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FAQ's: Car Wash & Wax
A wash and wax is a maintenance car wash shampoo with a protective agent mixed into it, so you wash and protect in one step.
Think of it as using a spray wax after washing the car, except it's built into the washing stage instead. The shampoo cleans the paint normally, and what it leaves behind is a thin layer of protection that makes the surface slicker, glossier and easier to keep clean for the next few weeks.
The protective agent is usually carnauba, a polymer, or SiO2. Which one it is changes how it looks, how long it lasts and what it can go over the top of, which is covered further down.
If you're using one over existing protection, check what type suits that product. If you're unsure, get in touch.
Anywhere from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, depending on the type and how the car lives.
Wash and wax shampoos are built for periodic maintenance, so they're designed around being topped up every wash rather than lasting a season on their own.
Carnauba and polymer based shampoos sit closer to two to four weeks. They give the warm glow you'd expect from a wax, and they fade off gradually.
SiO2 and ceramic based shampoos tend to run one to two months, with a glassier gloss, sharper reflections and better water beading.
A garaged car holds either far longer than one parked outside, and a hot summer or a stretch of rain will shorten both.
There's no definitive best, but SiO2 is where most of the market has moved. It's the active ingredient in ceramic coatings, and wash and wax products have followed.
The difference is how they behave. Carnauba based shampoos behave like a wax, SiO2 based ones behave like a coating.
Carnauba gives a deep, rich gloss with warmth and depth to it, the look people associate with a hand waxed car. SiO2 gives a more glass-like, almost liquid finish with intense reflections and real clarity, plus better water beading and a bit more longevity.
Both look excellent and it comes down to what you're after. SiO2 is the more popular of the two at the moment, particularly with anyone already running a coating.
Yes, and an SiO2 based one is the right choice for it.
A ceramic coating works by being slick enough that dirt struggles to hold on. What kills that over time isn't wear, it's contamination building up and filling in the surface. A ceramic car wash keeps that at bay and tops the coating up with the same chemistry at the same time, rather than laying a different product over the top of it.
Carnauba and polymer shampoos won't damage a coating, but they can sit on it and dull the sharp beading a coating is meant to give you. If the car is coated, stay with SiO2.
Something like CARPRO HydrO2 Foam or Koch Chemie CES is made for exactly this. It's still worth checking with whoever made your coating, since a few brands specify their own maintenance products, but in nearly every case an SiO2 wash and wax is what they'd recommend anyway.
Between washes, a pH neutral car wash with no additives is the other safe option if you'd rather not add anything at all.
