How many times can you polish a car in it's lifetime?

Hi Mike,

I have a new black Toyota 4Runner 2015, and I bought all the latest products from AG. Pinnacle Diamond Sealant, Souveran Paste Wax are my core protectants.

I also bought your recommended Meguiars Thin Pads for my Porter Cable 7424 XP for when I need to correct the paint. I notice the Toyota has VERY soft paint and even in my meticulous care, I am seeing swirling (light).

I gave background in case you have any advice :)

How many times can I polish the car to remove swirls in it's life before the clear coat is gone?

Thank you! You have an amazing store and support team at AG.

I'd use an AIO/glaze type of product with a light polishing pad. It will be very friendly to your finish compared to doing the whole re-correction route. It will clean up the light cobwebbing and produce excellent gloss without compromising much paint film build. This procedure could easily be done several dozen times without any hesitation.

:welcome: ...to AGO!
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There are, IMO, a few things to first think about:

•The "polishing history" of the vehicle's paint:
-Your vehicle is new...all of its paint system's components should be intact...unless there was some type of a repair done to it at the assembly plant/port-of-call/Dealership
-Used vehicles' paint history is often an unknown variable

•A paint thickness gauge (PTG/EPTG):
-Perform and record initial paint thickness readings:
(These readings will include all of the various film-builds from the substrate to the top of the last one applied---depending on if it's a ClearCoat/SS paint system)

•If we stay within the parameters of a BC/CC paint-system:
-The paint engineers recommend that only 0.3-0.5 mils of the CC should be removed over the expected life cycle of the vehicle/vehicle's paint system.
-Note:
Removing more, they say, will run the risk of weakening the CC...with premature failure of the BC/CC paint system being the consequence.


•Documenting more EPTG readings after each step of using:
"The Least Aggressive First", coupled with "The Test Spot" processes <<<(MP)...should give a rather true insight to the amount of paint that was removed to achieve the paint correction that satisfies you.


An example (for demonstration purposes only):
-The initial EPTG reading was 4.50 mils (114.30 microns)
-The EPTG reading is now......4.45 mils (113.03 microns)
0.05 mils (1.27 microns) of paint was removed.

Now...
If you were to use the exact same tools, products, pads, pressure, arm speed, etc. each and every time you "correct the paint" in the future (hopefully not, though) that will compute to:
0.3-0.5 mils divided by 0.05 mils = ~6-10 times.
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Bob

As usual, Bob hit on what i was thinking i.e. cutting/buffing/polishing history and a paint thickness gauge to gauge moving forward. The only known paint condition i have is my car because i bought it new. I know, barring any port of entry prep steps, i have been the only one correcting my paint.

Having said that and from learning a LOT from this forum, i have always approached my correction attempts using the least aggressive methods so as to level the defect. And that is for those defects that seem shallow and worth correcting. Using that same approach, i have abandoned any thought of going too deep and attempting to correct something that would remove too much clearcoat. That means i do have a few deeper RIDS that will remain until the car is sold but i know i should have enough clear to give back a shine. My car is a DD and i have learned to live with the occassional road "scar". They are inevitable so i reluctantly suck it up.

Mike P's demo of clearcoat thickness being about as thick as a post-it note is both indicative and scary to some. However using the LEAST aggressive method and working extremely hard to reduce the chance of scratches and swirls over the vehicle's life should preserve enough thickness to last the life of the vehicle.

Everyone in this business should have a paint thickness gauge. Having said that...i still do not! I am waiting to purchase a quality gauge and they are expensive. Once obtained i will be taking measurements both pre and post cutting, buffing and polishing. Employing the least aggressive methods should yield minimal variances while producing level and shiny paint. An accurate and calibrated gauge quantifies what you are doing.

The test spot should be an exercise in finding exactly what you need to level that shallow defect and no more. There are some who hit them hard with a compound and an aggressive pad because they are impatient to make them disappear. While that works, you run the risk of removing a bit too much clear for the next time. The entire concept of using the least aggressive method to remove the imperfection is the WHOLE CONCEPT OF NOT REMOVING TOO MUCH.

Being a rotary user i have had my burn throughs. Fortunately they were on my old car and i learned volumes from those 2 experiences.

I wrote a reminder on a post-it note and stuck it on my machine!!!

Thank you everyone! :)