Polishing Helps to Clean Paint

**FrankS** · 07-21-2017, 04:59 PM

Most of us know that polishing helps to clean your car's paint but here's an example.

The last time I polished my car was about 1.5 years ago, around February of 2016.

I use my car mainly for mobile details and it is kept outside 24/7 in sunny south FL. Here's my setup with the trailer.

I haven't washed my car every couple of weeks as I should since I'm usually detailing other cars and when I get some spare time I don't usually feel like washing mine. Maybe some can relate

.

Anyway, I recently had some spare time and decided to give my car a good wash and clay.

I noticed that it wasn't as white as it used to be even after washing and claying. It was time for another polish job.

I wish I would have taken some pictures of the roof being polished since you can see a dramatic difference in the area that was polished. The roof was the dirtiest as you could imagine. The white color was restored like new again.

I managed to take some pictures of the hood.

Tape line placed on the hood. The bottom part will be polished.

Tape removed. You may be able to see the difference. Hard to capture and the lighting wasn't ideal. The bottom part, below the line, was polished.

Here's another shot. The part below the lines was polished. The arrow is pointing to the tape line.

Moral of the Story

The hood was coated with CSL and topped with EXO in February of 2016. Since that time I've used other products on the hood such as sealants and waxes, mostly for testing purposes.

Since I didn't wash the car on a regular basis, the hood needed to be polished for some deep cleaning.

Therefore, I don't see the need to use a long lasting coating, such as 3 years and beyond, if the car is kept outside and will not be washed on a weekly or bi-weekly basis since it will need to polished in a year or two.

If the car is kept outside and will be washed weekly or bi-weekly then perhaps it will not need to be polished for a while and then I can see the benefit of a long lasting coating such as 3+ years but proper maintenance is the key.

**FUNX650** · 07-21-2017, 07:05 PM

Thanks for this narrative:
A perfect polishing-parable!

Bob

**wing commander** · 07-22-2017, 02:33 AM

Frank could you have achieved these results with Pinnacle Paintwork Cleansing Lotion will restore and preserve your car's original beauty. just as well? I used it after Mikes thread on road film cleaning and it worked very well without the need of the polisher.

**FrankS** · 07-22-2017, 03:15 AM

Originally Posted by wing commander

Frank could you have achieved these results with Pinnacle Paintwork Cleansing Lotion will restore and preserve your car's original beauty. just as well? I used it after Mikes thread on road film cleaning and it worked very well without the need of the polisher.

I have never used Pinnacle Paintwork Cleansing Lotion.

After reading the description, I suppose it would clean the paint but I noticed it doesn't have abrasives, not really meant to remove swirls and has some fillers.

I did notice some minor water spots and swirls in the paint and not sure the Cleansing Lotion would have removed them.

Also, I don't think the Cleansing Lotion would have removed the Crystal Serum Light coating and I wanted to start with a fresh base since I plan on using some different coatings.

Also, it's not a good idea to use fillers if planning to apply a coating.

**wing commander** · 07-22-2017, 10:19 PM

Frank thank you for the great explanation I overlooked the fact you were trying to remove your coating.

**Paul A.** · 07-23-2017, 08:00 AM

Good post, Frank. Thanks. BTW, what did you use as your polish?

**FrankS** · 07-23-2017, 08:23 AM

Originally Posted by Paul A.

Good post, Frank. Thanks. BTW, what did you use as your polish?

Thanks Paul!

I used Scholls S20 with a Flex 3401 and Orange LC Force Pads.

So far this combination is working out great.

I've only done the roof and hood so far. I'm doing a panel or two at a time as I get the time.

I've already re-coated the roof and hood with WG Uber since I had some extra laying around.

I'm thinking about using EXO for the sides since I have some extra also.

Mike Phillips · 07-23-2017, 12:40 PM

Just to chime in...

Franks observations mimic my observations and that is no matter what you put on your car's paint, if the car is a daily driver there is going to be a dirt stain buil-up. Doesn't matter if it's a 1 year Coating or a 10 year Coating if it's a daily driver the Coating will get stained.

Protection is probably still there under the dirt staining but the appearance quality is going to go down hill.

To me - the best option is to re-polish at least once a year and then re- coat.

**FrankS** · 07-23-2017, 01:10 PM

Thanks for chiming in Mike...well said.

**silverfox** · 07-23-2017, 06:22 PM

The fact that if you want the car looking showroom quality the multi year claims by coatings is irrelevant because the car should be polished at least once a year. I do mine spring and fall religiously and have gone away from coatings on my own car. I can get 6 months easy out of a good sealant and I can do so knowing I'm not wasting my time or money. My car looks better than the day I bought it and it's going on 8 years. I'm still blown away how much the car paint is improved after a polishing even when you think it doesn't need it. The key phrase being showroom quality. Most car owners don't care about showroom quality on a daily driver. I get it. Mine is a daily driver but I'm not compromising on that fact