How to Polish a Car
1 Answer
How to Polish a Car
Every car owner wants to have that showroom shine and finish on their car exterior. One option is to go to a professional car care service, where you have to pay big money to bring back that brand-new finish. Instead of spending a lot of money on a professional car wash job, you can polish your own car with some simple tools and easy steps.
Exterior Detailing 101
The process of cleaning your car thoroughly is called auto detailing. Exterior detailing should be done regularly for that showroom finish. There are three parts to an exterior detailing job:
Claying involves removing contaminants and dust specks on the surface of your car using auto detailing clay.
Waxing is an auto detailing task that puts a layer of protective wax on top of the newly cleaned and clayed vehicle.
Polishing is a maintenance task where you apply a thin layer of polish to give your car that spotless showroom shine.
Tools
To polish your car, you need the following tools and materials:
Car polish. Polish can be bought at any auto supply store. When buying car polish, avoid products with abrasive particles mixed in, unless you plan to perform a claying job soon.
Polishing cloths. An ordinary terry cloth towel made of pure cotton is an excellent polishing cloth, although you can buy polishing pads and buffing cloths from an car care store.
To make polishing your car easier, you can also buy a rotary power polishing tool, like the ones used by professional car care specialists. For regular polishing tasks (once a month), you can polish your car by hand instead of buying a power polisher.
Steps
Never polish your car under direct sunlight. It’s best to polish your car inside the garage, or park your car on a shaded driveway before polishing.
car polish
Give your car a good hosing, and get rid of as much of the dirt as you can with a high-pressure hose. Make sure that the pressure of the hose is not too strong, or else you may end up scratching the paint or clear coat.
Divide your car into small, manageable sections you can work with. The hood, for example, can be divided into four sections, a door may be divided into two sections, and work on one fender and rear panel at a time.
Read the instructions on the label carefully. Some polish brands may not work with pearl coat or flat-matte paint jobs. Some brands may also carry warnings to not apply the product on glass, rubber, or plastic surfaces.
Apply a small amount of polish on a terry cloth towel, as well as the section of the car that you’re working on.
Apply the polish with small, circular motions. You need to keep a keen eye on the surface of the car for any scratches or contaminants that may have baked into the clear coat.
Allow the polish to dry until you see a cloudy-looking haze, which will take around 10 to 15 minutes.
Wipe off the haze with a clean polishing cloth.
A shiny, gleaming exterior does not have to be difficult. With these steps, you can easily give your car that glossy finish that it had from the very day you bought it brand-new.
Every car owner wants to have that showroom shine and finish on their car exterior. One option is to go to a professional car care service, where you have to pay big money to bring back that brand-new finish. Instead of spending a lot of money on a professional car wash job, you can polish your own car with some simple tools and easy steps.
Exterior Detailing 101
The process of cleaning your car thoroughly is called auto detailing. Exterior detailing should be done regularly for that showroom finish. There are three parts to an exterior detailing job:
Claying involves removing contaminants and dust specks on the surface of your car using auto detailing clay.
Waxing is an auto detailing task that puts a layer of protective wax on top of the newly cleaned and clayed vehicle.
Polishing is a maintenance task where you apply a thin layer of polish to give your car that spotless showroom shine.
Tools
To polish your car, you need the following tools and materials:
Car polish. Polish can be bought at any auto supply store. When buying car polish, avoid products with abrasive particles mixed in, unless you plan to perform a claying job soon.
Polishing cloths. An ordinary terry cloth towel made of pure cotton is an excellent polishing cloth, although you can buy polishing pads and buffing cloths from an car care store.
To make polishing your car easier, you can also buy a rotary power polishing tool, like the ones used by professional car care specialists. For regular polishing tasks (once a month), you can polish your car by hand instead of buying a power polisher.
Steps
Never polish your car under direct sunlight. It’s best to polish your car inside the garage, or park your car on a shaded driveway before polishing.
car polish
Give your car a good hosing, and get rid of as much of the dirt as you can with a high-pressure hose. Make sure that the pressure of the hose is not too strong, or else you may end up scratching the paint or clear coat.
Divide your car into small, manageable sections you can work with. The hood, for example, can be divided into four sections, a door may be divided into two sections, and work on one fender and rear panel at a time.
Read the instructions on the label carefully. Some polish brands may not work with pearl coat or flat-matte paint jobs. Some brands may also carry warnings to not apply the product on glass, rubber, or plastic surfaces.
Apply a small amount of polish on a terry cloth towel, as well as the section of the car that you’re working on.
Apply the polish with small, circular motions. You need to keep a keen eye on the surface of the car for any scratches or contaminants that may have baked into the clear coat.
Allow the polish to dry until you see a cloudy-looking haze, which will take around 10 to 15 minutes.
Wipe off the haze with a clean polishing cloth.
A shiny, gleaming exterior does not have to be difficult. With these steps, you can easily give your car that glossy finish that it had from the very day you bought it brand-new.