How to polish your car using a polisher

Lightning McQueen
Day 132 of 365 - Lightning McQueen Not quite how I envisioned it but it came out ok. I may try again to see if I can get the lighting just a touch better. I am still learning this strobist stuff :) As it stands I had to do a couple of curves layers to kill some highlights and a little touch up to kill some unwanted reflections on the car. Also used NIK Color Efex Pro 3.0 High Key filter to punch up the color a bit. Lighting: Vivitar 285hv 1/4 Gelled CTO camera left above sbuject diffused through shoot through umbrella. 580EXII 1/128 camera right aming at background. Tungsten WB. Reflector (aluminum foil :P) camera right aiming at numbers on the car.

If you wish to extend the life and beauty of your car’s paint you will need to polish it. A well-done polishing will completely revitalize the car’s exterior finish make it look brand new.

This action will remove contaminants that are bonded firmly to your car’s paint and also the subsurface defects.

Even if is possible to try to do this by hand the best results and in far less time are ensured by electric polishers.

The important steps in polishing your car

If you intend to polish your car you will have to do it in three important steps: preparing the car, polishing, protecting the paint.

MG Icon Concept Car

  1. Preparing the car

The first step you must do is to prepare the car for polishing by finding a proper place and park it avoiding the direct sunlight to prevent soap spots.

You should rinse thoroughly the car with water to remove any dirt, dust particles and make sure the rims and wheels are also well cleaned.

You should use automotive soap or car shampoo to wash the car well using a sponge and a high-pressure hose.

Washing the car and removing any traces and debris is so important because it will prevent the left contaminants from creating scratches and swirls while polishing.

When you are preparing to polish your car is important to choose the appropriate compound and polishing pads.

For vehicles that have a dark color, you can use more soft pads ad compounds because these are more predisposed and sensible to swirls and scratches.

The lighter colors are not as sensible and so you can use more aggressive pads and polishing compounds on them.

You can choose for your safety to buy special kits for polishing that will have all the appropriate pads and compounds in color codes.

  1. Polishing the car

You must dampen the pad well first before applying the polishing compound on it, this way you will prevent the pad from burning the clear coat.

You must read well the instructions of the compound used for polishing to know exactly how to use it.

Some compounds might need to be applied following some specific steps and also it is important to not use large amounts of compounds and to wash the pads when is necessary.

After you apply the compound you must maintain steady pressure on the polisher and apply a forth and back movement to spread all the compound evenly on the surface of the paint.

You will need to control the polishing wheel well and maintain a constant pressure to avoid damaging the surface of the paint by applying to much force and burning it with the edges of the pad.

You will work in an area and use the back and forth motion until that surface becomes visible and has a bright finish.

And working slowly on the whole body of the car until the car is all shiny and brilliant.

It is important to not continue to polish after you see the shiny gloss because you will dull the finish of the paint.

  1. Protecting the paint

After polishing the car and obtaining that nice finish you must protect the clear coat applying a protective coat.

But before you apply the protecting wax coat you must rinse and wash well the car to remove any remained traces of polishing compound.

After washing and thoroughly rinsing it you must wipe it well with a clean microfiber cloth and allow it to dry well.

Some types of wax are special and can be applied when the car is still wet but normal wax can be applied only on a complete dry paint. Apart from this, if you want to know more about Toyota air suspension, you can read various articles from Google.

When you apply the protective wax, you must be sure that the car is out from the direct sunlight.

You can apply the wax by hand or using the special pad with the polisher to give that perfect finish look.

Once the wax is buffed the paint will have a perfect and brilliant shiny finish that will make your car look brand new.

Having the right specialized products to use when you take care of your car can make the difference between a perfect professional look and a not so satisfying one.

If you want your car to look great and, at the same time, your work to be easier and more enjoyable is important to buy a car detailing kit.