What is jeweling?

[TLai]

I'm new to the detailing scene and I'm trying to learn more about detailing maintenance. To my understanding, you're supposed to wax/seal your car every 3-6 months, and at this time you should probably clay and use a pre-wax cleaner prior to waxing. Do you also need to jewel? My very limited understanding of jeweling is that you're making your car shinier with a pure polish. Is jeweling a part of the normal detailing maintenance plan? Like would I "jewel" after using a pre-wax cleaner and before applying a wax/sealant?

Thanks!

[irvsmith]

More seasoned detailers please correct if I am incorrect but I believe jeweling is after polishing before applying your LSP. The order would be compounding, polishing, and then jeweling. I believe the purpose is to further reduce the fine scratches put in by polishing same as polishing reduces the scratches put in by compounding.

David

I'm new to the detailing scene and I'm trying to learn more about detailing maintenance. To my understanding, you're supposed to wax/seal your car every 3-6 months, and at this time you should probably clay and use a pre-wax cleaner prior to waxing. Do you also need to jewel? My very limited understanding of jeweling is that you're making your car shinier with a pure polish. Is jeweling a part of the normal detailing maintenance plan? Like would I "jewel" after using a pre-wax cleaner and before applying a wax/sealant?

Thanks!

[Paul A.]

Jewelling is a term used for the effort of extracting the best and finest shine possible from the vehicle's paint. With emphasis on the word "finest", it is performed with a super fine polish and a very fine, no cut pad on a machine.

I wouldn't say it isn't necessarily a part of regular detailing maintenance however certainly and most likely should be. It is typically done after a cut, buff and polish effort to make sure everything is perfect and then some. I would use a jewelling process in lieu of a "paint cleaner" process as jewelling is the final process of paint finessing and after that it is ready to lock it in with a wax/sealant/coating.

If you are going to rewax every 3-6 months and clay then i would most likely machine cut at least a little because i inevitably get some slight "scarring" from clay. Once the paint is just about there, i jewel that last 5% and lay down my LSP.

If on the other hand you're paint is near perfect anyway (extremely rare for a daily driver after 6 months), then a gentle clay for contaminants, a paint cleaner to insure everything is off the paint and your wax may be your routine maintenance.

Bottom line and what i am trying to say is...jewelling to get that last bit of super shine and gloss is done by machine and most likely after machining out some imperfections below the surface. I wouldn't say it is a routine maintenance thing for me but i do it about once a year. I will say it is a fine art and takes a certain feel and a great set of eyes to jewel well! That along with a product, pad and machine that work very well ON YOUR PAINT.

Finally, if you enjoy the process of using a paint cleaner just before you lay down your LSP, i would probably "jewell" then clean. As long as your cleaner is a chemical cleaner only and doesn't contain abrasives. Personally i would consider that step uneccessary though.

(edit - while i was typing David above provided a good description).

[ryandamartini]

As stated above, jeweling is where you add an additional step to paint correction. Wash, clay, compound, polish, jewel, seal.

It uses very find pads and in my experience is rarely warranted. It is a nice step to do on cars that have a bill that warrants it however rarely could I ever justify doing it on the average correction job.

After a full compound and polish if done correctly, the car looks great and is ready for sealant.

It looks nice and when budget justifies it, ok. Really though in my experience it is rarely done and if you did your job right, the extra time taken eats at your profit for quite honestly a result that will diminish on a daily driver.

[FUNX650]

It's a buzz-word for another (the finale)
paint polishing-step.

A substitute word for what I also call:
burnish, refine, furbish, etc., if you will.


Bob

[trekkeruss]

It's a buzz-word

[Paul A.]

I would agree that i rarely do it on customer cars...they are (most times) not paying for it and, yes, my final polish is very close to it anyway.

However, i DO do it on my car and from the tone of the OP i gathered he was inquiring for personal use and knowledge. Buzz word or not, there are some of us who have refined that one last step, if needed, warranted or desired. And, again, buzz word or not...it's a good descriptor.

[TLai]

Thanks for the response guys! My most successful post yet!

Yes I was mainly asking for my own personal use, but it's good to know how technique differs between people who do this for fun and for money.

So I've gathered that you CAN do this if you want for maintenance between large detailing sessions, but it's not super necessary. So I'm thinking that for maintenance sessions I'll clay (if needed) and then check for surface defects and either lightly polish with Meguiar's UP for correction or use a non abrasive paint cleaner (maybe dodo juice?) if correction isn't needed. Then just for funsies I can follow up either of those steps with some sort of finishing polish. I think I have some Meguiar's Deep Crystal Polish that might work well.

Thanks again!

[Paul A.]

If what i just read online is still correct, the Meg's Deep Crystal polish is a chemical cleaner with no abrasives. While you can certainly try that and see if it improves the clarity and shine, i need a super fine DAT abrasive to do my jewelling. I love working Menzerna SF 4500 with a black or red pad on my rotary and vary my speeds quite a bit. At times i'll do a test spot after a 1 or 2 step correction and don't see any perceptible difference. Good...i stop there and don't bother doing the rest of the vehicle.

Again, do a test spot and see what you get. If you can't see any improvement, save your time, lay down your LSP and go driving to show it off!

[Paul A.]

And consistent with it's use here before, the mere word "jewel" is bound to get some action 'round here!