As I start to learn more about waxes coming from a sealant-centric point of view, one thing I've heard is that wax has glow and depth while sealant has gloss and bling. I'm not totally sure what the difference is. The only way I can figure it out is through pictures. If you have pictures of outstanding carnuba finish, please post them so I can start to try to compare them to the sealants I know.

TIA,
Tony

Sealants as a rule are more glassy cold finishes, better on silver and white paint, and carnaubas are wetter, more liquid finishes, looking better on darker solid colours, but you can still get a nice finish with either on any paint.......... I will sort some pics out when I get a min, as I'm sure others will.....

A couple to start with.....

Sealant



Wax (supernatural)

Gotta say I do like the finish on the Aston in the second picture. Every time I start to order more wax I see a thread that says that sealants are really all you should use on white or that wax mutes flake (there was another one on DW just today on pop flake). Doesn't help me much that I have a white Jag and a Nimbus Gray Metallic Acura.

Please, pretty please, keep the pics coming.

What you are looking for to enhance the brightness of your white jag (Which admittedly has a slightly creamy note.), and enhance the flake pop on your Acura is optical clarity. The LSP does play a part in this, but like anything else in detailing this effect is mostly built from the ground up with your prep work. Many will argue with me on this point, but in my experience ALL abrasive polishes leave a slightly different effect on the finish. In my experience Optimum's polishes leave the clearest, brightest finish, which would be best for bringing out cold colours and metallic effects. Dodo-Juice Lime Prime is a close runner up in this regard, and would probably be my choice as neither of your finishes are cold enough to be effected by the glazing oils, and in fact would benefit from them. The next step is the cleansing stage, as this helps immensely in enhancing optical clarity. Both Dodo-Juice LP and LPL are fantastic cleansers, though if the finish was theoretically very cold (Which in your case it isn't.) I would probably pick a synthetic rather than an oil based product instead as I would be at less risk of adding warmth to the finish. Once my base was prepared, I would go for an optically pure wax or sealant. In my experience waxes will have more of a glossy 'glow' in full sun, and sealants will have a slightly crisper gloss that is more noticeable in low light conditions (Albeit at the expense of some character during better weather.). I like to pick my LSP based upon the conditions the vehicle was used in. In your case, I would look at using Supernatural Hybrid; you literally will get the best of both worlds . Here are some photos to prove it:


IMGP3155 by Mole Hill Motors, on Flickr


IMGP3340 by Mole Hill Motors, on Flickr

Even on partly overcast fall days the gloss, clarity, depth, crispness, jetting, and wetness is frankly insane...


DSC06017 by Mole Hill Motors, on Flickr


DSC06100 by Mole Hill Motors, on Flickr

Here are some photos of the white roof during similar conditions, prepped with Lime Prime by hand, and followed by two coats of SNH...


DSC06008 by Mole Hill Motors, on Flickr


DSC06146 by Mole Hill Motors, on Flickr

Beading isn't bad either ...


IMGP3095 by Mole Hill Motors, on Flickr

I love showing off these pictures ! I fear I don't have any photos of SNH on a metallic finish, as all of my metallic test subjects have been fairly small, but the flake pop was quite noticeable. I'm a huge fan of Supernatural Hybrid,though Bouncer's 22 might be another good one to look at, as it is in a similar vein. Either way you won't go wrong .

Hopefully this helps...

Steampunk

Thanks for the info. With what you mentioned I may go with my Hyper polish spray instead of the Menz SF4000 for the final step.

BTW, very nice MINI. Really liked the MINI blues (although they've gone through quite a few) and that's one of the best.