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Manual Polishing (tutorial)
Why do it?
Polishing a car body is the one and only step that will allow you to remove defects caused by time or poor washing techniques. What we call defects are: micro-scratches, clear coat dulling, holograms, and shallow scratches.
It is the longest step in a restoration, but the one that delivers the most results. Indeed, you can very easily notice the defects being removed as you progress through your restoration. You can remove approximately 50% of defects in just a few passes during a hand polish. It also depends on your car's clear coat (soft - medium - hard)
In what situation(s)?
Polishing is worthwhile when you have noticeable defects on your clear coat — whether micro-scratches or paint dulling. It also allows you to prepare the surface for applying a protective coating. Polishing must only be performed on a completely clean and decontaminated body. To polish properly, simply follow the advice given in this video carefully. Here are the most important steps.
Step 2: Choosing the products to use
It is important to choose the right products to use. Regardless of the brand you wish to use, our team recommends always using an abrasive polish (compound) followed by a finishing polish. Here are the different types of abrasives.
- Compounds: highly abrasive polishes designed to remove the maximum number of major defects in a minimum number of passes. In return, they will themselves leave some minor defects (swirls, holograms) that can be removed with the use of a finishing polish.
- Finishing polishes: low-abrasive polishes in their composition, often loaded with oils, in order to leave a finish of great brilliance. They are also designed to remove the defects left by more abrasive polishes.
Step 3: Choosing the polishing pads to use
It is very simple: for compounds we recommend yellow or orange pads (Lake Country or Hex-Logic), and for finishing polishes a white pad (Lake Country or Hex-Logic). Lake Country & Hex-Logic have developed a range of manual polishing pads.
Step 4: Polishing
To learn all the dos and don'ts during polishing, we recommend referring to the tutorial above.
And on a hard clear coat like a German vehicle?
Well, no miracles here! Hard clear coats are very difficult to correct and will require a lot of elbow grease. It is possible to restore a beautiful shine and remove a dull haze. The lightest micro-scratches can be removed.