Yahoo Autos The Best Car Wax for Your Ride
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This story was updated on July 18, 2022 to include updated products and information.
What's the best car wax? That depends on you and your vehicle. It depends on the attributes that you value in a car wax, and on the age of your vehicle and the condition of its paint job. There are things car wax can do, and there are things car wax can’t do to improve your machine's gleam. Read on for, ahem, reflections on automotive shine—our thoughts on the best car wax for your ride.
Ready to wax your car? Here are some of the top-rated car waxes on the market:
Why You Should Wax Your Car
Wax is a protective coating applied on to the top layer of paint, which on virtually all vehicles today is a clear coat. (Clear coat is exactly what the name implies: a coat of clear, hard paint.) A modern vehicle's finish is composed of three parts: base primer, a color coat, and clear coat. The quality of a vehicle's shine depends on the smoothness of the clear coat; the smoother the top layer of paint, the more it's like a mirror. The thin layer of car wax you apply helps fill tiny crevices in the paint that are caused by exposure to the elements and the spinning brushes at car washes.
The best car waxes can also protect the clear coat from hazing, smears, stains, tiny scratches, tree sap, and bird droppings. But to be effective and long-lasting, car wax must be applied only on a perfectly clean vehicle.
Your Wax Choice Makes a Difference
There are three main kinds of car wax: spray-ons, liquids, and pastes. (We'll save popular ceramic coatings for another story; our friends at Road & Track explored it here.) The critical attributes of car wax to consider are gloss improvement, durability, ease of application, ease of removal, how well it cleans the paint surface, protection from UV rays, compatibility with plastics, and price.
Spray-on car wax is the easiest to apply and remove. However, spray-on car waxes do not clean deeply, are less weather-resistant, and generally have the poorest durability. That makes them best for new-car finishes, for quickie wax jobs, or detailing on vehicles that are washed and waxed frequently.
