It's HARD to polish silver...

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WRAPT C5Z06

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EDIT: After I've settled down, it's NOT pointless to polish any color. I'm just frustrated I'm having a tough time with silver. Darker colors are much easier. I think white is even easier to polish than silver. I guess it's the metallic in the light color that makes it so hard to see defects.

If the paint is in relatively good shape, clay it, and throw some wax on.

Hard as hell to see defects on silver which makes it hard to tell what you're accomplishing. Also, ya can't get it to pop much even after polishing, at least I cant. I find much more joy in polishing dark colors, or at least colors where you can see defects much more easily. JUST MY OPINION. :)
 
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Re: It's pointless to polish silver...

I'd say that depends on who you're talking to. You know those swirls are going to bug the hell out of some people, people like me. Just a quick note, here is a couple pictures of my parents' 2000 Honda Accord after a wash, clay, Meg's Cleaner Wax and NXT 2.0.

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Re: It's pointless to polish silver...

i tend to agree. dark colors and metallics pop but i have a silver e63 amg and have probably 5 coats of e zyme on it and it looks pretty damn good.
 
Re: It's pointless to polish silver...

polishing in general can amp up reflection and gloss even on lighter colors, so polish on !
 
Re: It's pointless to polish silver...

It's always best to seal/cover/protect the absolute best finish possible. I've never seen a finish (especially silver) that wouldn't benefit from polishing. Especially after claying.
 
Re: It's pointless to polish silver...

When there are swirls on a silver (or any light colored) car, it refracts the light the same way a black car would thus, degrading the reflectivity and overall appearance...
 
Re: It's pointless to polish silver...

I think the biggest issue I have with silver is I can't see the defects easily at all(they're there), which makes it tough to polish. The sun has to be in the exact right position, I have to look at the paint a certain angle. They'll show, but it's just a pain! Brinkmann shows defects on dark paints easily, but doesn't show anything on silver.
 
Re: It's pointless to polish silver...

Every color benefits from a proper polishing, like Dave said, silver really pops when polished correctly.
 
Re: It's pointless to polish silver...

That's a pretty harsh statement.Plenty detailers take the same pride as doing a silver car as much as a dark car.Sounds like to me your all ready to give up on certain color cars because they just don't pop.As Dave pointed out he never seen a silver car not benefit from polishing.It's great to ask alot of questions but not sure if you know there is a great search engine on AG maybe take a look at what some of the season detailers use on silver and go that route.I spent hours looking into paint corrrection on my vette before i gave up.:xyxthumbs:
 
Re: It's pointless to polish silver...

Harleyguy said:
Sounds like to me your all ready to give up on certain color cars because they just don't pop.
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It really has more to do with not being able to see the defects you're removing. It's almost like polishing blindly, that's what bugs me.
 
Re: It's pointless to polish silver...

Get some better lights ??
 
Re: It's pointless to polish silver...

fluorescent?
 
Re: It's pointless to polish silver...

07 z-oh-6 said:
Can u change the title of the thread to "very hard to polish silver" ?
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May just need to make a new thread i don't think that can be done or maybe you can have the thread closed
 
Re: It's pointless to polish silver...

Harleyguy said:
May just need to make a new thread i don't think that can be done or maybe you can have the thread closed
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After I've settled down, it's NOT pointless to polish any color. I'm just frustrated I'm having a tough time with silver. :( Darker colors are much easier. I think white is even easier to polish than silver. I guess it's that metallic in the silver that's covering up the defects.
 
Re: It's pointless to polish silver...

I feel that my titanium silver BMW always looks fine and boring during sunlight hours, no matter what--- it really doesn't "pop" until there is more dramatic lighting available. Dusk hours are great (with the red and oranges to add some warmth), or if you can get some partial shade on the car to cut down on the glare and allow the reflection from the paint to be more visible with the naked eye or a camera. I've seen other silvers that are nicer during daylight, as titanium silver is quite sterile and cold. Not all silvers are the same. I can spend all day on my car and it rarely looks better afterward in most natural lighting situations except as noted above. Not so with my parent's Porsche, which is a warmer silver with improvements in the finish easier to spot.

But from a paint correction perspective, polishing silver is certainly more difficult as defects are harder to see and that makes great lighting key. Florescents seem to work best for me.
 
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