Is carnauba wax good for cars?

Many car owners prefer to wax their cars for aesthetics, and they are familiar with carnauba wax. Carnauba wax is a natural vegetable wax extracted from palm leaves in northeastern Brazil, South America. It was once known as the “king of waxes” and is deeply loved by car owners and car beauty shops.

Carnauba wax is the hardest wax in the world, pure carnauba wax is harder than cement. Palm leaves can resist excess summer rain and sunlight by forming a thin layer of palm wax.

Palm wax has a great sheen and can create an unparalleled wet feel. In fact, palm wax is harmless to the human body and is often used in the food industry, such as apples, chocolate, candy, etc.

So, why does palm wax draw so well? How does palm wax maintain the paint surface?

Let’s talk about the melting point of palm wax. Melting point is the temperature at which an object begins to melt, which means that carnauba wax should melt to 83°C.

According to the classification of ingredients, car wax is generally divided into carnauba wax fine powder and petroleum wax. According to Bian Xiao’s online search, the melting point of petroleum wax is mostly around 60°C.

Today, most cars are parked in the open air. Imagine that the car with these two kinds of car waxes is exposed to the sun for a long time, especially in hot summer, the paint surface temperature can easily reach 60 ℃, and the effect is obviously different.

When the petroleum wax on the paint surface is melted, the original paint is exposed to the air, which is not only easy to be oxidized, but also easily affected by the harsh external environment, such as the damage of the original paint by ultraviolet rays.

Cars using carnauba wax are completely different, unless it can exceed 83 ℃, it is still difficult to protect the paint surface from external damage. If some car owners drive or park in an environment that really exceeds this temperature, they can only go for crystal plating, no wax can save you. This is one of the reasons why carnauba wax is more durable than petroleum wax.

Palm wax can improve the resistance of the paint surface to harsh environments such as high temperature, ultraviolet rays, acid rain, etc.

Most of Brazil is classified as tropical rainforest. Brazil is rich in palm trees, which grow vigorously in harsh environments such as high temperature, high humidity, and strong ultraviolet rays all year round. This is mainly due to the natural characteristics of carnauba wax that is resistant to high temperature, high humidity, and UV resistance, which is why its melting point can be as high as 83 °C. This melting point is difficult to reach even with prolonged exposure to sunlight in the summer. Therefore, when carnauba wax is applied to car paint maintenance, it can enhance the ability of the paint surface to resist harsh environments such as high temperature and ultraviolet rays.

At the same time, we all know that the smaller the pH value is below 7, the stronger the acidity; the greater the pH value is above 7, the stronger the alkalinity. The acid value of carnauba wax is 2-6, indicating that it has strong acid corrosion resistance. If this component property of wax is applied to car paint maintenance, it will undoubtedly improve the ability of the paint surface to resist acid rain or other acidic substances.

The use of carnauba wax to maintain the paint surface can well prevent acid rain from corroding the paint surface.

There are also many car owners who find that car washes generally use neutral car wash liquid instead of alkaline. This is because alkaline car washes can damage the carnauba wax layer you just painted.

Carnauba wax can improve the maintenance durability of the paint surface with almost zero impurities.

Impurities, as the name suggests, are impurities in substances. Their shapes are solid particles, fibers, soft gels, liquids and gases. In general, objects with an impurity content of less than 0.03% are considered free of impurities.

Carnauba wax has an impurity value of zero, which means it is an impurity-free object due to its pure nature.

Impurity-free means that its molecular structure is very stable and compact, and it is not easy to react with the molecules of other substances, so it also has good hardness, which can well protect the paint surface and avoid some slight scratches.

Secondly, the impurity-free and pure natural characteristics also represent health, safety and environmental protection, no harm to the paint itself, and no irritating odor and adverse reactions to car owners or passengers.

Palm wax can enhance splashes on painted surfaces.

Splash is the effect of water droplets tending to be more rounded on a hydrophobic surface. It is often said that falling into water turns them into beads.

The water content of carnauba wax is 0, that is, it has no water molecules. The saponification value indicates the molecular weight of the fatty acids in the oil. The higher the saponification value, the smaller the molecular weight of the fatty acid and the stronger the hydrophilicity. Conversely, the hydrophilicity is low, i.e. the hydrophobicity is high. The saponification value of carnauba wax is 75-85. We know that the saponification value of ordinary tanker wax is generally above 100, which means that the hydrophobicity of carnauba wax is better than that of oil wax, and it does not contain water. It will naturally increase after waxing. The splashing water on the paint surface causes the effect of falling water into beads.