They include:
- Removing fine or heavy scratches or defects
- Decontamination of the paintwork that a bucket and sponge can’t remove
- Paint correction
- Restoration of paint fading
- Adding gloss and shine to the paintwork
- Colour depth enhanced and colour rejuvenation
The sad reality of life is few of us have time to wash our cars every month, let alone give them a good cut and polish. When you’re out on the road driving there are many elements that are compromising your paint.
The sun. Whilst not the strongest over here at times, the invisible UV radiation still affects your car, causing paint to fade overtime. Modern finished to have an inbuilt UV protector, but like sunscreen, isn’t 100% effective.
Road contamination. Road tar, dirt, grease and other grit embeds into the paint when we drive around. Microscopic metal dust from railway lines, industry and construction sites are also a common issue. If left untreated this will rust on the paintwork and can lead to serious corrosion.
Nature. Bird droppings, suicidal bugs seem to make their deadly end all over your paintwork. The acidity in these bugs and droppings eats through paint. Fast. Same goes with irrigation water. The water evaporates from your car leaving the mineral deposits behind which can “etch” into the paint. It is highly recommended to have your car paint protected to avoid any lasting damage.
All these things layer onto your paint. If you wash your car regularly (like once every 2-3 weeks) then most of this can be removed. But not all of it can be removed with a bucket and sponge and over time it builds up on the paint. If you wash your car and then run the back of your hand over the paintwork you can feel that build up. It will feel ever so slightly rough. Even a brand new car will have contaminants from the factory, the shipping and from the environment of the storage facility. It’s much like plaque on your teeth. Even though you brush your teeth twice a day they still need to be professionally cleaned to remove stubborn build up. When a professional car polisher services your car, they just remove that level of build up – and NOT any of the paint itself – using various abrasives, discs and machines, coupled with differing grades of polish depending on the condition of the paint itself.
Car polishing has been around for decades. The unfortunate fact is there aren’t many professionals out there that know what they are doing. Sure, if you are giving the car a light hand polish most of the time not too much can go wrong. However, the paint can be compromised as soon as you start using a machine.
So what’s the difference between a novice car polisher and a professional?
- Assessment of paint condition. A professional will be able to look at your car and tell which level of car polishing or paint correction is required.
- Tools of the trade. A professional should know which type of polishing compound to use, and which polishing pad is the best for this car. They will know the pressure to apply the polishing machine on the car without burning through the paint. They will also have tools to help them. Such as a micrometer and specialist lighting to inspect the paint.
- Professionals are professionally trained and have years of experience. They know the difference between new and old car paint types. Even different types of cars have different types of clear coat. Hard clear coat will take a heavier compound and pad and so it will take longer to polish. Softer clear coat is also difficult to polish. It’s easier to damage, create swirls in the finish and can scratch very easily.
Novice and self-taught car polishers are sadly everywhere. Even car dealers and panel beaters create terrible results. They can cause irreversible damage to your cars paintwork. Such as buffing trails (hazy polishing swirls), micro scratching from improper use of compounds and pads. Not to mention accidentally burning through paintwork. This is mainly because of inexperience.
What is the difference between car polishing and paint correction?
Well paint correction is just as it sounds. It’s restoring the cars paintwork to remove defects and bring back the original lustre and shine, to make it brand new again. Car polishing can mean the same thing but there are different levels of car polishing to correct paintwork. This will depend on how light or heavy duty you need the polishing to go. We talk about different levels of car polishing below. If your car is in good condition, chances are you will just need to restore the shine with a good single stage polish. But if you have a car that has scratches, swirls or paint fade you will need to go for a two stage or more commonly referred to as a cut and polish. This means you are cutting through the scratches, into the clear coat to smooth everything out – and then polishing it to a mirror shine. The smoother the paint, the shiner it is. A professional should know the safe levels of clear coat to remove. Without compromising the paint health underneath.
Therefore, in conclusion, the benefits of polishing your car are many and varied depending on what your car needs. Such as reducing scratches, reviving paintwork, restore fading, removing road contamination, paint correction and your annual paint protection maintenance. For most of us this will suffice – there are other options available for a longer lasting protection including ceramic coats, clear PPF or even self healing sprayable wraps.
