Wolgang sealant on perfect paint. Should I use polish enhancer and top with wax?

I saw a test a while back from a guy who put something like 40 waxes and sealants on an rv that got heavy use. 4 months later, there were only a few left standing and wolfgang sealant was one of them.

One of the others was zaino and I had a bad experience with that about a decade ago - my car got some normal water on it under normal conditions and it got water spots so deep that it never really looked right again even after machine polishing - I sold the car a year later. Can't know for sure it was the zaino, but I've never experienced anything like that in 25 years, 43 cars, and probably a million+ miles so am not taking that chance. --- Soo.... Wolfgang it is.

Car is 3 years old, but paint is perfect dark grey metallic BMW paint. No swirls.

Obviously, I will wash and clay bar first.


My question now is how I should best go about this.

1) I bought the wolfgang polish enhancer

• Do I need to use this?
• It sounds like it's not going to cause any damage, but would it wear at the clear coat at all?

2) While the main purpose of doing this is to protect the paint (I drive a lot in southern california and the car is parked in the sun while I'm at work), after going through all this effort I'd like for it to look amazing also.

• Wolfgang is supposed to have a very carnuabay (sp?) look for a sealant, will an additional wax on top really make much difference to the appearance?
• The only wax I've ever used that I felt really made the paint look different from any other wax was zymol carbon. There are plenty I have not used though and the shine doesn't last all that long with Zymol, so I'm curious other suggestions for this specific application? What waxes have you guys put on top of grey metallic / wolfgang sealant and had great long lasting deep shine results?

3) If the sealant far outlasts the wax and I want to reapply wax for the shine, would I potentially do damage to the paint by not starting back from clay bar or will the sealant totally shrug off contaminants?

•IMO:

-There's no need to use any of the
Polish Enhancer if the paint is perfect.
What's it going to enhance?

-I'd apply a second coat of the
same Sealant (instead of a Wax).



Bob

Thanks Bob

The polish enhancer is described as a kind of cleaner/prep for the sealant as well as enhancing the appearance. I want to be sure the sealant has a clean surface to adhere to properly, but maybe the clay bar handles that sufficiently?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by FUNX650

•IMO:

-There's no need to use any of the
Polish Enhancer if the paint is perfect.
What's it going to enhance?





Bob

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DavidM235ily

The polish enhancer is described as a
kind of cleaner/prep for the sealant as
well as enhancing the appearance.

I want to be sure the sealant has a clean
surface to adhere to properly, but maybe
the clay bar handles that sufficiently?

---

•Claying can introduce some
"imperfections" to the paint.

-Break out the inspection light(s):
the Polish Enhancer could now be
a necessity to, once again, have
perfect paint.



Bob

A wise man once said if you clay, be prepared to machine polish.

Depending on the clay you might cause some marring on the paint and then will need polish. I've never used clay and not polished afterwards. The paint enhancer is probably just a cleaner wax so it will not cut, just remove light oxidation and previously applied products. Others will chime in but I think if you're going to seal, you have to make sure the paint is 100% good.

Ok, #1 is decided.

I've determined from your feedback and this article I was reading on autopia that I will use the polish enhancer.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DavidM235ily

I saw a test a while back from a guy who put something like 40 waxes and sealants on an rv that got heavy use. 4 months later, there were only a few left standing and wolfgang sealant was one of them.

One of the others was zaino and I had a bad experience with that about a decade ago - my car got some normal water on it under normal conditions and it got water spots so deep that it never really looked right again even after machine polishing - I sold the car a year later. Can't know for sure it was the zaino, but I've never experienced anything like that in 25 years, 43 cars, and probably a million+ miles so am not taking that chance. --- Soo.... Wolfgang it is.

Car is 3 years old, but paint is perfect dark grey metallic BMW paint. No swirls.

Obviously, I will wash and clay bar first.


My question now is how I should best go about this.

1) I bought the wolfgang polish enhancer

• Do I need to use this?
• It sounds like it's not going to cause any damage, but would it wear at the clear coat at all?

2) While the main purpose of doing this is to protect the paint (I drive a lot in southern california and the car is parked in the sun while I'm at work), after going through all this effort I'd like for it to look amazing also.

• Wolfgang is supposed to have a very carnuabay (sp?) look for a sealant, will an additional wax on top really make much difference to the appearance?
• The only wax I've ever used that I felt really made the paint look different from any other wax was zymol carbon. There are plenty I have not used though and the shine doesn't last all that long with Zymol, so I'm curious other suggestions for this specific application? What waxes have you guys put on top of grey metallic / wolfgang sealant and had great long lasting deep shine results?

3) If the sealant far outlasts the wax and I want to reapply wax for the shine, would I potentially do damage to the paint by not starting back from clay bar or will the sealant totally shrug off contaminants?

---

I'm with Bob, apply a 2nd coat of sealant and let it go at that. It should withstand the sun better than a wax.

I want to know how you got "perfect" paint on a 3 years old car?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rsurfer

I want to know how you got "perfect" paint on a 3 years old car?

---

Uhhh, maybe very little driving and 24x7 time in the temperature-controlled garage?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Route246

Uhhh, maybe very little driving and 24x7 time in the temperature-controlled garage?

---

I would say if you are happy with the condition of the paint with respect to non noticeable marring the following steps are appropriate:

a.) Fine grade clay bar. Fine grade with ample liquid on the surface, I personally don't worry about paint marring.
b.) Wolfgang Polish Enhancer

Then Wolfgang Deep Gloss Paint Sealant 3.0

Wolfgang sealant is a great product. I have topped it with Pinnacle Souveran paste wax and P21S and could not tell a difference with either added. From now on I will just stay with the Wolfgang Deep Gloss Sealant, and experiment with 2 coats.

As for polish enhancers, it is too hard to say. You will have to inspect the paint after claying to determine if you need/want to use the polish enhancer. As far as clay goes, I would do the baggie test first; you may not even need to clay, and that could save you a few steps. Just my opinions though.


Sent from my iPhone using AGOnline

Quote:

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Originally Posted by engineerwolf

Wolfgang sealant is a great product. I have topped it with Pinnacle Souveran paste wax and P21S and could not tell a difference with either added. From now on I will just stay with the Wolfgang Deep Gloss Sealant, and experiment with 2 coats.

As for polish enhancers, it is too hard to say. You will have to inspect the paint after claying to determine if you need/want to use the polish enhancer. As far as clay goes, I would do the baggie test first; you may not even need to clay, and that could save you a few steps. Just my opinions though.


Sent from my iPhone using AGOnline

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ditto, I like WGDGS leaves nice slick finish and looks great, I have applied 2 coats with curing 12hrs between coats. I've also topped it with Pinnacle souveran an couldn't tell much of a difference. Very easy to apply and remove.

I know, this is the amazing part. I wish I could take credit for it or even explain it, but I bought the car CPO and it was already like that. It was owned in a less populated area of southern california, so if it was garaged it would be possible that it had very little outdoor/weather exposure. It's also possible that the prior owner gave it a proper polish just before trading it in or that the BMW dealership has a really good detailer on staff who prepped it, but given the remarkable overall condition of the car he may have just maintained it that well. I'm super anal about this stuff and my condition on buying a used/cpo car was that it truly was 'like new' condition. I've had several months to really go over it inside and out and I can't find one flaw on any part of the entire car.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rsurfer

I want to know how you got "perfect" paint on a 3 years old car?

---

It seems fairly unanimous then that I should just do two coats of wolfgang and call it a day. I will give that a try and see how I like it. Will worry about wax later if I am not pleased, but so far I've not heard anyone unhappy with that stuff so I'm optimistic.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by HCF

ditto, I like WGDGS leaves nice slick finish and looks great, I have applied 2 coats with curing 12hrs between coats. I've also topped it with Pinnacle souveran an couldn't tell much of a difference. Very easy to apply and remove.

---

I put on the wolfgang this weekend. I may add photos later, but I don't think they will show anything definitive as my before, in between, and afters all look the same. Good paint never looks bad in photos as long as it's clean.

I washed the car, clayed, washed again to remove any residue. After, the paint looked great but my fingers would not glide along the surface.

Enter wolfgang polish enhancer:
Put on as directed back and forth, let haze, buffed off. Pretty straightforward. I did not really see a difference after this. Surface was a slight bit slicker, but visually it was the same as before.

Sealant time:

Went on really easy. Used a foam applicator. Once it got soaked with product I pretty much couldn't screw it up. Was very easy to put on a light consistent coating and I did put it on everything! Glass, headlights, vinyl decals on door sill, grill, emblems, etc. I didn't worry one bit about getting a bit too much on various parts that you normally worry about with waxes. I went to lunch and about an hour and a half later it was nicely hazed and buffed off pretty easily. It needed a bit more rubbing than a wax normally would as it seemed to kind of wear down the haze rather than kind of break it off the way waxes are. It easily came off of everything I had applied it to and next day there is no sign of residue or dust anywhere.

Final determination:

1) Appearance: I think it does look different from a carnuaba wax. It doesn't seem to have that added depth that you get with a carnuaba, but instead it's a bit clearer and just makes the good qualities of the paint stand out more. The metallic flake really pops. I took pictures and you can't really see it in them, it all just looks super shiny as it did before. In person though, you just see all the little detail in the flake that I didn't notice before. Overall, I am very happy with the look of it and don't feel a need to top it.

2) Polish Enhancer: I don't think this provided any correction to the paint and/or actual polishing, just more of a cleaner. My paint was super clean to start with, so I think maybe I didn't need this so much. Manufacturer recommends using it though and if it makes the sealant adhere better than is worth the trouble. It wasn't hard to apply/buff and didn't cause any harm. If you have really clean paint I'd guess you could probably save yourself a few bucks on this, but my overall results turned out really good so why mess with a good thing.

Since it's going to be a daily driver, parked in the sun all day, I would look into a coating.

Coatings weird me out. The process seems a bit too involved and easy to mess up, yet hard to remove/correct. I do oddly enjoy doing this, just not every month as needed with a wax or to the extent that I want to purchase curing lights as with a coating. This sealant seems to hit the sweet spot of obsessive, but not insanely obsessive.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rsurfer

Since it's going to be a daily driver, parked in the sun all day, I would look into a coating.

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DavidM235ily

Sealant time:

Final determination:

1) Appearance: I think it does look different from a carnuaba wax. It doesn't seem to have that added depth that you get with a carnuaba, but instead it's a bit clearer and just makes the good qualities of the paint stand out more. The metallic flake really pops. I took pictures and you can't really see it in them, it all just looks super shiny as it did before. In person though, you just see all the little detail in the flake that I didn't notice before. Overall, I am very happy with the look of it and don't feel a need to top it.

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DavidM235ily

Coatings weird me out.
The process seems a bit too involved
and easy to mess up, yet hard to
remove/correct.

I do oddly enjoy doing this, just not
every month as needed with a wax
or to the extent that I want to purchase
curing lights as with a coating.

This sealant seems to hit the sweet spot
of obsessive, but not insanely obsessive.

---

IMO: The "shininess" that WDGPS confers
will be quite effective in reflecting UV-rays
right back to where they came from.

{That's what I also include in my
definintion of paint protection.}



Bob

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DavidM235ily

2) Polish Enhancer: I don't think this provided any correction to the paint and/or actual polishing, just more of a cleaner.

---

That's correct.

Paint cleaners, and that's what that product is - is a paint cleaner, only offer light topical cleaning.


What I tell people if they are going to go through all the time, energy and sweat to hand or machine apply a paint cleaner might as well apply a fine cut polish and get all the benefits of the paint cleaner PLUS some light correction.

I don't ever use paint cleaners. Nothing against them but I know to use a "real" polish for the reasons I outlined above. A better option next time you do something like this would be to get the Wolfgang Finishing Glaze which is miss-labeled because it's NOT a glaze. It's a fine cut polish.

The term glaze is pretty much useless in our industry. I have articles on what a true glaze is and which products are truly glazes and for the most part, most people reading this today and into the future for the next 100 years will never need a glaze.


Hope the above helps a little...


:)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DavidM235ily

Coatings weird me out. The process seems a bit too involved and easy to mess up, yet hard to remove/correct. I do oddly enjoy doing this, just not every month as needed with a wax or to the extent that I want to purchase curing lights as with a coating. This sealant seems to hit the sweet spot of obsessive, but not insanely obsessive.

---

Since you have perfect paint, prep will be a breeze with a coating. McKee's 37 is one of the easiest coatings to apply.

Easier solution: After you do whatever you do and apply the Wolfgang, just use the Pinnacle carnuba SPRAY wax as a topper. Don't use a full-blown wax. Then, after each wash, apply the spray wax. Your sealant is gonna hold up for a few months and a few washes, so just use that Pinnacle Spray Wax after every wash. I bought some, applied it and it looks like a full coat of carnuba is on the car. I wish I figure out to get decent pix into a thread and I would show it.

The look is staggering. Not sure what sealant I'm gonna use going forward - Wolf's, Blackfire, Megs or 4 Star - but the Pinnacle Carnuba spray is gonna be the topper. I will do the sealant three or four times a year and do the spray after every wash.

Let's put it this way: I bought some expensive P21s carnuba as a sealant topper and it's on the shelf. It has been replaced by the Pinnacle spray wax, which takes a fraction of the time. It's wipe on, wipe off. And the best part is that unlike some spray waxes, it doesn't smear or streak if you put too much on.

I would trade that tub of P21s for a couple of bottles of the Pinnacle spray wax in a heartbeat.

"Removing McKee's 37 Paint Coating without physically abrading it is virtually impossible." <-- This makes me uncomfortable.

I get the advantages, but I'm just not comfortable with coatings yet. I like knowing that if I mess something up and/or something doesn't go well with the product that I can just remove it and put something else on.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rsurfer

Since you have perfect paint, prep will be a breeze with a coating. McKee's 37 is one of the easiest coatings to apply.

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DavidM235ily

"Removing McKee's 37 Paint Coating without physically abrading it is virtually impossible." <-- This makes me uncomfortable.

I get the advantages, but I'm just not comfortable with coatings yet. I like knowing that if I mess something up and/or something doesn't go well with the product that I can just remove it and put something else on.

---

Look at it this way, being a daily driver that sits out in the sun you will soon not have perfect paint and it will need to be polished (machine buffing). A coating will protect your paint against washing swirls and the elements much better than a paint sealant.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by FUNX650

•IMO:

-There's no need to use any of the
Polish Enhancer if the paint is perfect.
What's it going to enhance?

-I'd apply a second coat of the
same Sealant (instead of a Wax).



Bob

---

Agree.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rsurfer

Since you have perfect paint, prep will be a breeze with a coating. McKee's 37 is one of the easiest coatings to apply.

---

Its easy but iffy.For a extra 30.00 csl would be a better alternative.

Guys, I get the coating concept and agree with you, but I am content with the wolfgang sealant I just put on.

My questions have been answered and product decisions completed. If anyone has questions about my experience with it, feel free to ask. Otherwise, I think we can add this one to the successfully accomplished question threads list.

I top my wolfgang with meguiars 26 paste. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...2d417d2304.jpg

Just an interesting update on the wolfgang sealant... Today, I got a cup of coffee from starbucks on my way in to work. I set it down on the roof of the car as I have done with cups of coffee for as long as I can remember. Nothing odd or extreme about the slope of my roof and I've never in my life had any issue doing this, but this time it immediately slid off the car as if I had set it on melting ice...

*No coffee was harmed in the making of this post (I caught it)*

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DavidM235ily

Just an interesting update on the wolfgang sealant... Today, I got a cup of coffee from starbucks on my way in to work. I set it down on the roof of the car as I have done with cups of coffee for as long as I can remember. Nothing odd or extreme about the slope of my roof and I've never in my life had any issue doing this, but this time it immediately slid off the car as if I had set it on melting ice...

*No coffee was harmed in the making of this post (I caught it)*

---

Nothing beats slick, freshly sealed paint. Not even a cup of good coffee:)
Glad you saved your coffee!

I washed, clayed, and sealed (Blackfire Wet Diamond) a co-worker's Camry. She commented that the paint was so slick and smooth around the door handles/cups. I hear Wolfgang sealant is similar to BFWD. Would like to try WG, but I'm so happy with Blackfire that I don't want to stray from it:)

It's probably the same thing, but Wolfgang is for people who like using products that sound german and Blackfire is for people who like products that sound intense.

I see a survey thread...
Deep Gloss or Wet Diamond? Which sounds shinier?
German or Intensity? Which sounds more durable?