Why correct the paint

Most clients believe that simply putting a coating of wax or sealant will improve the gloss of the paintwork. However, almost 90% of the gloss comes from having a swirlfree clearcloat paint without any embedded dirt. The rest 10% comes from the LSP- Last Step Product- which is the wax or the sealant. Here, we'll go through the paint correction steps on my Subaru Outback. It took quite a beating during the past winter season, so its time to get the clarity in the paint back. Note that since this is a daily driver, an extensive, 3/4 step correction won't make much sense.

EVALUATION

First step is to evaluate how bad of a condition the paint is in. That will determine the type of pad and polish we need to use. Looking at the reflection of the light bulb on the hood below, we can see that the clear coat has taken quite a beating and needs at least a 2 step polish.  On properly polished car you should only see clear reflections of the light bulb itself.

products needed

• Random Orbital Buffer (linked to an economical one that does the job well)
• White Polishing Pad
• Orange Medium Cutting Pad
• Menzerna Medium Cut Polish 2500
• Menzerna Super Finish Polish 3500
• Masking Tape

pre polish preparation

Before we get into polishing, we need to prep the car to ensure that we have a truly clean surface to work off of. Any previous waxes, sealants, glazes, or embedded contaminants can interfere with the polishing process. At the very least, the following steps need to be done right before we start the polishing process:

• Wash the car
• Clay bar the car
• Wipe down the vehicle with a 50% Isopropyl Alcohol to remove existing waxes or sealants (non ceramic)

During the washing and claying processes, I’m always looking out for problems or challenging areas that may affect the polishing process. After claying, I rinse the vehicle again, dry it off, and tape up all of the trim and any places that have potential for being damaged by the buffer. The edges need to be taped up since the clear coat is thinner at the edges/curves. This also prevents polishing dust from getting inside the body panels and allows me to move the polisher from one panel to another without lifting. I also break up large panels into quarters so it's easy for me to manage the polishing process.

The polishing process

The process at the beginning of every detail is to do a test section to figure out what combination of pads, compounds and / or polishes will be required to achieved the desired level of correction. For the compounding stage to cut through the defects, I used an orange pad with Menzerna's medium cut polish. Work in sections for large body panels.

1. Put the orange pad on the polisher
2. Add enough polish to get the process started.
3. Put the polisher in the highest speed- #6 in my polisher
4. Do not start the polisher until you have the pad touching the paint, or else the polish will fling all over the place.
5. Start the polisher and slowly move the polisher in a criss cross pattern. 
6. Wipe off the polish and inspect the work.
7. Complete other panels, then move to white pad with finishing polish. Perform steps 1-6.