want, and the look you’re after for your own car. Nobody can ever tell you that you’re using “the wrong wax” or that you should be using “Wax A” because it looks best on your color car. That is merely that person’s opinion, and yours may be quite different. That “Wax A” may be the best wax for them, but not for you. But if your only criteria is “what’s the longest lasting, best protecting wax?” then in our line up that would be Ultimate Wax. And it has the added bonus of looking great too (at least that’s the opinion of a whole bunch of people!).

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