This week Adventures in Detailing covers the question, "What is the difference between a wax & a sealant?" Carnauba is pretty much the industry standard as far as wax is concerned. It is derived from the leaves of a Brazilian palm & is much sought after by car care enthusiasts because of the deep, rich, wet look that it gives to the finish of a vehicle whose paint is in decent condition. Wax will usually afford protection for your paint for about 6 - 8 weeks. For any protection application it is best (if not necessary) to clean your paint first, this is not only washing your car to remove the dirt, grit & grime, but using automotive clay to pull out the surface contaminants (like industrial fallout, paint over spray, light tar, very light cement), many of which may not even be visible to the naked eye & polish to even out the micro-scratches in the finish & get rid of oxidation (kind of like scrubbing away dead skin when you take a bath). Paint Sealants are man made polymer synthetics that bond to the paint for longer term protection. They are often sold by dealerships as part of an "Environmental Protection Package". Paint Sealant will often continue to protect your vehicle for about 5 - 12 months. They tend to have more of a hard, glassy shell appearance, not quite as desirable as the carnauba deep, wet look. So, which should you use? It depends what your objectives are, but my recommendation would be as follows:

• if you have to choose between one or the other & you are the typical person who spends more time driving their car & not so much caring for it, then use the paint sealant.
• if you like to spend a couple hours a month or more on your car, put down a layer of sealant first, then add a wax layer to enhance the appearance. You can continue to wax once a month (or more often if you choose). One great thing about carnauba is you can keep adding to the protective layer. If you happen to miss 3 or 4 months, your sealant will be there like an armor coating for your car to help repel contaminants, UV rays, etc

I would like to mention however, that while adding protection is a must if you want to keep your paint in good condition, it is not a cast-iron solution. You can still get (as an example) hard water spots on your car if you park next to a sprinkler, or your finish can get etched by the acid in the bird droppings left on your hood or roof. The protection merely gives you a lot longer to get rid of the offending contaminant before it has the chance to do any real damage to your vehicle (& probably make it a whole lot easier to remove as well). As always, thank you for listening.