Wax & Wax

The Rock is in town ! .....and Scholl will Rock You, rock You!

Volume OR Content ?

Leather restoration is also part of my training just after car detailing. Last evening after having to do some last touch up on a Porsche dashboard , I was reminded about the topic.......Volume Or Content.

Many have asked me what's the difference in all these waxes that are available in the market. It's undeniable that such products has so much interest. Obviously the fact that cars are rolled by thousands or millions a day would probably send a message to manufacturers that there is still room for another wax.

I may not have try out all the wax available. However, I guess I had experienced a good number like............ 11 kinds of waxes. Some other people may be more, not sure.

A good wax is a wax that exhibits evidence of the following:
- Naturally produced.
- Reasonable Price.
- User Friendly.
- Reasonable scent.
- Long lasting effect ...a by product of adhesion....although not the most important factor...
- Optical attractions such as depth, warm and wet.
- Small or smallest possible pebble water on waxed surfaces ....indicates concentration of the wax. 
- Visible water run off during rain or washing.
- Easy to wash car.
- Still having the gloss look even with a layer of dust.


Well, the list could go on but I guess the essentials above are just right.


If you check out the website about "carnauba wax" pictures/images you would discover that the common commodity are in the form of "Flake"/"flakes". For instance some manufacturers display description such as "content" or "by volume" or "oz" or ???
Sometimes there is no mention of the content.

If the Flakes are not melted into liquid form, then it is not a fair measurement.! Look at the pictures above from my lab. There is a cup which has flake papers as example filled up to 60ml out of 200ml (which represents 30% of 200ml). Then there is a cup filled with water till 200ml , assuming other ingredients needed to make wax. Is it accurate to say that carnauba wax in flake form, represents 60ml=30% of carnauba wax?


Though I am not a wine connoisseur, I have seen wine bottles which declares alcohol content in two distinct ways, which are by "Content" or " By Volume". What's the big fuss here?


Well, it is a big fuss because, it could be misleading. Following is what I understand about the difference from a physics chap:

liquid mixtures contain water …or solvents...

The solid content i.e. what remains when all the water or solvent is gone is also sometimes called ‘real content’

Solid content can be measured by % of volume or % by weight.

For example paraffin has a density of about 0.7  so 100 L of paraffin weigh 70 Kg.

30% of 1 L paraffin (volume) is then 300ml or  210g

30% of 1Kg paraffin (by weight) is 30% of  1000g =  300g
 

The Rock has 30% "Real Content" of carnauba wax and The Vintage has 40% 
Real Content carnauba wax. I hope you get the drift.....