Wax & sealant

There’s a huge range of products for protecting your car’s paintwork, but our six-week test reveals which is the best

THERE’S no doubt ceramic is the buzzword in the car care world at the moment, and we will be testing sealants using the latest tech in the months ahead. But this test was focused on more conventional products. They may not include ceramic particles but they are packed with technology, and range from water-like sealants to hard waxes that come in a tin.

And judging by how some of them flagged during our six-week test, unless you applied the very best when you were preparing your car for winter, they will need topping up or swapping to something more effective by now.

Cleaning the car will tell you how the paint has fared during the winter. If there are swirls, depending on their severity, use a polish or scratch remover on them. Slip your finger in a plastic bag and run it over the bonnet, boot or roof. If it feels like sandpaper, the paint will need claying before applying a wax or sealant.

The choice of what to put on to seal in that shine is wide, so we applied 24 to a clayed and cleaned bonnet to the maker’s instructions.

We assessed how easy each was to put on, then how well they beaded water over the sixweek test. With prices ranging from less than a fiver to more than 10 times that, we factored in cost, taking in to account a hard wax goes a lot further than a liquid sealant. Despite this, our focus was mainly how well each performed.

“Unless you applied the very best when preparing your car for winter, they will need topping up by now”