Stage 3 – Polished
By The Wax Man
In a perfect world, you wouldn't need to polish your car's paint. Cleaning and waxing would be all that's really necessary to protect and shine your car's Paint. I don't live in a perfect world! Your car's paint is attacked by contaminants foreign objects every day. The Wax Man recommends polishing when it's necessary to solve a specific problem or to achieve a desired result. I will discuss advanced uses of polish later. For now, you can think of polish as a tool for pre-wax cleaning and improving paints gloss factor. A fine polish gently removes surface contamination and improves surface reflectivity
Understanding Car Polish
Before we can talk about polishing, we need to establish a common understanding of what polish actually is. The word polish is highly misused throughout the car care industry.
For our purposes, a paint polish is an abrasive lotion or cream used to remove small amounts of the paint's surface. The cutting ability of the polish will determine the amount of paint removed with each hand stroke or each revolution of a buffer, as well as the resulting finish. A fine polish will create a bright, glassy finish, whereas a coarse polish may cloud the paint's surface. Each polish is designed for a specific purpose (e.g., repair or refine) and application (e.g., hand or machine). I would classify polishes as follows
Abrasive paper or pad - An ultra-fine grade of wet & dry paper (2400 to 4200 grit) can be used effectively to level a paint finish and remove imperfections. Wet & dry paper is mentioned here because it is an abrasive, like all polishes, and therefore has its place in polishing.
Rubbing Compound - A rubbing compound is a cutting polish designed to remove heavy oxidation, some common forms of paint damage and defects, and the scratches created by fine sandpaper.
Polish - A specially formulated blend of components designed to remove minor scratches, surface imperfections, water spots, acid rain spots, light oxidation, and swirl marks.
Glaze - A very fine polish. Some glazes are safe to use on fresh paint, as they do not seal. A glaze does not have enough cutting power to remove imperfections, but will increase surface gloss.
Pre-wax cleaner - A polish containing chemical cleaners to help remove minor surface contamination and dirt not handled by normal washing or claying.
Car Polish Selection
The car care market is flooded with polishes, each promising to work one miracle or another. It's important to note that polishes may be specifically created for hand or machine use. The difference between a machine polish and a hand polish is how the abrasive material breaks down in use. The abrasives in most polishes break down (diminish) into finer particles, allowing the polish to "buff out." If you use a machine polish by hand, the particles may not break down, and the finish will not buff out properly.
Conversely, using a hand polish with a machine will cause the polish to break down too quickly, and you won't get enough cutting action. A few polishes work by hand or machine, because they don't use diminishing abrasives or they are not temperature sensitive (buffing pads create heat).
At Waxman we could fudge the issue and offer a hundred different polishes but we currently stock two types, SMART Polish and Signature Pro-Cut Polish. Both are medium to light cut and will remove swirl marks, oxidization and improve the shine. These are primarily hand polishes but may effectively be used with an orbital polisher. I would not recommend using them with full rotary polishers, but then I don’t recommend rotary polishers either. In the wrong hands they can seriously damage the paint beyond repair very quickly.
Reasons to Polish Your Car's Paint
Many people believe that cars come from the factory with perfect paint. That's far from the case. There are many conditions that cause minor paint flaws requiring additional finishing work. Dust nibs (small particles that land in the paint while it is still wet) are a prime example. Most manufacturers take care of these problems at the factory using abrasive finishing materials. Sometimes it is the dealer who recognizes the flaw and fixes it.
Repairing minor paint flaws through polishing is not harmful to the paint system unless you remove too much paint. If more than 50% of the lacquer finish is removed, you stand a good chance of premature paint system failure. If more than 75% of the lacquer finish is removed, you will experience immediate paint system failure. It can be a very fine line between success and failure.
A general rule to follow is if a scratch or other flaw can be felt with your fingernail, it's too deep to be completely removed through polishing. That's not to say that polishing won't help hide the flaw, it will.
Non-lacquered finishes have the same basic rules. You should not remove more than 50% of the top coat (colour coat) finish when repairing a scratch or other paint flaws.
It is important to understand how a polish can be used to "hide" scratches and other marring. Many scratches have hard edges that run at a 30 to 60 degree downward slope. It is this hard edge and angle of a scratch that creates a perfect opportunity for light reflection. It is this reflection that enhances the visibility of the scratch. A good polish rounds the edges of scratches, reducing reflection.
Here is a list of problems that can be fixed or improved through abrasive polishing:
Scratches - Surface abrasions that do not extend past the first 25% of top coat material can be fully repaired by polishing. Deeper scratches can be improved as long as they do not fully penetrate the colour coat into the primer.
Scuffs and rub marks - Scuffs are broad, shallow surface abrasions that are easily repaired by polishing. Rub marks are commonly caused by shoe heels (getting in and out of the car) or the bumpers of other cars. The rub mark is generally a transfer of rubber or other vinyl material to the paint surface. Rub marks are easily removed by compounding and polishing.
Micro-marring - also known as swirl marks and spider webbing, means very small scratches in the paint's surface. Micro marring is created by machine compounding and in everyday use and maintenance of the vehicle. Micro marring is easily removed by compounding and polishing.
Etching - Paint etching is a common problem caused by hard water (tap water) or acidic water (acid rain). Bird droppings are another common cause of paint etching. Depending on the severity of the etching, polishing will repair or lessen the appearance of etched spots.
Dust nibs - Small particles of dust and other foreign material that land on the paint during the painting process create small nibs on the surface. Wet sanding, compounding and polishing will remove the visible portion of the nib and level the paint.
Orange peel - When a car is painted, the paint is applied at a consistency and thickness that allows the paint to flow (briefly) and level. If the paint is applied too heavily, sags and runs will result. If applied too thinly, the paint does not properly flow and level, causing an uneven surface called orange peel. If the orange peel is not severe, abrasives can be used to level and glaze the finish to match the rest of the vehicle.
Runs and sags - If paint is applied too heavily, sags and runs will result. If the sag or run is in the clear coat, it can be repaired, but not if it is in the colour coat or primer. On a non-lacquer paint, sags and runs in the colour coat can be repaired.
Evaluate Your Car's Paint for Polishing
How do you properly evaluate your car's paint surface for polishing? Most professionals (painters and detailers) will tell you that paint evaluation is a combination of seeing and feeling. What you're looking for is a surface that's flat like glass. What you want to feel is a silky, smooth surface with very little resistance. When perfectly polished, paint looks like a reflecting pool and feels like fine cashmere.
Want to see what you're missing? If you're looking for imperfections, use good fluorescent lighting. Incandescent lighting and sunlight do not show surface imperfections as well as good fluorescent light.
Feel for surface imperfections and roughness with your fingertips. Use a light touch to gently glide your fingers over the paint surface. You'll be amazed at how much you will feel once you have trained your fingertips.
You may be wondering just how much of what you see and feel on your paint should be polished away versus cleaned. This is a greatly debated question. Not too many years ago, polishing would have been the correct answer. Today we have more choices. When possible, I recommend paint cleaning before paint polishing. The best tool for removing heavy paint contamination is detailing clay.
If your paint is clean and free of visible defects, is it necessary to polish before waxing? This is another question for great debate, and there are two basic schools of thought. One methodology proposes that polishing is not necessary, because your wax should provide the final finish. The second methodology proposes that polishing creates the level of gloss, and waxing increases depth and liquidity of the surface. I propose that a combination of the two is correct. I believe that polishing should be used to repair and perfect paint, and waxes should be used to protect paint and create a deep, high-gloss finish.
Removing Imperfections & Paint Damage
If your car's paint has minor surface scratches (micro-marring, swirl marks, etch marks, water spots), then you should start by spot treating each imperfection with a fine compound. Never compound the entire car unless it is absolutely necessary for problems like these:
Severe water spots or swirl marks
Heavy oxidation due to sun and weather exposure
Heavy swirl marks or other micro marring
Poor repaint or paint repair blending
Poor surface finish (orange peel)
Heavy surface pitting from sand or road stones
Signature Pro-Cut Polish will remove minor scratches and scuffs by hand with very little effort, but if compounding is required use a good quality one and only use where necessary.
Before compounding, you must protect all trim that you don't want compounded with masking tape. If you don't mask off the trim, your cleanup work will increase significantly, and you risk damaging the trim. As an example, rubbing compound will quickly make flat or textured black trim very shiny and smooth. So, please take the time to do the job right, and use a little masking tape. When compounding small areas by hand, it's not necessary to mask off everything as you would when compounding by machine, but you should mask the surface trim.
Apply a small dab of compound to the pad itself, not to the car, and begin polishing a panel. Use moderate pressure and a medium speed. Compound no more than a 2' by 2' area at a time. If you're spot-treating small scratches, keep the compounding to the area being treated. Aggressive compounds work fast, so be careful. All you're trying to do is cut down a small amount of the paint surface to remove the imperfections and level the paint. A compound will not restore full gloss, so don't be discouraged. You will use a finishing polish for the final step.
Here are some tips for better compounding results:
Lightly spray the polishing pad with a quick shot of detailing spray. One quick shot will do (just enough to make it slightly damp, not wet).
Stay away from sharp edges on the body of the car. The paint in these areas will be thin. Don't make it thinner by compounding it.
Compound using a dense foam applicator with a handle. It's safer, and the results will be much better.
If you're trying to remove a deep scratch (you can feel it with your fingernail), don't try to do more than lessen its appearance.
Buff away the compound residue with a quality Microfibre towel.
Compounding may cause your paint to haze slightly or lose its high gloss. This is okay, because the next step is to re-glaze the paint with SMART Polish or Signature Pro-Cut Polish.
On to Stage 4…