The surface of your car should be clean before you start detailing. Obviously, you want to wash the car and get the major dirt and road debris off the car. The next step is to get the dirt and contaminants that are bonded into the clear coat off the surface. So, the first thing you should do to this panel after an initial wash is using a clay bar over the paint. What that’s going to do is pull out all the contaminants that are in the paint so that when we buff the entire panel we’re buffing the paint and not just pushing the contaminants around.
Tag: paint polishing
What is Buffing?
Many people confuse polishing and buffing, and when you are working in the automotive industry, it is important to differentiate between the two terms. Polishing is a process that removes a moderate amount of metal from a metal piece using coarse to medium abrasives in stages. After polishing a piece of metal, the piece will have a “brushed” type of look, and you will not be able to see reflections in the metal. Polishing removes small scratches and minor surface imperfections. During an auto body restoration or repair project, polishing will come before buffing. If you run your fingernail over a scratch on a vehicle’s surface and it gets caught on the scratch, the area should be polished before buffing. Polishing a piece of metal enough will ideally even out the surface nicely during repairs.