What is ceramic polish?
The idea of a ceramic polish, on its face, makes very little sense to us, and so we need to find an example and pick apart what it claims to do. The only product we are aware of which is a 'ceramic polish' is Turtle Wax Hybrid Ceramic Wax Polish.
Waxes and polishes are two different things, and so we would class this as a combination product, yet Turtle Wax call this a hybrid, which might be their name for the same thing.
The product claims to polish, removing light swirls and scratches, which are claims we are sceptical about as hand polishes are generally unable to remove scratches, although they may soften them.
The polish claims 'precision platelet technology', which we assume to mean it uses abrasives which are oblate spheroids, which use because of their shape, become more aggressive abrasives when pressure is applied to them.
It also claims to combine wax and Si02 ceramic. Wax is an ingredient which is soft and doesn't last long, while silica is hard and very durable. As a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, we would be very sceptical if this product were making claims of durability anywhere near that of a ceramic coating. However, it makes no such claims, instead it claims "incredible water-beading" and "chemical-resistance".
It should be noted, that ceramic micro beads have been added to waxes for decades as a filler and light diffuser, and are completely unrelated to ceramic coating. Products marketed towards dark coloured cars most often contained ceramic micro beads, as they can fill light scratches and diffuse light away from the edges of the scratch, making it less noticeable.
Indeed, Turtle Wax Hybrid Ceramic Wax Polish may well be designed for black cars, however it is hard to know for sure as on their website, they seem to have copy/pasted in the description for Hybrid Solutions Ceramic Acrylic Black Car Wax.
In summary, we have not tested this product and have no intention of doing so. The company's claims of what it does seem reasonable enough, as a product with platelet abrasives and ceramic micro beads would certainly reduce and hide scratches. However, the use of 'hybrid' and 'ceramic' in the name appear to be marketing hype aimed at riding the coat tails of ceramic coatings.
Written by Danny Argent. Last updated 05/07/2022 11:56