Is silicone bad?
August 9th, 2006 by Danny the web stig
Not really - it’s a bit like asking if jam sandwiches are bad… jam sandwiches are pretty good in my opinion, yet I wouldn’t want one stuffed in my ear! And lime flavoured jam does nothing for me at all.
So it all depends on the type of silicone, and if it is in an appropriate place.
I can tell you why you would ask this question… a number of years back, a rather large company started marketing it’s products as ‘bodyshop safe’, and part of that claim was that they were ’silicone free’.
And so the guys in body shops were led to believe that silicones were a bad thing. There is a grain of truth in this, as anybody who has tried to spray a car over silicones will tell you! But on the whole it’s nonsense.
Just about all car care products contain silicone or siloxane, even the ones labeled as ‘body shop safe’ - even car paint contains silicone! It’s certain kinds of silicone and siloxane that can be bad - usually cheap forms of silicone such as those derived from kerosene.
The problem comes when you use these products and they get into the air as tiny particles, these can land on a car that is about to be sprayed and play havoc with the painting process as they repel paint and can cause great big holes in a freshly painted surface.
Yet there are products that are safe to use around body shops that are packed full of silicones - but it’s best to apply any product in a way that does not make it airborne, for example, brushing on tyre-sheen instead of spraying it on (Tyre sheen is by far the worst culprit).
Silicones can also be less than desirable when used as ‘fillers’ in polishes and ’swirl removers’ - but this is a whole other kettle of fish.
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