Maintain Your Car's Shine With a Car Polish
The current array of items that claim to be the best car polish products available is bewildering, to say the least. It's a fact of life today that marketing hype often promotes unrealistic expectations in a product. There was a time when the choice between the best car polish products was just a handful, and it was easy and cheap to experiment on what product best suited your budget and efforts. Now, there are several types of car waxes, dressings for rubber, cleaning agents for wheels, clays, rubbing compounds and polishes. Even specific brushes and cloths to use on particular areas of the car.
When a car is painted, either at the factory or a specialist body shop, there will always be imperfections, however minute, after the application of the paint and clearcoat. Note that the standard automotive painting process has three main layers, these being the primer, the paint and then the clear coat. Painting processes and equipment take great pains to ensure that dust and other contaminants don't get on the surface of the surface being painted, as these will be the imperfections that will show up later.
A vehicle that is regularly used will encounter a lot of elements that will mar its exterior finish, such as acid rain, road tar, stones, bird droppings, temperature extremes, etc. This is where the various aftermarket paint care products come in. Over time, a thin film caused by contamination and oxidation will envelop a car that sees regular use. Scratches will also begin to show. It is the hard edges in a scratch that reflect the most light, which show the scratches.
Detailers use a clay bar after a wash to remove the hazy film before using a car polish to remove or lessen the imperfections in the paint. The best car polish products can round off the edges of scratches to reduce their reflective qualities, thus greatly improving the look of the car. A car's painted surface should not suffer any ill effects with polishing, as you will need to remove 50% of the clear coat before you start damaging the paint's finish. There are many types of car polish in the market. The basic rule of thumb is that you should use the least abrasive polish to remove the scratches or swirls that you see on your vehicle's painted surface. To make sure, start on a small, unobtrusive test area first to see if the polish is working. After the polishing process, use a good wax or paint sealant to help protect the paint.
Remember that the best car polish products will not compensate for poor technique. You should read up on the proper application and use of a car polish before you use it. Some polishes work only with a machine polisher, while others can be used by hand. If you plan to do the polishing yourself, knowledge on how to use the product is essential to a great result and best use of your time, effort and money.
