PC use over the life of your car

Can you PC your car twice a year to remove light scratches and swirls if you plan to keep your car 10 or more years without eventually polishing through the clearcoat? Today after washing my car I noticed some scratches and swirls on the hood and the A pillar, probably other place too. We are going to have some 60 degree days for the next 3 days so it would be a good time to fix this before Winter, but I got to wondering. When you remove the light swirls and scratches, you have to be removing a layer of the clearcoat, however minute it maybe. So over the course of 10 or 20 years it seems to me that you could end up polishing through the clearcoat.



Is my thinking wrong on this or should I go ahead and PC away and not worry about it? :nixweiss

My 2 cents: I think cutting through the finish, whether color or clear, is more a function of the products you use rather than the use of the PC. A PC really just does what you do by hand but many times faster. When used with very mild stuff you shouldnt have a problem. When using heavy cut polishes and compounds you will eat away at the finish and over time you MAY break through, no matter what you use to apply them.

I don`t have a PC, yet that is. But I have been wondering something along those lines. How often can you use something of the nature of 3M SMR (or equivalent) and expect the finish to hold up.



I`ve got to figure out how many times I can use SMR to fix the scratches my dang dogs keep putting on the side of my truck. Luckily, they seem more inclined to jump on my truck than on my wife`s ride.

Maybe one of the members has a paint-thickness gauge(sp?).

He could measure the paint of a car,

take a regular (common used )polish , like let`s say 3M Machine-polish and polish the car for lets say 10 times (or one panel for times sake)

and measure the paint again.

By the amount of paint gone one could estimate the number of usages of a PC before clear breakdown



I easily could be wrong:nixweiss



Christiaan

twice a year will keep it nice for at least 7 years, now this is with things like #9, and SMR, basically, keep the "buffing" down to a minimum!



a GOOD paint thickness gauge is around 200+ or so, but is a worthy investment.

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Originally posted by HellrotCi

We are going to have some 60 degree days for the next 3 days so it would be a good time to fix this before Winter...

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I know _exactly_ what you mean- gotta take advantage of these last few nice days. (I like to say "Could be the last nice day of the year!"). It occurred to me though that I`m likely to aquire all manner of other paint flaws over the winter, so why not just let it go until spring and only polish 1x/year? It`s not like rust, where you have to keep after it to prevent it from getting worse...



$0.02,

Robert

Well, from what I understand today`s cars come with quite a thick layer of clearcoat, as well as many layers of paint. Obviously this varies from one manufacturer to another, but I don`t see where using a PC will shorten the life of your clear or your paint....certainly not to the point of really being able to tell. Breaking down the clear is a necessary evil, if you care how your car looks, that is... It`s the ONLY way to remove swirls and the like. And like someone said above, it`s not the PC that is doing it, rather it`s the abrasiveness of the polish. I think you could apply #7 and #26 by PC with a polishing pad on speed 6 forever, if you wanted and not do much at all to your clear... Maybe I`m wrong.... :nixweiss



But hey, two thoughts...whats the likelihood that you`ll keep your car for 10 to 20 years, and this is why good paint shops exist.... ;)

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Originally posted by Chris S

whats the likelihood that you`ll keep your car for 10 to 20 years, and this is why good paint shops exist.... ;)

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my thoughts exactly. Personally my guidelines are if the car goes out of its extended warranty, I pass 100K miles (whichever comes first), or if non-warranty service gets to be too much, OR if I eat through the paint with polishes/etc., I just go ahead and get a new car. Personally I dont think I could stand driving the same car for 10-20 years, I need to replace mine every 3-5 years regardless so driving stays `interesting`.

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Originally posted by porterdog

...so why not just let it go until spring and only polish 1x/year?

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I thought about that, I`m still thinking about that and most likely will think about it all winter. I`m just not sure I can mentally deal with not fixing the scratches, it`s like a major obsession. Is there a psychologist in the house? I need help! :D



I guess the reality of my question is most people don`t keep their cars 10 or more years so it`s kind of hard to say. It all depends on what`s used and how often. We have kept several of our cars for 10 years and my BMW is the best car I`ve ever owned so I`ll report back in 7 years on how the finish has held up. ;)

I must be the odd one. My truck is 8 years old now, still running great and looks good except for a couple of dings and the dog scratches that need to be taken off. I plan on driving it til it either dies (my last car was totalled by someone hitting me head on) or maintenance becomes and issue.