Machine polishing cars

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I have never really got into car cleaning, and certainly not polishing or waxing and such. Both of my cars could do with some tlc, and so i have started to do a bit of remedial work by hand, just a very basic go with autoglym scratch remover and some autoglym polish. Its flipping hard work though, so was thinking about buying a machine. So, some questions then:

What is involved, what damage can i do, what do i need, pitfalls i can avoid? Etc.

I am not after a show car finish, just something that is a uniform colour, vaguely shiny, and without loads of swirly marks.

Any help out there? Thanks.
 
*weeps uncontrollably* My last car got a valeting by a guy who had his apprentice with him. Apprentice places buffing machine down on the drive, pad down. Picks up and proceeds to put some cracking scratches on the bonnet.
 
Takes forever 😕 taping rubber seals as the machine gets polish everywhere :-) keeping the pad wet enough to not burn the paint etc. Best watch YouTube for some tips.

Enjoy your free time while you can its addictive
 
Chris, make sure you get a DA (Dual Action) polisher, a rotary in untrained hands will ruin the finish. The DA spins and oscillates.

I would recommend you do this:

Wash and dry car
Clay bar the entire car (this cleans the paint, you will be amazed how much crap comes off! if you dont, you are polishing this crud into the paintwork)
Example: https://www.pure-definition.co.uk/c...qmqWqiOKRAlpL58kkjFBbDAzFL2nmPGxoC6v8QAvD_BwE

Then do your polishing, most important part after is the sealing of the polished paint work. you can use a decent carnuba wax to do this.

To do this properly, you are looking at 8-12 hours work minimum though!! and expect your arms to kill even with a polisher!

Or pay a detailing company to do it for you!
 
It's a car for God's sake

It will depreciate in value in any event.

Use the time for playing golf.
 
MetalMickie said:
It's a car for God's sake

It will depreciate in value in any event.

Use the time for playing golf.
Click to expand...

Totally agree. I see my neighbours out polishing these things for hours on end just to have there cars sit outside their houses or work places for hours on end and I keep wanting to go and say go and enjoy life do something fun but nope they are there every week.
 
There are many, both cheap and expensive, to do what you want. <nerd alert!>

Firstly, wash the car properly! Get a decent degreaser and spray across the car. Leave for a few minutes. If you have a power washer, please use it! Make sure you don't use the patio tornado nozzle though, only a nozzle safe for cars. Use the power washer to remove most of the top dirt. Get two buckets and fill one with a hot water and decent car shampoo. The other bucket should be luke warm water. Use a good car mitt (NOT a sponge) and immerse in hot bucket. Wash panel at a time, roof downwards, rinsing off the mitt in the other bucket. Before dipping back into hot, ensure mitt is free of dirt (you can use grid guards to help). Idea is not to grind fine dirt back into the paintwork - scratches and swirls!!!. Next level of nerdiness in washing, is to wash in lines, not circular, as this introduces swirls. Rinse off with low setting power wash or a FRESH bucket(s) of clean water. Top tip here for easy drying is to use a water hose at normal tap pressure to wash off water to leave as little water to dry off - called water drying. Dry car thoroughly using car towels, using a patting motion - chamois I wouldn't recommend at all.

Once dry, if you run your fingers down the paint work, you will feel very small roughness. Top tip - put your hand in a freezer bag and do this same; it really highlights the micro particles. Get a clay mitt from Halford (easier than a clay bar) and a lubricant (specialist car one, not one that you have around the house :whistle:). Go over all the panels, using lubricant first and rubbing the paintwork with the mitt until particles have gone. You can hear and feel when they've gone. Too much clay lubricant is better than too little :D

Now you have clean paint. Here is where you can 'repair' the paint, getting rid of swirls and minor scratches. Rule of thumb is if you can pick the scratch with your nail, machine polishing won't 100% fix it. Machine will fix the rest though, if used properly. Definitely recommend a machine polisher over hand - too much effort! Use a Dual Action (DA) polisher here (£150); Rotaries are for professionally and amateurs that know their stuff. You'll need DA pads to do the job too - different sizes and different grades, depending on what is needed. Broadly speaking, one pad to do the cutting and one pad to do the finishing. You'll need to know the approximate hardness of your car's paint too - e.g. Audi's paint is hard and Nissan's is soft. You'll also need a compound and a polish to go with the pad. Compound does the cutting with the cutting pad and the polish does the finishing with the polish pad, funnily enough! There are YouTube vids on how to use a DA, pads and polish on YouTube. If done properly, one panel will take about an hour - don't rush it!!! Note: cutting and polishing should be kept to a minimum as there is a finite limit on the paint depth! If done well, the paint should look fab.

After you've done what you need to do, the paint is ready for protection and should look shiny and great to touch. Various options now include waxes, nano sealants and others. It is up to you. Nano sealants are like nail varnish that stay on the car for years, offering excellent protection. Some of these can be done by the amateur or better longer lasting ones by the professionals only. If you want to do wax, then there are many options to suit your budget and car type.

A well prepared and finished car above, will not only look great, but will be very easy to clean the next time. Recommend clay bar and wax once every six months - will depend on what protection you car has (cheap wax, expensive wax, nano sealant...).

Have a look at Ultimate Finish and Polish Bliss website. Also Detailing World. There's masses out their and can get expensive!!

Last word: the only way to get a really shiny finish is to rid the car of swirls and scratches.
 
Last edited:
MetalMickie said:
It's a car for God's sake

It will depreciate in value in any event.

Use the time for playing golf.
Click to expand...



Is the correct answer!:clap:
Life is waaaaaaaaay too short to worry about polishing a car.:cool:
Pay somebody else to do the menial stuff if you're that worried about it.:thup:
 
What colour are the cars?
Black cars swirl mark like nothing on earth!! But tbh removing swirls is a bit of a delicate job. A dual action polisher is much easier to use than a rotary buff.
http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/polis...sher/das-6-dual-action-polisher/prod_519.html
Best entry level DA on the market right now if you're looking for one of those.
Halfords do a G3 clay mitt which will remove most unwanted soiling on the surface, need to get the correct lubricant to go with it.
A good drying towel is a must aswell, I use a wooly mammoth but there are cheaper ones available on that same site as the polisher.
The autoglym super resin polish is fine for filling light swirls, a coat of either autoglym gloss protection or HD wax to finish.

1. Wash the car thouroughly, use a wash mitt and not a sponge, sponges scratch. One bucket cold water one bucket warm soapy water, rinse the mitt in the cold water after each session cleaning on the car to remove debris in mitt and stop scratches.
2. Rinse the car with cold water
3.Use the clay mitt and lubricant to further clean the paint then rinse the car under a hose with cold water.
4.Dry thouroughly, open doors boot and bonnet and remove any excess water in there as if it runs out when the polish is one its a pain in the bum.
5. Use the polisher with a light to medium abrasive pad and cutting compound, the guys on the above website would advice you better on the abrasives and compounds.
6. Give the car a wipe over with a panel wipe to remove excess dust from the cutting compound.
7. Apply super resin polish, I recommend doing his part by hand, then remove with the DA polisher and a soft pad.
Again remove excess dust from polish with a panel wipe.
8. Same procedure as above but with high gloss finisher or HD wax. I recommend applying by hand again, do 2 panels of application, say wing and front door then remove gloss from wing, then apply to rear door then remove from front door. This is he method I use, You can do the whole car at once but the high gloss or HD wax goes quite hard and can be tough to remove if left on to long.
That's your paintwork done&#128077;
Onto glass, rubber and wheels and tyres now&#128515;
 
Wax...dont polish. Wax is non abrasive:)
Rinse the car, wash the car using 2 buckets method, clay bar the car(I use Meguires clay bars), cleaner wax the car and buff off, then wax the car and buff...then again 30 minutes later:)
I use.....Autoglym car shampoo and Meguirs lambs wool mitt,( once a year... Swisswax cleaner fluid regular), then Swisswax mirage wax.
I use a selection of Swisswax buffing clothes, drying towels abd pads.
My 14 yr old Barge looks as good as it did on day 1, but it's what you want from your labours I suppose:)
 
Last edited:
T-Cut + elbow grease, then Auto Glym super resin, and finish with a coat of Auto Glym extra protection. Jobs a good'un.

Whilst we're on the subject does anyone know of a good product for keeping brake dust from sticking to alloys? Mine are awful to keep clean.
 
SaintHacker said:
T-Cut + elbow grease, then Auto Glym super resin, and finish with a coat of Auto Glym extra protection. Jobs a good'un.

Whilst we're on the subject does anyone know of a good product for keeping brake dust from sticking to alloys? Mine are awful to keep clean.
Click to expand...
You can get quite a few wheel waxes, but tbh although I do use a good wax, I don't bother waxing the wheels. For cleaning of the wheels I use "virosol" degreaser, diluted Down for normal use. It doesn't attack the alloy or plastic like some of the main brand wheel cleaners do.
 
Excellent write up Piece.

My current car is beyond help but just bought a snow foam lance from Autobrite that arrives today.

Going to cover the car in foam leave it there for 30 minutes then rinse with pressure washer. Hoping never to need a sponge or brush ever again or at least keep it to a minimum.
 
sawtooth said:
Excellent write up Piece.

My current car is beyond help but just bought a snow foam lance from Autobrite that arrives today.

Going to cover the car in foam leave it there for 30 minutes then rinse with pressure washer. Hoping never to need a sponge or brush ever again or at least keep it to a minimum.
Click to expand...

Snow foaming very satisfying! Get the right mix and the snow foam turns to thick mousse :D
 
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