Can you compound or polish too much?

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cstegs

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Ok, I've gone completely crazy. I've gone from going through car washes and applying turtle wax to buying a pc7424, only washing by two buckets, and applying premium waxes.

I've never used a da before, but I really really enjoy detailing my own cars. So much that I'll wax a vehicle every 3-4 weeks, and clean the interior every week.

So with my new purchase of a da I plan on using either p21s shine enhancer or Meg's ultimate polish. Do I need to train myself to only use these like twice a year? It could I use them every month?

Also what about Meg's ultimate compound? Use that only like once a year?
 
You can literally polish the clear and paint right off your car. How aggressive you go will determine when that will happen. I dont see a need to polish ever week...try to keep the surface swirl free instead of continuing to polish out what you did to it. KWIM?
 
I don't see a need to compound a car more than once maybe twice if the dealer gets to it. But for most daily drivers that are taken care of appropriately and realistically a light polish every 12-18 months is all that's needed.

I caveat this with a daily driver that's washed every couple of weeks and goes through what an average car will see on the highways. I just polished our Jetta for the first time and it hadn't been compounded or polished since when we got it in August of 13. All I had to use was CarPro Reflect on it.
 
dcjredline said:
You can literally polish the clear and paint right off your car. How aggressive you go will determine when that will happen. I dont see a need to polish ever week...try to keep the surface swirl free instead of continuing to polish out what you did to it. KWIM?
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Simple and to the point^^
 
You seem to enjoy the process, like most of us on the forum. Just stay with wax and enjoy the time with your car. If you are worried about protection use PBL coating and then wax to your hearts content and have the best of both worlds.
 
You could also apply a glaze of you desire. Something like Megs Deep Crystal Polish. It doesn't contain the abrasives that Ultimate Polish does, it's just a gloss enhancing lotion. If used in conjunction with Meguiar's sealants and waxes, you should be in good shape.

If you choose to apply by machine use a pad with little to no mechanical action, like the blue Lake Country flat, or ccs pad.
 
IMO: No...
Not as long as you don't remove more than 25 percent
(~7-12μ) of the top-coat film-layer...
during the vehicles' paint-system's expected life-cycle.


Bob
 
FUNX650 said:
IMO: No...
Not as long as you don't remove more than 25 percent
(~7-12μ) of the top-coat film-layer...
during the vehicles' paint-system's expected life-cycle.


Bob
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:iagree:I polished 3 X's a year for 10 years and paint is still good.
 
Make sure you clay, too...

There is a huge difference (magnitude) between each level of paint correction... Each jump in aggressiveness is not linear or twice as aggressive, it is exponentially more aggressive and removes a LOT more paint.

In order of aggressiveness least to most:
1. Washing, and Waxing (Least)
2. Claying (removes some paint while sheering off contaminants)
3. Finish Polishing/Jewling/Cleaner Wax (now you are removing some paint to increase shine - not enough to take-out "level" swirls)
4. Polishing (takes considerable paint... if it didn't, it would not level the rest of the paint with the deeper valleys of swirls)
5. Compounding (Takes magnitudes more paint... may even use pads that somewhat mar/haze the finish a bit... Needed to fix RIDS, fine scratches, remove sanding marks etc.)
6. Color Sanding (i.e. Wet Sanding). Generally done with 5000 grit all the way up to 1000 grit. 5000 grit is not very harsh on the paint and will polish out easily with regular foam pads and a DA, where a much more coarse grit may require microfiber cutting pads, wool pads, rotary power tools, etc. to remove the sanding marks. It's no joke... if your compound says, "Takes out 1200 grit sanding marks" give yourself some wiggle-room because it may matter the type of paint, pad, rotary vs. DA, etc...

The 3000 and 5000 grit stuff are fairly safe in my opinion with extreme care to cautiously take only what you need to... 2000 can be used with factory paints according to most experts, but anything more coarse and I would NOT personally do it... Too risky, IMO without extensive training and a paint guage... both of which I do not have. All that said, it is completely true that some pros use 1,000 and even 800 grit papers, but they have years of experience and probably have connections with a body shop paint booth for those bad days they bust through the clear...
 
I would say you can certainly compound too much but wouldn't think a light polish or paint cleaner removes enough over the life of a vehicle to compromise the paint. The tried and true concept of using the least aggressive method to level the paint will insure you don't remove more than is necessary. The trick is to keep the imperfections (scratches, swirls etc.) to a minimum.

I also agree with the point of refining your techniques for washing and drying so as to not marr the paint to need cutting and leveling too often. I own a black car and have drastically reduced my self induced marring significantly because of this place over the years. I cut, buff and polish about once a year after i have gradually accumulated enough to want to remove. However, i wash and dry once a week...every single week.
 
I guess it's that I feel I will love getting out there and firing up the da so much that I fear after a solid spring detail I'll be completely bored just washing the car?

You guys that don't do this as your profession, don't you feel the same way?
 
I enjoy the heck out of washing, drying and caressing my paint with a good quick detailer product. I will admit to breaking out my machine to add maybe one more layer of LSP about once a month or maybe 6 weeks time. I just have to!
 
cstegs said:
I guess it's that I feel I will love getting out there and firing up the da so much that I fear after a solid spring detail I'll be completely bored just washing the car?

You guys that don't do this as your profession, don't you feel the same way?
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That's easy. Go buy a few huge cookie sheets, and get them painted black.

You can get an old card table, install brackets, and have all sorts of fun sanding and polishing the sheets.

I practiced all winter on an old car door. The clear is almost completely worn off!

I don't do this for a living, but it's keeping a roof over my head till the drum lessons pick up!
 
Ok, another question then. I see from autopias polish abrasiveness chart that s100 shine enhancer is a 1. Basically no abrasion. Should I apply that with a white lcc pad or a black? Basically I want to use a machine as much as possible to get my money's worth!! Lol
 
cstegs said:
Ok, another question then. I see from autopias polish abrasiveness chart that s100 shine enhancer is a 1. Basically no abrasion. Should I apply that with a white lcc pad or a black? Basically I want to use a machine as much as possible to get my money's worth!! Lol
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Something that cuts with a one (1) has virtually no cut at all. It is surely some form of jewling polish or similar as far as I know.

I would try it with a black pad and if that doesn't have enough cut step it up to the white one. Dont' know what you are trying to accomplish though.
 
Compounds remove on average 10 microns of clear coat. You would have to use a paint thickness gauge to know the exact thickness of your paint but on modern cars, you can expect about 100-150 microns of paint on the average car. About half of that is clearcoat. So as you can see, compounding repeatedly is a very bad idea.

What you want to do is this: Compound once to get the finish perfect. Polish the paint to restore gloss. Then make sure you always have an active defensive layer on the paint (wax, seallant, coating).

Typically you will need to polish once a year if you live in a place where you get snow in winter.

Polishing the car only remove about 2 microns, so that is not an issue.
 
Hone your washing and drying skills, and your concern is eliminated not to mention needless spending and time wasted.
 
silverfox said:
Hone your washing and drying skills, and your concern is eliminated not to mention needless spending and time wasted.
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I agree, this is the key to keeping the paint looking good. Washing & drying a car carefully is much more difficult than people think. Especially if you have dark colored paint.
 
cstegs said:
Ok, another question then. I see from autopias polish abrasiveness chart that s100 shine enhancer is a 1. Basically no abrasion. Should I apply that with a white lcc pad or a black? Basically I want to use a machine as much as possible to get my money's worth!! Lol
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The white pad is probably too powerful for that application. The blue, or red works great for what you're looking to do.
 
cstegs said:
I guess it's that I feel I will love getting out there and firing up the da so much that I fear after a solid spring detail I'll be completely bored just washing the car?

You guys that don't do this as your profession, don't you feel the same way?
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I very rarely am able to just simply wash my car. There is always something else I do, and it generally never involves my DA. Whether its in the interior, or exterior, or trim, wheels, getting away with a simple car wash happens seldom. There are times when I start out with the goal of just a simple car wash, and 2 hours later I have done that and other things.
 
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