Car polishing is an essential part of auto body polishing services and the best investment in a car that promises to pay off in full when it is later sold. The main condition for this is the observance of technology during polishing and avoiding mistakes that may be made by the masters.
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What mistakes beginners and experienced polishers make
Incorrectly polished car may cause serious additional expenses up to complete body repainting. To upgrade the paintwork and get the expected benefit from the work done, it is important not to make the typical polisher’s mistakes:
- And the very first mistake is a dirty body. The car may look clean, but small particles of dirt not only will not give the desired result, but will cause scratches and scuffs. Before polishing, it is important to thoroughly foam wash the car, even if it appears clean.
- The second mistake is made by craftsmen who do not analyze the condition of the car body with a thickness gauge. If you have had an unfortunate experience with an inexperienced polisher in the past, there is a high risk to wipe the lacquer down to the primer, which can be prevented if you notice in time and mark the borders of a body with too thin a layer of lacquer.
Not covering all the weak spots of the car body with scotch tape – you will make the third sad mistake, which may lead to additional expenses in the form of replacing handles, fins, chrome trim elements, rubber seals and so on. All these elements must be reliably protected before the car touches the body, otherwise one awkward movement and you are ready for unplanned expenses. And yes – do not spare the tape.
- The process of polishing itself also has a lot of examples of mistakes of masters, among which the most popular is the use of a negligible or excessively large amount of paste. In both cases, there is a high risk of burning the paintwork, in addition, the lack of an optimal amount of solution will not allow you to control the polishing process, as a result of which the surface can be polished unevenly.
- Using water during polishing is normal, but only a few drops are enough for a good result, so that the polishing wheel is slightly wet, but not wet. It is not advisable to pour liters of water on the bodywork – this way the paste will lose its effective concentration, and the effect of polishing will be comparable to item #4.
- The speed of rotation of the machine is the most important parameter, which should not be neglected in any case. It may seem that the higher the speed, the faster the work will be done, but this is almost always not the case. Usually the paste manufacturers themselves indicate the recommended wheel speed that is safe when using their products. Speeds may vary for different products, be sure to read the specifications before polishing.
- Polishing metal body parts on par with plastic ones is a mistake that can cost the craftsman a lot of money. You know that metal has a much higher heat emission than plastic, and if you use the same paste, the same machine mode and the same pressure setting in both cases, the result can be burning of the plastic, which almost always means replacing the part with a new one. Always use a more gentle polishing mode for plastic body parts.
Unfortunately, masters’ mistakes do not end there, so here are some general recommendations for quality car body polishing so the client, and you yourself, will be satisfied with your work.
Recommendations for quality polishing
Technically, body polishing is not a difficult process, but it has a few nuances, neglecting which can seriously damage your reputation as a master.
Pay special attention to the ribs of both metal and plastic elements of the body. They are the easiest to burn to the ground, so you should be very careful when polishing in these places. On plastic, it is advisable not to polish the ribbed protrusions with a machine at all, but replace the treatment of the difficult place with a manual polish.
To make the work as a whole look great, it is important to divide it into sections. For example, at a time perform one plane of the door, part of the roof, a fender, or the hood.
Such a conditional division psychologically will allow you not to chase the result and perform qualitatively section by section, gradually bringing your work to perfection. And to miss important points, such as a thin layer of varnish in the bottom corner of the door, will be easier if you work in sections, rather than the entire body.
Don’t forget to thoroughly clean the polishing wheel and change the paste after polishing each section. If this is not done, the quality of polishing will deteriorate with each transition to a new section of work.
Many customers ask for chrome letters to be removed so they can polish the body of the car there as well. It seems like it should look better and prettier if you do the lettering removal, but it’s not.
Firstly, it is almost impossible to fix the letters back the way they were originally placed, and it will almost always look ugly and even ridiculous.
Secondly, there are most often no scratches and scuffs between the letters, so it is enough to do a thorough washing and blowing between the letters, and the result will be much better than with the removal of the letters.
If you decide to polish your car yourself, do it in an enclosed room, having previously made a wet cleaning in it. Unless, of course, you want to redo the work in another, more professional place or repaint the car at all. Naturally, nobody will polish the car in the middle of the street in a professional detaling center, but it’s not uncommon among garage mechanics.