How to Polish Your Car (and Why You Should)
In addition to what’s under the hood, your car’s resale or rental value also considers how it looks. Along with regular washing, you should also polish it once or twice a year , although since it is abrasive (to varying degrees, depending on the cut), not more often.
So what exactly does polishing do to your car, and how do you get the job done at home? Here’s what you need to know.
Benefits of car polishing
Before you get started, you may wonder if polishing your car is worth the time and effort. In short: Yes. This is because polishing your car has a number of benefits, including :
- Extend the life of your vehicle’s paintwork by removing stubborn dirt that can be left behind after washing.
- Helps remove oxidized paint.
- Helps maintain and maintain paintwork by preventing it from drying out, cracking or peeling.
How to polish a car with your own hands
While some people prefer to professionally detail their car or invest in their own orbital buffer, today we will focus on hand polishing.
Before choosing a polish, find out if the paint on your car is hard or soft . While harder paint can withstand more abrasive buffing, vehicles with softer paint should only be buffed with a finer, less gritty product.
Here’s what to do :
- Wash and then dry the vehicle thoroughly.
- Apply a small amount of polish to a foam applicator or a clean, dry microfiber cloth.
- Apply the polish in a circular motion to one small part of the car.
- When you’ve finished this area, go over it with a new, clean, dry microfiber cloth to remove any excess polish.
- Repeat this process, step by step, until you have polished the entire car.