SuperBuick said:
I like the Menzerna because they are pure, water based polishes with no fillers or "gloss enhancers". Essentially they are mild abrasives that "polish" the surface, nothing more, nothing less. -Tom
Me thinks there may be a communication breakdown here.
Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but the way I read the initial thread was,
Best Pure Polish
This is where the problem arises. Since there is no
Legal Controlling Authority, (Thank Al Gore for that one), over word definitions as they are used in the
Automotive Appearance/Car Care Products Industry, every company is pretty much free to choose the words they think best describe or sell their product(s).
In this case, when GeorgeWax asked for opinions as to the best
"Pure" polish, I figured he meant pure polish in the sense that Meguiar's uses the term, considering GeorgeWax used to work for Meguiar's and I confident he understands the difference between a
* Cleaner/Polish, (a polish that includes ingredients that are intended to abrade the surface)
and a,
* Pure Polish, (a polish that does not include any ingredients intended to abrade the surface, but instead, replace the original oils found in the paint, with new replacement oils)
Note: All paints are made with
Resins, Binders, Fillers, Additives, etc. and in the case of non-clear coat paints, Pigments.
Resin is the substance that is the primary substance responsible to
form a film over the surface. (In the old days, they called paints,
Film Formers. These resins are made from numerous raw materials but they all have one thing in common, and that is a type of hydrocarbon that can generally be referred to as a type of oil.
Older paints pre-70's, perhaps pre-80's, and even current Nitrocellulose Lacquers, Varnishes, and even traditional Acrylic Lacquers are made from primarily seed oils, things like,
Soy Beans, (also called Soya Bean)
Flax Seeds
Castor Seeds, (Castor Oil)
Cotton Seeds
Sunflower Seeds
Safflower Seeds
China Tung Nuts
Modern paints are
Petroleum Distillates, that is they are by-products derived from the distillation process, (also called Cracking Process), of either Petroleum Crude Oil, or Liquid Petroleum Gas.
(That’s why it’s kind of funny when I see someone post that they do not want to use a product on their car’s paint that contains
Petroleum Distillaes, considering their paint is a
petroleum distillate)
Either way, pant resins are oil-based substances.
Everything in the world is under the effect of either
Oxidation, or
Reduction.
Automotive paints breakdown through oxidation. (See below)
From
http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/sci/A0837179.html
Oxidation and
Reduction - complementary chemical reactions characterized by the loss or gain, respectively, of one or more electrons by an atom or molecule.
When an atom or molecule combines with oxygen, it tends to give up electrons to the oxygen in forming a chemical bond. Similarly, when it loses oxygen, it tends to gain electrons. Such changes are now described in terms of changes in the oxidation number, or oxidation state, of the atom or molecule (see valence). Thus oxidation has come to be defined as a loss of electrons or an increase in oxidation number, while reduction is defined as a gain of electrons or a decrease in oxidation number, whether or not oxygen itself is actually involved in the reaction.
When paint oxidizes, it is the resin, along with the other ingredients, but primarily the resin that breaks down and leads to the failure of the paint, or
matrix, as a whole.
By using a product like a Meguiar's Pure Polish, where
special Trade Secret oils are reintroduced to the paint surface, you are helping to prevent the paint from oxidizing by filling in the pores and microscopic fissures and surface imperfections thus preventing oxidation by preventing water, (and other substances that would attack or corrode the resin), from coming into direct contact with the resin.
Wax, (or a synthetic version, i.e. a paint protectant), acts to
Seal, or
Lock-in the paints original oils, (or the newly replenished oils), thus acting as a barrier-film.
Meguiar's refers to their wax as a
Sacrificial Barrier-Film, which in essences acts to
sacrifice itself, so your paint doesn’t have to sacrifice itself. Thus the term...
Protectant
Now when it comes to discussing
"Polishes", the general definition, or at least the public's perception of the meaning of the word polish, means a product that
abrades, or removes paint.
But, because there is no
Legal Controlling Authority, over the definition of words and terms used to describe products in the general category of Automotive Appearance Products, the word,
Polish, doesn't have to mean a product that abrades, and in the case of Meguiar's
Pure Polishes, it does not describe a product that abrades.
So when SuperBuick says
I like the Menzerna polishes because they are pure, water based polishes with no fillers or "gloss enhancers". Essentially they are mild abrasives that "polish" the surface, nothing more, nothing less.
I take this to mean he's talking about something very different than what GeorgeWax originally intended by his question, i.e.,
Best Pure Polish
I would take SuperBuick's reference to polish to obviously mean, a product that abrades, or removes paint, not increase depth, gloss and shine, like a Meguiar's pure polish.
If this is correct, that is, if I’m reading SuperBuick, (and GeorgeWax), correctly, then an equivalent
"Polish", according to the way SuperBuick is using the word polish, would be an abrasive product in the Meguiar's line, which includes Meguiar’s,
* Compounds
* Paint Cleaners
* Cleaner/Polishes
But not Meguiar’s,
Pure Polishes, like
#3 Machine Glaze
#5 New Car Glaze
#7 Show Car Glaze
#81 Hand Polish
Deep Crystal Polish
#45 Boat/RV Polish
#MV82 Velocity High Gloss Polish (In the Mold Release line)
#17 Clear Plastic Cleaner
#10 Clear Plastic Polish
(I think that's most of them)
Am I understanding this thread correctly?
Here's a picture of the label on a can of Simonize Car Wax from the early to mid 1930's. Check out the inclusion of Soy Bean Finishes.
