The Ins and Outs of Car Polish
04/15/09
In every household garage, car polish is a familiar product required for the upkeep of the family car. A good car polish keeps your car looking new and shiny. Car polishes not only make your car look fresh, but also help protect the paint and prevent paint failure. Over time, dust, grime, grease, oil and bird hits accumulate on the exterior paint of a car. Just washing your car is not sufficient as most of these contaminants have acids and adhesive agents in them which stick to the car paint and slowly eat through the protective layer of paint exposing bare metal. Bare metal corrode easily leading to rusting of the car, reducing its life and resale value. Car polishes come in various forms and have varying ingredients. Almost all car polish has abrasive ingredients which help dislodge those hard to remove oil and grime spots. Some have fillers too to fill in the scratch marks.
Application of car polish is a painstaking procedure, a technique that needs to be mastered. Before applying car polish, your car must be washed thoroughly. Wash first with plain water and then with a car specified detergent mix. Detergent used for washing clothes are never to be used as they are strong and may damage your car paint. The third stage is to again wash off the car detergent with plain water. Use a chamois leather car towel or a micro fiber car towel to dry your car. Having done that put the car polish evenly with an applicator brush which usually comes with your car polish product. There should be no gaps in the application of the car polish. Leave the car polish to dry off for the time period specified as per the car polish manual of instructions. The last step is to remove the car polish with a micro towel to get a brand new look.
The various components in the car polish perform different tasks such as dissolving and removal of oil and grime by the abrasive part and the shine and protection task done by the wax component. The water repellant property of the wax component helps protect your car paint from water. How often should you polish your car? A two to three week interval is recommended between car polishing. This is because every car polish has an abrasive component which acts by removing microns thick layer of paint to reveal a shiny layer and thus over time leads to the paint thinning and becoming dull. Therefore, a regular but not frequent polish will help keep your car paint in good condition.
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