{"id":39818,"date":"2026-05-20T00:00:57","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T04:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/?p=39818"},"modified":"2026-04-30T14:35:02","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T18:35:02","slug":"confused-customer-misunderstood-or-misleading-and-archaic-detailing-terminology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/confused-customer-misunderstood-or-misleading-and-archaic-detailing-terminology\/","title":{"rendered":"Confused Customer – Misunderstood Or Misleading And Archaic Detailing Terminology"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wax Job\/Waxing<\/h2>\n

This will be a theme of what is about to come.\u00a0 As a detailer, there is no such thing as a wax job.\u00a0 The same can be said for ‘doing a ceramic coat’.\u00a0 Applying wax, a paint sealant, or a ceramic coating is one major step of many in a detailing process.\u00a0 Each detailing step is important, aside from what comes with opening a jar of wax or a bottle of ceramic coating.<\/p>\n

\"wax<\/p>\n

I tell people when they hear about ceramic coating services being all about the prep, that the word prep is a euphemism for detailing.\u00a0 Before I focused or even offered ceramic coating protection, my processes that led to putting on wax were near identical to what I currently do with ceramic coatings.<\/p>\n

Polymer<\/h2>\n

It is your classic paint sealant.\u00a0 A lot of people are thinking of a 6 month or longer term 2 month plus wax.\u00a0 But in reality, they are getting a paint sealant or infusion of a sealant with a wax.\u00a0 Carnauba Wax does not last long a car.\u00a0 Even the high-end waxes that are advertised to last much longer, often are a product of polymer infusion or more recently SIO2.<\/p>\n

Ceramic \/ SIO2 (2 Part)<\/h2>\n

Many manufacturers will try to justify using the word ‘Ceramic’ for a product even when less than 5% of a popular active ingredient in ceramic coatings (SIo2) is in the product.\u00a0 The most common example of this is spray waxes.\u00a0 It is also not out of question for some companies or detailing service providers to use the word ceramic when the product has no significant identical ingredients at all.<\/p>\n

\"Jescar<\/p>\n

There is no formal detailing industry mandate what a coating is.\u00a0 Just because it has the word ceramic on it, does not mean it is a ceramic coating.\u00a0 From a professional’s and enthusiast’s perspective I am going to give you a sensible definition of a real ceramic coating.\u00a0 If it does not come out of glass or metal bottle, it is likely not a ceramic coating.\u00a0 The reason being, the solvent carriers are too strong to be held in a plastic bottle.\u00a0 When people like me think ceramic coating, we think (temporary) chemical resistance from non ph neutral chemical bombardment from the environment.\u00a0 Not a force field, but there is a barrier that also keeps things from sticking to it.<\/p>\n

\"Aquatek<\/p>\n

If more people treated these services with the mindset that it is detailing, that happens to be a ceramic coating protection versus wax, customers would experience significantly less disappointment.\u00a0 Essentially consumers would put more thought into researching a detailer versus jumping at the phrase Ceramic Coating.<\/p>\n

Never Wax Again<\/h2>\n

I get the plausible truth of this quote, and I also understand why detailers utter this phrase.\u00a0 But I do want to caution you not to get delusions of grandeur, thinking a product is going to last a lifetime or never need to be washed properly.\u00a0 Many people take that leap, which will lead to disappointment.<\/p>\n

\"2<\/p>\n

Self Cleaning<\/h2>\n

Easier to clean is a more appropriate quote.\u00a0 To be more specific from a detailers standpoint, it is easier to safely wash your car.\u00a0 Dirt does not stick to the surface.\u00a0 This means the car will not get dirty as fast and less agitation is needed when cleaning.\u00a0 It also means you are bought more time before bugs and birds become a severe problem develops.\u00a0 It does NOT mean the car will clean itself without you ever having to properly wash the car.\u00a0 It does not mean you can’t put (NEW) swirls back into the paint, by doing the same things that caused the damage.\u00a0 Neglecting your car with foreign contamination building up can lead to consequences.\u00a0 But there are specialty cleaners that you can use that won’t compromise the protection like a wax.\u00a0 This goes back to ceramic coatings not being for everyone.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Wax\/Ceramic Job<\/h2>\n

Most of what goes into detailing happens prior to applying a ceramic coating.\u00a0 Assuming proper detailing is involved, the same can be said for applying wax.<\/p>\n

Buff<\/h2>\n

The term ‘buff’ will often be used to generalize anything with a polisher, especially for a somewhat extended period of time.\u00a0 Meaning some people will interpret various all-in-one products, use of dedicated polishers, and even sealants with some chemical cleaners as a buff.\u00a0 Many of the other terms described here, you will be better for dealing with like scratch, etch, paint thickness.\u00a0 There are many archaic descriptions for how this works (paint correction).\u00a0 Re-flowing paint not only is this not a reality of polishing, but too much heat is harmful in the polishing process.\u00a0 Heat provides false feedback results and can harm the condition of your paint.<\/p>\n

\"polishing\"<\/p>\n

Etching<\/h2>\n

Very few people understand what this means.\u00a0 Etching is similar, in terms of damage, to a scratch.\u00a0 Why is this important?\u00a0 This term is often used to correctly describe damage done by water spots, bug and bird remains that is no longer topical.\u00a0 Not all water spotting in particular is equal.\u00a0 Some can be removed easily by an acidic cleaner.\u00a0 Some by a basic wash, depending on how prompt you are.\u00a0 But in many cases the damage is comparable to a scratch, in which paint correction is necessary.\u00a0 In those cases the damage is too deep to remove.\u00a0 Especially not knowing the circumstances, the vehicle experience, it can be difficult to determine how severe that etching is.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wax Job\/Waxing This will be a theme of what is about to come.\u00a0 As a detailer, there is no such thing as a wax job.\u00a0 The same can be said for ‘doing a ceramic coat’.\u00a0 Applying wax, a paint sealant, or a ceramic coating is one major step of many in a detailing process.\u00a0 Each […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":49252,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1412],"tags":[759,1862,3402,841],"class_list":{"0":"post-39818","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-running-a-detailing-business","8":"tag-auto-detailing","9":"tag-ceramic-coating","10":"tag-mirror-reflections-auto-spa","11":"tag-paint-protection"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Confused-Customer-Featured-Image.jpeg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1kPO7-ame","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39818"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39818\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49253,"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39818\/revisions\/49253"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}