and after reading the advice on the topic of hand polishing project is on hold for now.
In the last few weeks I've replied to a lot of threads on the topic of working by hand...
I share with the person how to actually work by hand and then highly recommend getting a DA Polisher.
I can't think of an easy way to locate all these recent threads which is a shame because they include a lot of information.
The short story is this....
Modern clearcoat paints are hard, at least harder than traditional single stage paints that came on cars since the time of the Ford Model T to the 1980's when the industry switched over to the basecoat/clearcoat paint systems. (I cover this in my how-to book).
Clearcoats are scratch-sensitive. This means they scratch easily. Because they are hard, it's hard or difficult to remove scratches by hand or machine but a lot harder and a lot more time consuming when working by hand.
I taught all the Saturday classes at Meguiar's from 2002 to 2009 and I started each class showing people how to work by hand and followed this by showing them how to work using the Meguiar's G110v2 Dual Action Polisher. The BEST sales tool for the polisher was all the people in the class watching me work by hand.
Removing swirls and scratches out of any automotive paint system means removing some paint. What you're doing is abrading the surface to level the upper most surface with the lowest depths of the defects you're trying to remove.
Here's what's involved when trying to work by hand...
1. A compound that's clearcoat safe. Meguiar's Ultimate Compound and Wolfgang Uber Compound both fit this description. This is IMPORTANT because the goal is to remove scratches without leaving new scratches and MOST compounds cannot do this when used by HAND.
2. You need to press hard, move your hand fast and ONLY work a small section at at time, we're talking a section about 12" square MAX.
3. Most people don't have the physically strength to move their hand fast, press down firm while they are moving their hand fast to effectively rub out an entire hood let alone an entire car.
4. Most people don't have the skill to work by hand and in most case will put more scratches into the paint "trying" than remove. Here's the deal about this... with the simple, entry level dual action polisher like the Porter Cable, Griot's and Meguiar's units... it doesn't require much skill. Basically stand next to the car, turn the polisher on and move it back and forth in a crosshatch pattern. No sweating and trying to move a 4-5 hand applicator back and forth at light speed for a small section of paint.
It's nostalgic to think about going out to your garage on a Saturday morning and detailing your car but when the reality sinks in most people become
very frustrated.
If they're lucky... they found this forum before going out to their garage on a Saturday morning.... (like you)
Now if a person just wants to apply a paint cleaner to remove road film and previously applied waxes before applying a coat of wax, then this is pretty simple but this is NOT remove swirls and scratches, it's just cleaning the paint surface so the new coat of wax can better stick to the paint.
I wrote this article a few years ago because this topic comes up so often, click the link and look at the pictures of the,
- Young boy
- Young lady
- Seasoned gentleman
It really is pretty easy... in fact if you were to read enough posts to this forum you will find many re-occurring themes, here's a couple,
"I should have done this years ago"
Meaning they should have moved up from hand polishing to machine polishing YEARS ago once they found out how easy it is, how much faster it is and what great results they are able to produce.
"After I detailed my car, now I have people asking me to detail their cars"
The point of this comment is what the person means is after they buy the polisher, pads and products, take their swirled-out mess and make it look better than new, now everyone in their circle of friendship notices their car and offers to PAY them to detail their car.
People end up starting weekend detailing business without even trying. Not everyone wants this but a lot of people do end up detailing cars for a few extra bucks and get their investment back.
Here's the article, click the link, read the text and look at the pictures....
It's not that hard...
And notice the cars they are LEARNING on....
