| Rules for Protecting Your Car |
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RULE 1: Do less damage than the damage that already exists.
My experience shows me that 95% of all paint issues can be resolved with a very fine polish, the right tools and the right technique. So, why is it that so many people are willing to reach for a harsh compound as the first step... when it should be the last resort? RULE 2: Don't remove clearcoat you may need some day!
We all talk about gloss, depth and clarity, but are you stopping to think about what you might be doing to each of these final finish characteristics each time you take an abrasive polish to your paint? You might be seeing more gloss, but it's coming at the expense of depth and maybe even paint finish clarity. Most professional polishes are designed to be used with a rotary buffer, by an experienced technician. When you use these polishes by hand or dual-action (DA) polisher, you put scratches in your paint finish that will not come out by using the next polish up in the line. RULE 3: Know for a fact what tasks the products you're using were designed to perform.
Are you using a polish designed to be used on an automotive assembly line by a technician with a 4-inch spot pad on a pneumatic polisher to remove 2400 grit sanding marks? If so, what are the equivalent pad specs, rotation speed and polish time to remove your 5000 grit equivalent swirl marks? Are you using a refinisher?s panel blending compound originally designed to cut and blend fresh paint using a wool pad as a general purpose cutting compound? If so, can your foam cutting pad effectively generate enough heat on your DA to break down the abrasives to prevent paint scouring? The fact is, very few abrasive polish systems were designed from the ground up to be a DA polishing system. Very few others have bothered to correctly match "general purpose" polishes with polishing pads and proper instructions to create a system. PAINT CARE WITHOUT ABRASIVES
Most new car finishes can be properly maintained without using abrasive (corrective) polishes. Doing so requires smart paint care, including regular washing and waxing, use of proper wash and wax tools (wash mitts, applicators, towels, etc.) and cautious parking. Finish damage avoidance is the best way to maintain a perfect finish. Nothing will swirl a paint finish faster than a bad wash mitt or drying towels. If you park away from soccer moms and shopping carts, and wash your car using proper tools, you can keep the finish free of light surface damage for a long time. When your paint does get marred, the problem can be locally treated by hand or with a spot pad with a corrective polish. offer the following advice for proper long-term paint finish on new and like-new cars:
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