Index
What is the car polishing?
INTRODUCTION
After talking about car body decontamination (that is the necessary phase before starting polishing), today we’ll discuss about what car body polishing is. We’ll discover that it isn’t only an aesthetic question, but it’s also a necessary process for the car body good maintenance.
CAR BODY’S LAYERS
To understand what car body polishing is, it’s necessary to talk about the surface that is processed. In most of cases, the car body is formed by two layers:
- The paint base, that is matt.
- The protective layer, transparent layer, that is glossy. Its name is “clearcoat”.
The car body’ glossy effect is due by the clearcoat, and not by the paint base. When we’re polishing, the processed layer is the clearcoat, so the transparent layer.
WHAT “CAR BODY POLISHING” MEANS?
When does a surface become shiny? According to the common thought, to make a surface shine, it’s necessary to apply fillers on the surface (something like waxes). This is not the truth. The glossy effect is due to the flatness of the surface. A perfectly flat area (with no imperfections) will uniformly reflect the light. As a result, the surface will shine!
The glossy effect is due to the reflection of the light on a flat surface.
Car body polishing doesn’t means apply waxes or fillers on the surface, because this would mean cover the damages. It means flatten the transparent layer (the clearcoat), thanks to an abrasive action, that can remove damages from the surface.
For this reason, for the car body polishing we need abrasive compounds. Contrary to what you would expect, the glossy effect isn’t due to the adding of something, but to the removal of a thin surface layer, needed to the complete damage’s elimination.
Through a proper polishing process, it is possible to remove:
- Oxidation (of every grade)
- Swirls
- Holograms
- Limestones stains
- Sanding marks
- Insect residues
- Orange peel effect
- Pig tails effect
Depending on damages level, the most suitable abrasive product is chosen. As we will discover in the next guides, PaiCar range offers different polishing compounds, that are able to adapt to every possible situation.
WHEN CAR POLISHING IS NECESSARY
In this context, we can say that there isn’t a single correct answer. It depends on subjective evaluation.
We can say that, over time, damages tend to become worse, going even more down in the surface’s layers. There is a chance that they consume the superficial layer, reaching the paint base. In this situation, the only solution would be a re-painting. This is a more expensive process, compared to the polishing.
As we can understand, car polishing is not only a question of aesthetic care. It is part of a correct car body maintenance, because it avoids the paint base layer corruption.
Taking this into account, we can suggest that car polishing is necessary when is desired to definitely remove damages from the car body.