To get the best shine for your car you need more than just a good car polish. In fact, plenty of people make mistakes which can ultimately damage the clear coat and paint. This may lead to scratches, marks and in the very worst case rubbing through the paintwork to the undercoat. So here are the 3 most common car polishing mistakes with tips on how to get it right.
Table of contents
Polishing a dirty car
It sounds like a no brainer but don’t try to polish a dirty car.
Use clean water and a scratch shield
If you try to polish your car paint without a deep clean you risk surface contaminants scratching your paint and clear coat. There’s a reason why professional use a scratch shield in their wash bucket. A scratch shield allows dirt and other abrasive surface contaminants to fall to the bottom of the bucket. The scratch shield keeps your cloth/sponge/noodle pad above the inserted shield so the cloth/sponge/noodle pad doesn’t become covered in these fine particles.
Dirty water
If the vehicle you are washing is particularly dirty you should refill your wash bucket regularly. This will help prevent fine particle build up in the water and help prevent transferring them onto your cleaning sponge or pad resulting in scratches.
Polishing a dirty car – if you polish without a deep clean you risk scratching the paint with contaminants
Polisshing hot paintwork or direct sun – polish needs to cure and haze natural;ly in its own time. Use in direct sun or on hot paint surface causes the polish to dry out prematurely and defats the purpose.
Not choosing the right polish for the condition of the paintwrk. If paint iss looking dull or ordinary it may need a cut before final polish. To cut we recommend Autosmarts Sophisticut. To apply sophisticut we recommend a apllicator pad in small circular sections. The preferred detailers method of application is with the -Autosmart DA900 Orbital buffing machine . If you have never used one before only apply a small amount of the cutting compound.