Over-polishing Article

[tguil]

Folks,

Here's and article on over-polishing by David Bynon from Better Car Care:

http://www.bettercarcare.com/articles.php?articleId=57

I think that I should be glad that most of the time I use NXT Tech Wax as a one step product. I use it every four to six weeks on my big Black Hemi. I have no evidence of swirls or marring. I am very careful with my washing technique.

I too have polished through paint -- by hand even.

I think that David Bynon is almost as smart as Mike and 2hotford. Probably as obsessive too.

Tom

[gb387]

That is very interesting!

[Aurora40]

I thought it was a good read, and interesting. But I think really, evaluating your finish and making a smart decision about what to do is the way to go.

Certainly there are defects you don't want to fix. Certainly you abrade the paint every time you touch it (waxing it, washing it, having a breeze blow across it)...

And of course you want to minimize the need to polish by smart washing techniques, etc. But polishing isn't inherintly bad. You need to use your head about it. It's basically a very drawn out way to say "evaluate the finish and use the least abrasive product first".

Not to take anything away from the article, but it's not really particularly new info. But if it causes one to think about old things in a new way, then great.

I sent in a comment that paint is more like 6-8 mils, which is 6-8 1/1,000's of an inch, not 6-8 1/1,000,000's of one. It hasn't shown up yet, but just FYI.

[Paulvr4]

is 80 a non abbrasive polish?

[gb387]

Originally posted by Aurora40
I thought it was a good read, and interesting. But I think really, evaluating your finish and making a smart decision about what to do is the way to go.

Certainly there are defects you don't want to fix. Certainly you abrade the paint every time you touch it (waxing it, washing it, having a breeze blow across it)...

And of course you want to minimize the need to polish by smart washing techniques, etc. But polishing isn't inherintly bad. You need to use your head about it. It's basically a very drawn out way to say "evaluate the finish and use the least abrasive product first".

Not to take anything away from the article, but it's not really particularly new info. But if it causes one to think about old things in a new way, then great.

I sent in a comment that paint is more like 6-8 mils, which is 6-8 1/1,000's of an inch, not 6-8 1/1,000,000's of one. It hasn't shown up yet, but just FYI.

You said it well too!

"... evaluating your finish and making a smart decision about what to do is the way to go... (Aurora40)" ~ I agree!

[bluemoon]

#80 does have abbrasives in it, they seem to break down rather quickly tho. IMO you can adjust the agressiveness of #80 by how you apply it. Applying by hand with a foam applicator, it is a very mild product. When I have used it by hand, it seemed to clean the paint (squeeky clean) and reduce the swirls I had, but they were still thier, just not as noticeable . After I bought a pc, I went over those same swirls with a polishing pad and #80 and this time the swirls were removed. I am taking this as an indicator, that by hand applying, #80 is a very mild polish. Others have noted that even with a pc, it is a mild polish, anything deeper than a light to moderate swirl or scratch,you will have to use a more aggresive polish than #80.