Modern car paints, with primer, base color, and clear coat layers, are very different than how automotive paint was done many years ago. The introduction of DA – or dual-action – polishers and related products make it safer and easier for DIY polishing and compounding, reducing the risk to your car’s finish. That said, every car can be different than the last one, and being cautious is the key.
The Rules for Polishing
- Learn all you can. Pay attention to things that can go wrong.
- Practice, a lot. Find a panel or car where you can only improve on its look, or minor damage won’t make it worse.
- Use the least aggressive method first before stepping up.
- Test a section of the car before polishing it all.
- Measure the paint thickness before, during, and after, and don’t remove too much clear coat.
- Fact: You can’t get out all defects, especially deep ones.
- Fact: Orange Peel is everywhere, and removing it is a bad idea.
Getting Started
If you are new to the process you should watch videos from recommended resources like Esoteric Car Care. And practice a lot. The Esoteric team works on a wide range of vehicles from supercars on down and keeps their process simple and effective. They aren’t giving out questionable advice, they aren’t trying to be the fastest, they aren’t testing and chasing every product out there. They understand that you may be a weekend detailer, and don’t need complexity or difficulty. Everything is tried and tested, and they show you the tools and products they actually use daily. Your budget may not support some of what they sell, but if you at least follow their techniques you’ll be ahead of the rest.
Practice on something non-critical, and always do the least aggressive process and move up if and when ready. The One-Step Cut-and-Polish process is pretty safe as long as you keep the polisher moving and avoid overworking edges and panel creases in particular. Watch the videos, and practice safe polishing.
For a beginner, it is better to make a few (or several) One-Step passes on a panel than to try and get a lot corrected all at once with aggressive compounding. It is better to leave defects than to damage the clearcoat. Most defects that aren’t noticeable at one or two meters likely should be left alone.
Since every car can be different, even with the same make, model, and year, it is good to do a test section and see what is needed for that particular car and its paint.
One-Step Cut and Polish
You can take care of most defects and swirls in a car’s finish by doing a “one-step” cut-and-polish. This uses a Dual-Action polisher, a medium-soft grade pad (Rupes Yellow or Buf’n’Shine 50/50), and a polishing fluid that both cuts and polishes, like Sonax Perfect Finish or 3D One. The fluid has lumps of the polishing material for compounding out defects, then as you work, the clumps “reduce” to individual particles for polishing. For 3D One it says it works differently based on the pad, and a Buff and Shine URO-Fiber Pad works well. It compounds with the coarse fibers and polishes with the fine fibers.
Esoteric Car Care has a number of One Step polishing kits that have all you need to get started with your car. The Rupes Duetto is a great mid-level machine – powerful, with a mid-range 12mm DA throw. This “One-Step” kit does paint-correction and polishing with one pad and polishing fluid. See the video here for more information.
The Rupes Duetto kit includes the Rupes 5″ polisher with a 12mm throw (good) and Rupes Yellow general purpose pads (very good), and Sonax Perfect-Finish (very good). Get the large version of the kit with the 1000ml Perfect Finish if you have a large vehicle, or will do more than one vehicle. It is cheaper per ounce that way.
This may be all you need for polishing, as the “one-step” correct-and-polish method takes care of ~80% of defects, and is pretty safe.
Before coating, you’d likely want to take out more defects in the vehicle and can do the one-step process several times just where needed. Hoods and door panels often have more swirls and scratches, and need a few passes.
If it has been a while since the car has been polished, then Compounding (described below) may be needed for significant swirls and scratches, and would get the paint perfected faster.
You may be able to do most of your vehicle with just a 5″ polisher and this kit, and not need smaller polishers. You can put different size backing plates on most polishers, but because the DA orbits and spins it may be unbalanced and vibrate with different backing plates and pads. Usually, they are built for a certain weight.
We have medium-sized 3″ polishers like the Rupes LHR75 for getting into smaller spaces and more curved areas of panels. We like the Rupes polishers as they are solid machines, powerful, low vibration, and built to last. Rupes polishers are a bit of an industry standard for many, but there are other options, certainly.
The small 1″ to 2″ polisher we use is the Rupes Nano. The battery and corded options are very handy, and the small size is useful for both home and auto.
This is an alternative that Brian from Apex uses, the SPTA Extension – it does 1″ through 3″. We might pick that up at some point, it has some nice options and comes with a lot.
We love the Rupes Nano, but it is pricey. We use Dremel brand Velcro-backed cleaning pads with the Nano for scrubbing.
Two-Step Correct and Polish
For deeper scratches and swirls, you may want to do a two-step process that includes a “compounding” step before a polishing step that is described below. Because this removes more of the clear coat paint, we recommend that the car have a graphene coating after the final polish step. This helps prevent staining, scratching, and etching, and reduces the need for future paint correction.
If the car had previous paint correction – or even a one-step polish – you need to ensure that there is enough clear coat to work with before compounding. Removing too much paint results in clear coat failure and it will peel off and your finish is ruined. Only do a final “jewel” polish if this is a maintenance polish.
The one-step process does some paint correction – Sonax Perfect Finish is rated at 4 out of 6 for Cut, and a 6 out of 6 for Gloss. Deeper defects may need a more aggressive pad and polish.
Compounding uses a different pad and a compounding fluid, like Jescar Correcting Compound and the Meguiar’s Microfiber Cutting Disc. Correcting the paint can also just be a different pad, either a medium or coarse “cutting” pad, along with 3D One or Sonax Perfect Finish.
You need to understand that you will never remove all of the defects, swirls, and scratches. It is a fact of life that some of this will remain, and most of this will be invisible to anyone that isn’t up-close and polishing the vehicle. Perfection should never the goal. This also goes for things like the Orange Peel effect in paint, which is normal and expected.
If you are doing compounding it is a good idea to get a thickness gauge so you know how much material you can take off, and monitor your progress. We use the Elpidan Coating Thickness Gauge. You want one that is accurate and consistent in its measurements.
You can also sand the clearcoat at this stage, and the Rupes Duetto is built for sanding, hence the name. Sanding can quickly take off too much clearcoat, more than is recommended over the life of the vehicle, so should never be attempted without some forethought.
Compounding and polishing takes out P1500 to P3000 sanding marks.
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B005RMZRFY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title – really only needed for a lot of defects, and you have to be more careful on how much clearcoat you remove. )
I did a couple passes of light compounding on the Jeep. Three passes on the hood and front fenders. Some areas of the Cadillac had a number of passes as I figured out how this works and how aggressive I could be. Every car is different, so testing the paint is important, and always start with the least aggressive option and work up. You need a different liquid and pad for compounding.
I use this https://www.esotericcarcare.com/jescar-correcting-compound/ combined with different pads like this https://www.esotericcarcare.com/meguiars-microfiber-cutting-disc-2-pack/ and https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00JYSYJMY/ref=twister_B06X6LY4N5?encoding=UTF8&psc=1 On the Jeep I used the second cutting pad above and a new pad that does medium “cut” compounding and also polishing. It is a good one as you practice compounding, and for general use alternative to the Rupes yellow pads: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0799QRV7G/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I hand-sanded some areas on the front bumper of the Jeep for deeper dings and discoloration, then compounded and polished.
For the Jescar Correcting Compound, get the larger. Cheaper per ounce, and since your truck has a lot of swirls you have some catching up to do.
Finish Polish
After compounding you will need to do additional polishing to “jewel” the surface, removing the compounding haze and adding a high level of gloss. You can also do the one-step process which provides an additional medium amount of “cut” and a high level of polishing, which may be needed if you used a heavy cut on the defects.
For this step, we use a Rupes White Finishing Pad and a Jescar Micro-Finishing Polish or Sonax Final. Esoteric has a video to explain when and how to use the Jescar product.
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