Any downside to polishing the entire car with a light polishing pad, then go more aggressive if needed?

[opie]

I'm just starting out and want to learn good technique, any downside (other than taking more time) to polishing the entire car with a light polishing pad, then go more aggressive if needed? Along those lines, is it okay to spot treat any bad areas or is it always best practice to redo an entire panel?

No real harm done to paint. Just your time being used.

I do agree with doing your test spot b4 going hog wild. It will help you to build good habbits. One day you will be able to look at the paint and know what combo you need to start with. It just comes with machine time.

Spot treating random deeper scratches and such is a normal method.

If you have not yet done so...i suggest reading and watching the plethora of mike phillips how articles and videos on paint correction and such.

It helped me a lot when i first started. It gave me a base line of proper techiniques(when to prime pad, spreading abrasives out, picking up a bead, arm speed, watching for pad stall if using a free spinning da machine, etc) to start out with and to build/learn off of. Its way better than going in all willy nilly.

I do believe its best to spend the time behind the machine wisely,not only just learning the fundamentals, but also being effective at removing defects to the best of your abilities while learning and building skills nessesary to become better at correcting paint.

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[Desertnate]

Agree on the test spots to save time. Some times you might have to do multiples to figure out the combination that works best. When you hit a troubled spot, step up the aggressiveness for just that area and then move on.

The only danger in going back and dong the whole vehicle more aggressively is if you go too aggressive the second time, you might get hazing which will require you to go back over it AGAIN to get the paint clear and glossy again.

My advice: If you go over the entire car with a light polish, just stop there and leave it. Like someone mentioned earlier, it will look better, even if marring is still there. Use the work as a learning experience and then adjust your approach the next time. You'll get it all "dialed in" after each job and it will look progressively better each time you do the work. It's a journey.

[glen e]

I agree With Nate, are you going to do it Just because you want to do it , or does it look like the car really needs it?

I use the wife test, before I do something I ask my wife if the car still looks good, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve stopped doing something because I realized it was just my Detailing addiction.

I us Meguires, 205 and a medium/soft pad on my car about once a year, Whether it needs it or not. All my cars are brand new so none need any major work. But I find that the light polish once a year eliminates minor abrasions that occur during the year by somebody brushing up against the car with a coat, or people, dragging stuff across the tailgate, it’s more of a “deep clean“, it just adds a bit of clarity so then I don’t have to be meticulous all year long and baby the finish. Some would use clay to do this operation, I hate clay, I’d rather polish.

[dlc95]

You can even get a polish like 3D ONE or similar. It cand give a basic polish, but still stay wet and effective if you needed to stay on a defect a little longer to further reduce it.

I do this a lot at work where we just need a basic polish on a vehicle, but then encounter something a little deeper. I'm usually using a orange or blue Lake Country HDO CCS when on these projects.

My co worker will use his 3" polisher to spot correct the heavier defects, then finish with the lighter polish he was going to use for the rest of the panel.

Not a bad idea though. Completely reasonable.

[Prange]

No downside, just time used.