Sealants vs waxes

People always ask me, 'are you using a sealant?'

Or they tell me stuff like 'sealants are better than waxes!'

Waxes generally refer to carnauba waxes, and its pretty impossible to apply carnauba wax by itself. Hence they are mixed with solvents that ease application considerably.

Sealants are essentially synthetic waxes, they may or may not contain carnauba. There are mainly 2 forms of sealants, acrylic and polymer. The 3rd 'sealant' is carnauba based, that's what we call carnauba wax.

In fact, sealant as a term is just overhyped. Essentially sealants and waxes serve the same purpose. They are the LSP (last step procedure) in a detail and they protect the paintwork by acting as a sacrificial layer against the elements. Of course, they give off different looks which are subtle to the untrained eye but the distinction between sealants and waxes is a pretty undefined one.

Personally if you ask me, carnauba gives a look that is to die for. Therefore, I always top a synthetic sealant with carnauba.