What type of wax or sealant is best for my RV?
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If you go online and Google "best wax for RV", you will get many seemingly credible sites with top ten or best of lists giving you a breakdown of what wax they think is best. Or if your in the store, you might stroll down the car care aisle and look at what car wax might work for you RV. These amount of choices make it difficult for the average consumer to narrow down exactly what type of wax is best for their RV.
For the most part, all of these sites (except those of actual detailing companies) do not have first hand experience with the waxes and sealants they recommend. Those lists are usually made up of other lists and by looking at which sealants have the most reviews online. Some of the authors of these lists might have tried one of the waxes they recommend once or twice but they do not test all of them on multiple types of RVs.
The hope of this breakdown is to clear up any confusion you might have found yourself in due to the various types of marketing and labeling that is so commonly found with these type of vehicles. Please let our years of experience with these waxes make you a more informed consumer and RV owner.
Waxes, Sealants, & Ceramic Coatings
Before we get into choosing the right wax, first lets go through the many forms of "waxes" that exist and that you more than likely have heard of throughout the years. The terms wax and sealant are used interchangeably when we look at the retail products that are offered but from the perspective of a detailer, we have waxes, sealants, and coatings.
We categorize wax as a naturally made substance that comes from the Brazilian Tree of Life (palm tree) or brown coal; Brazilian carnuaba wax or Montan wax. This type of protection gives some of the best reflections and the warmest glow that can be achieved on a finished surface. The big downside is that most waxes do not last long and are not as chemical resistant as other forms of protection.
A sealant is a man made version of a wax that protects against extreme heat, UV rays, harsh detergents, and general wear and are engineered specifically to provide a higher level of protection of durability. Though it used to be the case where sealants did not produce the same amount of gloss as a wax, those days are long gone. The sealants that are offered today, do not really have this problem due to advancing technology.
A ceramic coating is the best form of protection that can be applied that is not a paint protection film. It is a liquid polymer that is hand applied that forms a semi-permanent or permanent layer on the surface. This coating drastically improves scratch resistance, hydrophobicity, gloss, and oxidation and corrosion resistance.
Now that we have a brief understanding of the main types of protection, lets view the best type of protection for the most common scenarios.
Best Sealant For New RVs
For new RVs or RVs that have been very well taken care of, a paint sealant is going to be your best friend. Although the old adage "wax once a year" can be true for cars and trucks, it is not recommended for the surface of an RV especially if it is gelcoated. For painted RVs we highly recommend applying a paint sealant every 8 months and for gelcoat RVs every 4 months at a minimum and if possible every 3 months. Ideally applying a ceramic coating to either your painted or gelcoated RV would be the number one form of protection, it is not a realistic option for many due to either the cost to apply or lack of skill to apply.
The best overall paint sealant is Jescar Power Lock Plus (formerly Menzerna Power Lock). This sealant is very easy to apply and wipe off by hand or machine, effective on very light oxidation, and best of all protects the surface for an average of 6 months. CarPro Reload is the best spray sealant due to being very easy to use and giving the gelcoat incredible gloss. The downside with CarPro Reload is that it is not very durable, about 2.5 to 4 months of protection depending on conditions. An amazing wax (yes we mean wax) that is incredibly durable and gives amazing gloss is Collinite Paste Fleetwax No. 885. It is great on protection and light oxidation BUT it is not easy to apply or remove, especially if you are new to waxing.
Best Wax For Moderately Oxidized RVs
If your RV has seen better days and looks a little beat up and tired, then Menzerna's One Step Polish 3-in-1 will leave you smiling at the results. This all in one (All In One means a polish and wax in one formula) will handle both lightly to moderately oxidized gelcoat or paint without any of the common problems we see with other RV specific cleaner waxes.
With many of the RV specific waxes like Meguiar's RV Cleaner Wax, 3M Cleaner & Wax or Marine 31 All-in-One, they all have sub par performance given the fact that these are products specifically meant for gelcoat. If the surface is moderately oxidized, all of these products will get absorbed too quickly into the surface, often be difficult to remove fully, and leave an inconsistent finish. We have gone through gallons of these cleaner waxes and we were never fully satisfied with their performance.
