Carnauba Wax and Other Brazilian Car Waxes

CARNAUBA CAR WAX

Carnauba comes from the fronds of the "tree of life" (Copernicia cerifera) native to Brazil.  It is nature's hardest, purest and most transparent wax.  Carnauba car waxes tend to produce a deeper, darker, richer shine that is often described as "three-dimensional.

Many enthusiasts and show car owners prefer the shine of carnauba waxes, especially on black, red and other dark colors.  Carnauba car waxes bead water nicely, absorb the acid content in rain, and hide minor swirls in the paint.   My personal favorite is, a true show car wax.

On the minus side, carnauba waxes are not as durable as synthetic waxes.  Depending on your climate, a carnauba wax might last between 30 and 60 days.  Additionally, some carnauba waxes can be temperamental, occasionally streaking under certain temperature or humidity conditions.

With the limitations of carnauba wax, you might be asking why it continues to have a loyal following.  In my own case, I continue to use P21S Carnauba Wax to pamper my show car because I like the way it looks.  On my toy, durability is secondary.

IS CARNAUBA CAR WAX A DINOSAUR?

I grew up washing and waxing the cars with Dad using a can of Turtle Wax paste wax. Back then, everyone knew that Carnauba paste wax was what you used on your car to protect it. When I got my first car in 1976, I continued the tradition of cleaning and protecting the paint with paste wax. At the time, synthetic waxes (sealants) were not common on retail shelves or they were seen as Snake Oil products.

I'm not really sure what caused the paste wax phenomenon. If you look back at the history of two car care giants, Turtle Wax and Meguiar's, both companies started by making liquid polishes. The original Turtle Wax product, called Plastone, was a synthetic protective paint polish invented by Ben Hirsch, the founder of Turtle Wax Inc. Ben changed the product name to Super Hard Shell and the business name to Turtle Wax in the 1950's to convey the idea of a hard, protective shell.

In the 1960s the paint polish products (what we now think of as a liquid cleaner/wax) were pushed to the side by paste wax products containing "pure Carnauba wax." Interestingly, many (if not most) of the liquid car polishes also contained Carnauba wax, but it was rarely used in marketing the product. As if by magic, Carnauba wax suddenly became the wonder component of the car wax industry. In reality, Carnauba wax is a minor component in most paste and liquid car waxes due to the cost of the wax in its purified form.

Paste wax marketing from the mid-1960s through the 1980s gave car owners the impression that Carnauba paste car wax was the only way to truly protect your car with a durable barrier.  Car owners throughout the Western world began this love-hate ritual dance on their weekends by paste waxing their family car and the hotrod. Holding that can and swirling the applicator around became part of the feel-good nuance of Carnauba paste wax.

CARNAUBA SHOW CAR WAXES

Getting back to what I wrote in The Perfect Shine, it's no small coincidence that using a Carnauba show car wax as a last step product creates results. Most of these waxes are loaded with oils and silicone polymers that create incredible gloss. The gloss comes at a cost, however, as these wax finishes are not durable. Car enthusiasts who use these soft waxes do so at the expense of time and money. In normal use, high gloss Carnauba show car wax finishes rarely last more than a couple of weeks. The wax is too soft and simply burns off from exposure to sun and wind.

Unless you are preparing your car for show, your time and money are better spent applying a high-gloss, durable synthetic wax (sealant) that can be applied in multiple layers for improved gloss and durability. For show cars and extreme detailers, a Carnauba show car wax on traditional black and red finishes will continue to be the winning ticket until someone figures out how to build the same jetting (wet finish look) qualities into a synthetic wax.