Best Car Paint Sealants Reviewed & Rated for Quality
Among the various things you own, few are going to face the punishment that your car paint finish is. Your car’s paint job is going to suffer, well, anything that the car itself suffers; dirt, debris, the elements, heavy rain, snow, and a whole lot of other stuff on top of that. So, it’s inevitable that some chipping appears, which can be frustrating, especially for new car owners. So, what’s a car owner to do? Simple, start sealing it.
Featured Recommendations
- Wolfgang Concourse
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Our rating - Anti-static Property
- Price: See Here
- Meguiar’s Mirror Glaze
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Our rating - Deep Reflective Finish
- Price: See Here
- CarGuys Hybrid Wax
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Our rating - Quick and Easy
- Price: See Here
Think of car paint sealant as a second layer on top of your paint job, there to protect it from that which would otherwise chip or fade it. Car paint sealant is essentially super easy to apply a shield for your car, to make sure that it doesn’t lose its fancy new paint job before you have a chance to drive it out of the lot for more than a day. Which is why we’re counting down the ten best of them, here today. So, roll up those sleeves because your car needs some love, as we count down the:
10 Best Car Paint Sealants
1. Wolfgang Concourse
The main thing you’re going to be cleaning off of the main body of your car is dirt accumulated from the road over time. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never even seen a dirt road, let alone drove on one, dirt is everywhere, and it will find you. So, with that said, since dirt can also be murder on a paint job if left there for a long time, it’s a good thing that this sealant helps not only protect against but actively repels dirt off of the car.
Anti-static property
A lot of stuff that gets stuck to your car’s body does so due to static electricity, that always fun phenomenon wherein continuous friction builds a very, very slight electric charge that allows things to stick onto other things. So, it’s fortunate then, that this sealant neutralizes the static charge of anything that tries using said charge to attach itself to the thing the sealant has been applied to.
Cost and Value
Like with a lot of products out there, if you want the really good stuff, then you need to be prepared to drain your wallet because good car paint sealant is not cheap. While not the priciest on this list, this entry should be considered your first warning about the prices you’re about to see.
Dirt repelling fortification
Anti-static property
Leaves an incredibly vivid shine when applied to your car
Pricey
2. Meguiar’s Mirror Glaze
Like we said, as long as you’re applying this goop to your car’s paint job, it should at least look nice while it’s there. Which is why this car paint sealant, once applied to the car’s paint job, will produce a noticeably deeper, darker, and more reflective paint finish. Protecting your car, as well as making it more visually stunning.
Amazing water beading action
Water in small cases is completely harmless to a car’s paint job. But if it doesn’t leave your car for long enough, it will start to weaken the tiny little spot where it landed with rust. And considering that your car is most likely to get wet from rain, that little problem can pile up very fast. So, this sealant gets out in front of that problem hard and fast. Using hydrophobic polymer technology, this sealant makes any water that hits your car just roll right off.
Cost and Value
Like we said, this sealant is the much more affordable option compared to the first entry. While neither are really expensive, this one is definitely the option you go for when you’re on a budget.
Deep reflective finish
Amazing water beading action
Affordable
Bonding action could be better
3. CarGuys Hybrid Wax
With wax sealant, you’re usually guaranteed stronger performance, but with a few caveats. The biggest of which being that a lot of wax sealants can leave garish white streaks and residue all over the car, even after wiping it down. Something that you won’t have to worry about with this sealant, which provides excellent service with no waxy residue.
Quick and easy
The main benefit to this sealant’s method of application is the speed at which the application can be done. It usually won’t take you more than ten minutes, if even that. Just spray the sealant onto the car, wipe it down with a towel, and then you’re done. No more steps needed, and you can hop in your car right afterward and drive without worrying about the stuff having not dried yet.
Cost and Value
This sealant is a bit more expensive than the previous entry, but not by a lot, so if you want a quick, easy, but still very effective sealant for your car, we can’t recommend this one enough.
No residue or streaks
Quick and easy
Affordable
A bit thin
4. Griot’s Garage One Step
A swirl mark here or a fine scratch there won’t go amiss by most people. But multiply that number by a lot all over your car, and people will start to wonder what it is that you’re doing with your car to cause such damage. This is where this sealant comes into play. Applying this sealant over most fine scratches, swirl marks, and other imperfections will have them be completely removed from the surface of the car. While it won’t salvage larger scratches or dings, it’s nice to have a solution for those minor, but annoying problems.
Long lasting
Like we established, this sealant is made to last your car for up to 12 months, which is definitely a tempting offer indeed. It does this via the sealant bonding with the paint on your car. This makes the sealant that much harder to remove as a result, as well as to make the sealant that much more effective.
Cost and Value
This entry’s price sits somewhere between the previous two entries. Making it one of the best deals on the list due to its excellent service and a very affordable price.
Removes imperfections
Long lasting
Affordable
Doesn’t give a very high shine
5. HD Poxy
But it isn’t just the paint job that could use a good sealing. There are also glass windows, plastic inlays on the exterior of the car, the wheels, as well as the various bits of polished metal. All of which could use a good reinforcing. Which is why this sealant doesn’t just work its protective magic on the paint job, but it also does so for every one of the things we just listed, which adds up to about every exterior surface typically found on a car.
Waxes and shines
Usually sealing, waxing, and shining your car is the job of three separate devices or fluids that you need to apply to your car and, well, who has that kind of time? Luckily, this sealant does all three of those things all in one little package. So just apply this stuff to your car and watch the magic happen.
Cost and Value
We’ve had an easy time so far with the prices of these entries, but here is when things get pricey again. But, as always, we wouldn’t put this on the list, let alone so far up, if we didn’t think it was absolutely worth the price.
Protects all exterior surfaces
Waxes and shines
Lasts an entire season
Pricey
6. Chemical Guys JetSeal
Corrosion is definitely one of the main things you have to worry about long-term when owning a car. It doesn’t have to be actively raining acid for there to be corrosive elements actively interacting with the surface of your car. Luckily, this sealant is one of the leaders in corrosion resistance in car paint sealant, providing your vehicle with the finest, toughest finish.
Strong environmental protection
A lot of sealants talk a big game, but when the weather gets rough, they quickly fold over. However, that is definitely not the case with this sealant, which is specifically designed with incredibly harsh weather conditions in mind. So, if you live in an area with heavy rain or snow, then this is the sealant you want to go after.
Cost and Value
Once again, we have a rather pricey entry with this one. This time it’s actually more expensive than the previous entry, but like that one, we believe it to be completely worth the price.
Anti-corrosion sealant
Strong environmental protection
Durable, high gloss shield
Very pricey
7. TriNova
There’s a lot more than dirt and dust that can hurt your car’s paint job. There’s also stuff like UV rays, bird droppings, and tons of other small environmental annoyances that can pile up quickly right under your nose. Unless, of course, you coat your car in this sealant. This sealant will protect your paint job from pretty much everything that could even potentially harm it. Making for a smoother, safer drive.
Easy application
Usually, with car paint sealant, you either have to apply it by hand by putting it on a rag, or by applying it to an orbital polisher and then apply it to the car that way. This can be a problem if you, say, don’t have an orbital polisher. Luckily, this sealant can be applied either way and very easily in either case. Just put it on the applicator of your choosing and have at it, shouldn’t take you longer than a few minutes.
Cost and Value
While not as pricey as the previous two entries, this sealant is still a bit up there. Not enough for us to call it pricey, mind you, but still something to consider when buying it.
Thorough protection
Easy application
Durable and long lasting
A bit hazy post application
8. Chemical Guys Hybrid V7
When you use your sealant on your car, you want the effects to be as fast as possible, and you probably want that gooey sealant to dissolve into your car decently fast as well. This sealant is made with hybrid fast flash technology, which to make a long story short, basically means that this sealant virtually disappears into the surface of your car in just over a minute. Making for immediate, durable protection.
Instant surface bonding
The strength of a paint sealant is entirely dependent on how well it bonds to the surface of the thing you’re putting it on. Luckily, the Hybrid V7 formula has just about everyone else in this game beat. Not only does this sealant dissolve into the surface of your car immediately, but it also bonds with it on a nano-spec level. Meaning it bonds tighter and longer than almost any other sealant out there with its price tag.
Cost and Value
The best part about this sealant is the price. Chemical Guys are always lenient with their prices, and it’s no different here. This sealant is one of the most effective and efficient on the market and is also one of the most affordable.
Hybrid fast flash technology
Instant surface bonding
Affordable
Finish is a bit dull
9. Adam’s
The main thing that draws people to Adam’s Polish products is their durability, and that’s no different here. This is one of the most durable sealant formulas on the entire market. When you apply this sealant on your car, be prepared to have that thing stick to your car like glue. And stick there for a very long time, as one of the beneficial byproducts of this durability is a very long lifespan upon application.
Fast set up and application
You don’t want the application of your paint sealant to take too long, of course. Even when you have to apply it to an orbital polisher, you probably want it to be as fast as possible under the circumstances. Luckily, this sealant is extremely fast in both the setup and the application of the sealant.
Cost and Value
This sealant is a bit pricey, but nothing you shouldn’t be able to handle. So, if you need some top quality paint sealant and have some extra money to throw around, we highly recommend this sealant.
Superior durability
Fast set up and application
Incredibly reflective shine
Pricey
10. Klasse High Gloss
Like we said, this sealant can be applied to vehicles other than normal cars. But a plane is going to be put through a lot more than a normal car, and so will require a much higher degree of protection. Luckily, this sealant can be stacked on itself, meaning that you can apply multiple coats to multiply the effects.
Long lasting
Of course, all the durability and protection in the world doesn’t mean a thing if the sealant gives out before you even leave your driveway. Which is why it’s always important to look for longevity in your sealant. Something that this sealant has more than covered, as it can last up to 12 months, and longer if it goes a long time without major incident.
Cost and Value
Of course, such an advanced formula wouldn’t be cheap, and sure enough, this car paint sealant is quite expensive. Not the priciest on the list, mind you, but still pretty costly.
Multiple coat application
Long lasting
Protects against UV rays, salt water, acid rain, and more
Pricey
If you live in an area with a lot of heavy rain, or an area where you have to traverse a lot of dirt roads to get anywhere, or heaven help you, an area with both, then you’re probably consistently annoyed by the fact that your car’s paint job is under near-constant attack by dirt, dust, debris, and any other number of random annoyances that eventually pile up until that lovely bright red paint job is faded and chipped within the first year. If this describes your situation, then you need to get your hands on a good car paint sealant. In a lot of cases, you might not need sealant for your car, but in many others, it’s better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it. It isn’t necessarily a huge improvement on what’s there, but more of a preservation of what’s already there. And if that’s what you’re going for, then we can say with all certainty that these ten entries are exactly what you’re looking for. All of them are what we consider to be the best of the best when it comes to really good paint sealant. But don’t take our word for it, pick one that you like, and see for yourself.
Criteria Used in Choosing the Best Car Paint Sealants
Putting together a list of criteria for this article was an interesting experience. We had to learn precisely how car paint sealant worked on a specific level, then ask ourselves what we would want from a bottle of car paint sealant, were we the ones who were using it. From there, it was a simple enough matter to put together the following segment. So, with that said, here are the most vital criteria we used to determine who got onto the list and how far.
Protection level
There are a lot of elements out there that means your shiny new paint job ill intent, and all of them require different formulas to be effectively countered. No paint sealant will be able to cover them all, so you need to prioritize which ones you feel are most likely to befall your car when driving, and then find a car paint sealant that covers them. And if you get protection from the occasional acid rain shower in the bargain, all the better.
You’ll find a sealant for pretty much anything that can hurt the paint on your car. There are sealants for dust, debris, dirt kicked up by the road, and of course, various weather patterns. Generally speaking, if you want protection from the really bad stuff like acid rain or UV rays, you’ll have to pay up a bit more than usual. There are, of course, plenty of sealants out there that handle more than one threat, which is the type of sealants we primarily looked for this list. After all, you’re likely to run into more than one of these problems while driving, so it’s only natural to cover the most likely bases.
Ease of use and application
But it doesn’t matter how effective the sealant in question is if you can’t figure out how to put the stuff on your car, to begin with. Luckily, this is typically not a big problem, as in most cases, applying car paint sealant is, if not fast, at least easy to figure out what you’re supposed to do. Typically, you have to either apply the sealant to a hand rag or an orbital polisher, which you then use to apply the sealant to the car. This is typically regarded as the default, and the best way to apply car paint sealant to your car’s paint job. However, there has been a push for more aerosol models. Many models of car paint sealant, as you’ve seen throughout the list, take the form of spray bottles. You spray the contents of the bottle across the vehicle, then wipe it down with a rag to make sure it all gets in there. Either one of these options works just fine, but if you want the easiest to apply option, the latter of these two examples is probably what you’re looking for. After all, who else but a professional mechanic or intense grease monkey would just have an orbital polisher on their person just lying around?
Longevity
Up next is, of course, the lifespan of the sealant itself. A sealant can be the most effective formula on the market, but if it doesn’t last halfway out of the driveway, then you’re going to feel ripped off regardless. Fortunately, this is another factor that most car paint sealants have down pat. The shortest amount of time your average car paint sealant is likely to last is around 2-3 months, the average length of a season. At most, a single application of car paint sealant can last you as long as an entire year, a full 12 months.
Durability
The secret behind a long-lasting sealant is a durable sealant. This refers to how much continuous punishment a car paint sealant can take before giving out. As you can imagine, this criterion sits on the other side of the coin from longevity, since the two concepts tend to feed into each other. A durable car paint sealant is one that is more likely to last you a long time, and sure enough, the longest-lasting car paint sealants on this list alone are also more capable of standing up to punishment. The durability of a car paint sealant is typically decided by how well the sealant bonds to the paint and surface of the car on a nanoscopic level. We’d go into the specifics, but that is a lot of really complex math, and neither of us has that kind of time.
Price
The last criteria we judged each entry by was the price of each item. The main pattern we saw across each entry was that the more phenomena that the sealant in question was made to withstand, the higher its cost tended to be. This makes perfect sense, of course, as more complex and advanced tech needs to be implemented to make the sealant more thorough in its protection. As such, we implemented our usual means of judging each entry by this criterion; by looking at what they did to justify the prices, they were asking for. There were some pretty pricey entries on this list, but all of them justified those prices through the sheer quality of performance. And the cheaper ones on this list got on the list at first solely because they were so highly rated, yet also so affordable to boot.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
For the final segment of this list, we’ll be looking at some FAQs surrounding car paint sealant. This is a rather complex product that not a lot of people understand fully, even when they regularly use it themselves. As such, we assembled this segment to help you make as informed a purchase as possible. So, with that said, here are the most frequently asked questions surrounding car paint sealants, and the answers thereof.
Q: How often should I apply my car paint sealant?
A: Generally speaking, you should apply your car paint sealant the minute you get your hands on it and get it to the car you want to apply it onto. There is pretty much zero downsides for putting it on your car as soon as you possibly can especially if you get your hands on a particularly long-lasting one because then you don’t have to touch that bottle of sealant for another year or so. You should make sure to remember the general date, at least the month, of when you last applied the sealant, and measure the general time frame of when you need to put on the next coat. But all in all, that’s all there is to it.
Q: What’s the difference between car wax and car sealant?
A: One of the most commonly asked questions about car paint sealant is what differences exist between it and the more commonly used car wax. And the differences between them can be boiled down as such: a car paint sealant is supercharged car wax.
Car wax makes the car look nice, but it offers basically no defense against the elements and doesn’t last nearly as long. You have to keep applying it over and over again if you want that lovely shine to continue. Whereas with car sealant, you only have to apply it every couple of months or so, depending on how long and durable the sealant is. And on top of that, as we have thoroughly established, car paint sealant protects your car’s paint job from a wide variety of elements that would otherwise fade, damage, or generally harm your car’s paint job. It may cost a bit more than your average waxing job, but rest assured that car paint sealant is very much worth the money.
Q: What other benefits does car paint sealant carry?
A: Tons. For one, they can keep the sun’s harmful UV rays off of your car when applied to the roof of the vehicle. Not only keeping the paint from fading, but also reflecting a lot of the heat off of the car, making it cooler as a result. And if your car has seen its fair share of dings, scrapes, and scratches, then a good car paint sealant can at least cover up the many minor damages on your vehicle, as well as swirl marks. And since these sealants last several months at the very least, you don’t have to keep buying more of it because it will be months before you run out. And if you get the kind that lasts longer, you can change that to years.
