Technology and types of car body polishing

A new car always looks brilliant, but during operation, scratches, chips and dents inevitably appear on the body. If the car is under the open sky for a long time, then the external environment also adversely affects the appearance. Even shaking off dust or snow from the body with a brush, micro-scratches remain, which become visible at close range. Polishing can help restore shine and protect paintwork. Next, we will talk about the types and technology of polishing the car body.

What is car body polishing?

The purpose of any polishing is simple and clear - to make a rough surface with scratches smooth and shiny. If the car body has lost its former appearance or the owner just wanted to refresh it, then correct polishing will do it. Particular attention should be paid to the word "correct", as recently there have appeared many methods of polishing with beautiful names, but not giving the desired result.

It should be noted that this is not the fastest process. If you are promised to remove all scratches and chips in 3-4 hours, then this is most likely a deception. During this time, you can only cosmetically mask the damage, but over time they will appear again.

A good master detailing artist uses different tools and materials, performing the work in several stages to get the right result.

Execution technology

High-quality polishing is carried out in several stages:

1. Surface preparation: drying, cleaning, identifying the most defective areas and scratches, degreasing the surface, gluing with tape. Applying polishing clay to a clean body. This will remove any remaining debris. If more serious chips to metal are found on the body, then they will subsequently be conspicuous. Therefore, such damage must be repaired by painting it with varnish, and then processed.
2. Grinding with abrasive paste. Deep scratches are removed at this stage. The abrasive removes paintwork up to seven microns thick. The master uses polishing discs on which an abrasive paste is applied. This is the longest and most laborious process that requires certain skills. It is necessary not only to eliminate scratches, but also not to spoil the paintwork.
   

   The polishing wheels also differ in hardness. They are usually distinguished by color: white, orange, blue, black.

   The first two have a hard and medium-hard texture. Also, the craftsmen-consumers use polishing machines and eccentric machines. Work with an abrasive paste takes place at speeds from 900 to 2000 rpm.

3. Restorative sanding with fine abrasive paste. Small risks and scratches are eliminated.
4. Protective sanding with non-abrasive paste. Body protection and gloss enhancement. For finishing polishing, take soft polishing wheels of black and blue colors.

How many times can you do it?

If we talk about high-quality abrasive polishing, then it all depends on the thickness of the paintwork. Calculations are not so difficult. On average, the thickness of the varnish layer is 30 microns. In the process of work, it is removed in different places from 3 to 7 microns, depending on the depth of the scratches and the perseverance of the master.

Thus, a maximum of 1-3 polishing of a factory-coated body can be carried out.

Also, polishing will be useful after fresh painting of the car body. This will remove the matte effect, irregularities and roughness, and give shine. After painting, it is recommended to wait 3-4 weeks until the paintwork is completely dry.

Types of polishing

There are many polishes to choose from on the market right now. From deep abrasive to "nano-polishing" with special compounds with beautiful names. Often behind catchy names and pseudo-technologies, there is a marketing ploy, which car owners are eagerly pecking at. In fact, only three types of polishing can be distinguished.

Abrasive

The abrasive polishing process has been described above. This is the only way to achieve a really high-quality result and get rid of scratches on the body. Of course, the abrasive removes a few microns of the paintwork, but you can't do without it. The thickness of the removed coating will already depend on the skill of the master.

With this technology, several types of pastes and polishing wheels are necessarily used, various degreased and additives, special tools and much more. On average, the process takes 14-18 hours. The average cost is from 11 to 000 thousand rubles.

Standard

Standard polishing is also called "two-paste polish". This is the most common technology as it takes less time, effort and money. It removes minor scratches and scratches on the body, but deeper damage will remain.

Basically, these are the last two stages of abrasive polishing. A master using a rotary machine, polishing wheels and a coarse or fine abrasive paste removes no more than 1-3 microns of the paintwork.

Then a finishing paste without abrasive is applied. The body gets shine. This option is somewhere between abrasive and finishing polishing. Suitable if there are no serious scratches and chips on the body.

On average, the process takes 4-5 hours. The craftsman uses less materials and time, therefore the cost is lower. It averages 5 - 000 rubles.

Finish

This type of polishing is also called anti-hologram or “one-paste polish”.

This is not even quite polishing, since a non-abrasive paste, even with a strong desire, will not be able to remove risks and scratches. The maximum that such a coating is capable of is to remove rainbow stains, temporarily fill in scratches and give shine, again temporarily. This method is usually used before selling a car.

Protective coatings

Many workshops try to pass the application of protective coatings as polish and promise miraculous effects. Such compounds as liquid glass, ceramics, wax can be called "protective" only conditionally. After application, the surface really becomes very smooth and shiny. In fact, this is the maximum that they give. The effect of them is exclusively cosmetic and will disappear after a while, and the scratches are likely to remain.

Advantages and disadvantages

The advantages of polishing are obvious:

• body shiny as a mirror;
• elimination of all scratches and marks;
• presentable view of the car.

Among the disadvantages are the following:

• a certain thickness of paintwork is removed;
• the process is not easy and time consuming, so it costs a lot.

If you want your car body to shine like a factory, polishing can help. You just need to understand what type of work is needed for a particular coating. I would like to refresh the look - then the finish or standard will do, and if you need to remove deep scratches, then only abrasive will help. The main thing is to find a good master-finder who will do the job efficiently.