Car wax on shoes (I know, a sin...)

I'm not much of a shoe care expert, but I've been detailing cars since I was a kid. So I had some free time, was reading up on some detailing forums, and got to thinking, why not?

So I grabbed the nearest sealant (NXT), an old pair of shoes I wouldn't care much about destroying, and put on a couple of coats with standard cotton-towel-on, microfiber-buff-off technique. Then I grabbed a nearby wax (Auto Glym) and put on another two coats. Shoe looked far, far shinier and cleaner than its neighbor. (Also, smoother to touch, and a nice scent!) So, I did the other shoe, then wore them to work to see what would happen. They wore just fine.

I'm sure doing this is going to mess up these shoes in some fundamental way. My question is: any SPECIFIC ideas as to the mechanisms by which the shoes will be messed up? (Looking for specifics, not generic "shoe wax is made for shoes and car wax is made for cars" commentary...)

My thinking is that:
- on the one hand, car waxes are going to act as much more effective water/moisture sealants, which should better protect the leather
- on the other hand, this same property also risks drying out the leather more quickly
- then again, if i condition the leather then put auto-grade sealants on top, might that be the best of both worlds?
- of course, there could be chemicals in the auto grade parts that are damaging to leather in the long run
- on the flip side, I think it's safe to say that there is far more R&D going into automotive sealants and waxes than into their shoe care counterparts, so they genuinely might be safer and longer lasting products
- surface is a wild card; leather is more textured and flexes. vehicle bodywork has less surface texture (well, it's higher frequency) and flexes less. bodywork also has to deal with greater impact loads, environmental conditions and temperature swings than leather.

Thoughts?
Edited by swiego - 10/24/11 at 6:59pm