saelee39

Im just curious about how well you take car of your car. I polish and wax once a month with meguiars gloss and nxt wax. i was wondering if there is a such thing as polishing or waxing toob much whihch can damage your car?

picus

You might want to search for this over at autopia.org - it's a pretty big topic and there are a lot of threads regarding how safe it is to polish your car often. I think, as with everything, it ultimately depends on how often you're polishing and how abrasive the polish/pad you're using is.

superpats

Once a month sounds like a bit much. I usualy only polish 2-4 times a year, but like to wax every 2-3 months.

jfelbab

I polish only once or twice a year. That being said if you don't use good wash technique (i.e. two bucket method) you will get a lot of swirls in that time frame and should polish more often. You should polish whenever you need to remove swirls and light scratches. If this turns out to be monthly then you should change your washing technique.

I use clay and a paint cleaner twice a year. I evaluate the finish after that and determine if polishing is needed. If so, I use Meguiars #80 (Speed Glaze) or #83 (DACP) with a PC to remove any swirls. Otherwise, I apply #81 (Professional Hand Polish) which is really a non-abrasive glaze and follow it with NXT Tech Wax (two coats 24 hours apart.) I apply NXT Tech Spray Booster Wax after every other wash to maintain the just detailed look and slippery feel. This has the benefit of keeping the paint slick and dirt has little grip and makes the cleaning process so much easier and safer.

jonw440

I wax "about" every month. I like to polish twice a year.Once in the spring and once in the fall. Unless a scratch shows up then I may spot polish then re wax that area.
I also us quality cr shampoos(P21S,Wurth,Prima,etc) so my wax seems to last a bit longer then some shampoos may strip it off at every eash.
How to Polish

LiLS

iTrader: (7)

wait, what is polishing and what is waxing?

picus

Polishing is a broad term used for using a polish of whatever sort (there are cleaner polishes, finishing polishes, compounds, etc...) to either clean the surface of your paint, or more often, to remove a super thin layer of the clear coat (or in the same of single stage, the top layer of the base). The idea behind polishing if you're bringing the entire surface of the paint to the same plane, thus it will look smooth and like a mirror. Every time you polish using a compound (a polish with abrasives) you're removing varying amounts of the top layer of your paint. Polishing with abrasives too often can lead to clear coat failure and oxidation (or in the case of single stage paint and term I learned from guitarman - die-back).

Waxing (and sealing) is a term used to describe putting a sealant or wax on top of the paint to protect it from the environment and add to the appearance of the paint. Waxes/sealants protect the paint from acid rain, environmental fallout, bird crap, the sun's UV rays, etc..., they make the car easier to wash - essentially it acts like a super thin sacraficial layer of protection between the paint and the environment.

Most folks polish once or twice a year to remove minor scratches and wash induced swirls. You can wax whenever you want - I seal/wax every 4 months or so and maintain with a spray on wax after washes. Just keep in mind the old mantra that prep is 99% of the job. Paint that hasn't been polished (isn't clean, has marring etc...) will still look bad even if you wax/seal it.

Cheers.

jonw440

Great explanation! I also think of these two steps as:

Polish=Repair step
Wax= Protection step

LiLS

iTrader: (7)

o ic, i think i needto do this soon, i heard somethin bout washing my car then going over it with a claybar?

also i got this car from my parents as a gift and its used, and there are scratches/paint chipped off due to a accident (not mine) but its pretty small, its near the bottom of the bodykit, is it still safe to polish and wax over it or do i skip that part?