Hand Polishing is a great option if you dont have the experience using a machine polisher and would rather do it yourself rather then having a professional car detailer do it for you, hand polishing will only remove very minor scratches / scuffs but will give you outstanding results when using the right products and leave your paint work with a deep mirror finish if the paint work is in reasonable condition to start with, however it is no comparison to what can be achieved with machine polishing by a professional car detailer.

Many people are still using terry towling or rags when polishing their car, this is not the best way to polish your paint work as it will do more damage then good when you look at it in the sun, terry towling and rags are too course and will damage the paint work by inducing swirl marks. The best method is working the polish with a foam applicator pad and remembering a little polish goes a long way, once you have worked the polish in you can remove the residue with a soft microfibre towel which is a lot softer then terry toweling. Do not buff the polish in after it has dried as this will cause damage to the paint work, simply wipe it off with a soft microfibre towel.

We recommend that you try to work in all directions when polishing with the foam hand applicator, this will help to ensure that the edges of the defects are rounded off evenly, always make sure you work the polish in so it breaks down the abrasives, not working the polish in and breaking down the abrasives will leave marring when wiping the polish off, remember when hand polishing to only use a very fine polish as using abrasive polishes by hand will cause more damage.

Remember a polish has no protective properties and is purely for removing defects and cleaning the paint work, so be sure to apply a wax or paint sealant after polishing your car to protect the paint work from damaging enviromental elements and to lock in that deep mirror finish shine. You may even want to consider using an All in One Polish / Wax product that will polish and seal the paint work in one application.

A Stage 2 Paint Correction was performed on this car over a total of 6 hours, an hour and a half was spent clay barring the car for overspray removal, clay bars are like play dough and are rubbed over the surface with a lubricant, clay barring removes any contamination embedded on the paint work to give it a smooth as glass feel before polishing the paint work.

After the clay barring was complete around 4.5hrs was spent machine polishing the paint work, this involves using a premium cutting polish and polishing pad to remove the heavier swirl marks and scratches, once the heavier swirls and scratches are removed a finer polish and finishing pad are used to restore a deep gloss to the paint work, the end result leaves the paint work looking flawless.

This is because your car is painted with a single stage paint, which means it has no clear cloat to protect the actual colour coat like modern paint finishes. As a result the colour fades quickly and becomes oxidized. Fortunately this can be fixed by a professional car detailer, our Paint Correction packages will remove the oxidization on the paint and restore it to the deep gloss showroom shine it once had.

It is recommended that atleast a Stage 2 Paint Correction is performed for faded paintwork, this 2 stage process will remove the oxidized (dead paint) with a combination of different polishes which will restore it to a high gloss showroom shine, once we have restored the paint work it is then sealed with a paint sealant. It is very important to keep your paint work waxed or sealed with a paint sealant to ensure the paint work is protected from the enviromental elements to stop it from oxidizing again.

This Stage 2 Paint Correction was performed at a total of 7 hours work. Machine Polishing to remove any imperfections in the paint work is a lengthy process and produces far better results then a quick cut n polish performed by most car detailers or car wash café’s, a proper Machine Polish is not something that can be done within an hour or two, this process involves Clay Barring the paint work to remove any contaminants then a Two Stage Machine Polish to remove any imperfections in the paint work and bring it back to a flawless high gloss finish, the end result is simply amazing.

A Stage 2 Paint Correction (Machine Polish) was done to bring the gloss and colour back, a service like this on a vehicle in this condition can be expected to take up to 6-8 hours using different polishing pads and polishes to restore the dull paintwork back to a high gloss finish without leaving buffer trails like inexperienced car detailers.

Most detailers and car wash cafe’s can do a Machine Cut n Polish usually within an hour, however most of these detailers leave the paint looking much worse then it did before they started, leaving whats called Holograms or Buffer Trails from using a Pad or Polish that is too agressive and spining the machine to fast, which results in burning the paint work and leaving a hologram effect, this can be rectified with a finer polish & pad combo however most operators will skip this step as they cannot see the holograms unless the vehicle is in direct sunlight however the car may look great with a deep reflection in the shade.

How is the Paint Corrected?

The paint is machine polished with a combination of compounds, polishes and buffing pads. Using the correct products and technique is critical in achieving perfect results. Not all paint works are the same, there are many paint variations that car manufactures use which can make it challanging to select the right combination polish & pad as some finishes may be hard or soft or pose other problems like sticky-ness, repaired panels can also change things as it is most likely a different brand paint used and applied differently to the factory finish.

How much paint is there to correct?
Most factory paint finishes have anywhere from 80-200 microns of paint thickness. Lets say your car has 140 microns, the interesting part is 1000 microns equals 1mm so the overall thickness of your paintwork is most likely around 0.14mm. 140 microns is the overall thickness including the undercoat, colour coat and clear coat. As you can only polish the clear coat this leaves us with around 0.04mm of clear coat to polish, this is why there is no room for error when machine polishing. Alot of detailers and car wash cafe’s will start hacking into your paint with the incorrect polish & pad and do more damage to your paint work then there was to start with. This is why you should expect to pay good money for quality workmanship.

Before & After:

 

 

]]> http://www.superiorshine.com.au/blog/paint-correction/feed/ 0