Why is Coating necessary? Regardless of glass coat or a waxing.

Why is Coating necessary? Regardless of glass coat or a waxing.

(From Sierra Glow)

Coating for automobiles started with wax. Historically people in the olden Europe started to use wax, such as pine oil to protect the wooden surface of horse carriage from rain, wind and dust. Varnish and tree resin took the place of pine oil. In the modern society wax from Carnauba palm oil have been used. Wax technologies kept evolving and found the use as effective material to protect steel plate from getting rusty and to give shine to the surface. Initially Carnauba oil was used to make wax. Later on organic solvents technology has developed and artificial paraffin started to be used to make wax as paraffin oil can create layer on the surface when applied on it. What does it mean? By making an oil film, it helps reduce prism activity of sun light, and as a result, it makes hard to find small scratches on the surface by the naked eyes and can maintain the shine. Thus, wax made of paraffin has been indispensable for automobiles.

Molecule of Paraffin is a monomer, which means paraffin has relatively small molecule weight and big cluster. This property means that paraffin tends to be dissolved by water and vulnerable against fluctuation of heat.

Lately, polymers or compound of iso-paraffin and acrylic silicone started to have been used for coating of the automobile paint surface. As this polymer has large molecular weight and is composed from many chemicals, they are strong against water and other atmospheric elements, which mean they can last much longer than wax. They can penetrate into paints cluster holes which wax can’t penetrate into.

But the other important point is that paraffin used in wax contains abrasive particles to get rid of dust in the air. It means one time waxing gives scratch of approximately 0.02 to 0.05 micron to the paint and repeated waxing may gives the paint up to maximum of 0.25 micron scratch equivalent to the grit of abrasive paper No.1500. Subsequently the paint begins to lose the shine. It is therefore desirable not to give waxing unlimited to the paint surface. From the view point of the above it is advisable to take the importance of coating of the paint surface with polymer or sealant into the consideration.

Currently, glass coating programs* are getting popular more and more for the coating of the paint in the market. They are comprised of silicate dioxide and other materials. When applied on the paint surface, silicate dioxide reacts with hydrogen in the air and leaves the silicon layer on the paint surface. This silicon is 100 % inorganic material, which means immune to oxidation, and has static electricity prevention effect and makes the paint surface extremely smooth, which functions to keep dust and soil away from the paint surface.