Polishing....Clear Coat Question...?

Basshog · 12-14-06, 05:24

I have been doing a lot of research (Autopia Guide to Detailing, Forum Archives) and there is not much said on the long terms effects of polishing. It is to my understanding that everytime you polish your paint, depending on the severity of your swirls, scratches, etc. you are taking off a certain amount of your clear coat. It makes sense to me that eventually, your clear coat will have been totally polished off.

How long does this take??

trhland · 12-14-06, 05:30

i was worried about the same thing. i have a p/c and theres a couple of web sites out there that have a pro detailer that you can ask quistions about detailing and iv asked the quistion about using a p/c how many times can you use it before taking off all the clear and they all said as much as you want . they said it barly takes off anything. its only if you uses a rotory that you have to be carfull because that will remove clear.

Basshog · 12-15-06, 10:41

Thanks for the info...does anyone else have an opinion?

Wetwerks · 12-15-06, 11:07

We have not seen any long term data on this. We've also heard the same thing as trhland said above. Unless someone uses a PTG everytime to measure thickness before and after a polish w a PC and records the data, that question is always going to be around. My partner and I were discussing this exact topic last night, and are considering trying to compile data on our personal vehicles since they tend to get the most PC work of all the cars we do.

Walter
Co-owner

Basshog · 12-15-06, 02:42

How many times thus far have you done it on your own vehicle (estimate)? I would really like to get out the light marring my truck has but wont do it if I am sacraficing the longevity of the clear coat and therefore my paint.

autobahn · 12-15-06, 04:45

My personal rule is 1 polish a year with a medium polish, I can't imagine it stripping off all the clear in the time you own it unless you're keeping it as a collector's car for some reason.

Definitely do NOT be afraid to polish your truck if there's marring, I'm pretty sure most modern clears are thick enough to stand up to quite a bit of polishing.

trhland · 12-15-06, 04:48

just use the p/c and you will stay out of trouble .first try a medium foam pad and polish. if that doesnt take car of the problem then move up to a more aggressive pad and posible some compound.

Accumulator · 12-16-06, 10:10

My opinions on this sometimes seem contradictory, as I often say "better imperfect paint than a need for a repaint" but I also say how I've polished some of our vehicles countless times with no problems.

It all depends on how much paint you have and how much of that you take off.

IMO if you're needing to polish more than once a year then you need to work on the wash/dry regimen. One light polishing every year, and the occasional RIDS correction, shouldn't ever be a problem; I've polished some of our vehicles a lot more than that and we keep some of 'em a *long* time. I can't begin to put an actual number on how many times I've polished some of them, but that was before I got the wash figured out.