danponjican said:
Just fancier words for final polishing steps. Perhaps there is a increment level of less cutting with the so called "Burnishing" or "Jeweling". But it is all just final polishing.
Yes and no I suppose....
Jewelling the paint is a term that has been around for a long time. I believe that somebody had posted that a long time ago body shops would call it jeweling because they would have to re-buff single stage paint's a week or two later.
If we rewind this forum to a year ago, most people where finishing paint with their rotary using a white lake country pad and a polish like Menzerna 106ff. I had noticed at the time that FEW of my client's cars would have VERY light hologramming appearing two or three months after polishing (despite wiping the paint with alochol, etc).
At the time a white pad and a finishing polish where considered "finishing" as you put it.
So I posted on this forum that I saw 106ff filling and got blasted by pretty much everybody who had just started to use a rotary and thought they where getting perfect results. After contacting several companies including Meguiars', Lake Country, Edge, and polish manufacturers and forumulators, I came up with a reason why I felt that Menzerna could be masking.
What I was shocked to learn was that Meguiars' had always recommended finishing by rotary with a finishing pad. When I spoke to them, it made sense why. Then I spoke with several pad manufacturers who all agreed.... Finishing with a rotary with a pad that has some mechanical abrasion is going to potenitally cause microscopic abrasions that hold in the oils of the polish, and could fill slightly.
I questioned Lake Country to why they recommend (per product description at the time) that final polishing take place with a white pad and not a finishing pad. The reasoning made sense as well.... We are a SMALL part of the industry, most pad manufacturers aim more towards the body shop people. In a body shop, they generally finish with a glaze after polishing, which is why the descriptions for the pads always recommended using a glaze with that pad.
What we do is finish paint with out glazes and oils, and we use our own terminology. While a LC white pad might produce an acceptable finish to a body shop (before glazing) it really is a polishing pad that needs to be finished with something softer.
So I am working on a clients car (after "finishing" with a white pad) and pull it out in the sun. It looks perfect, but experience and research has taught me that I need to go back over it with a non-mechanical (glazing) pad and a final polish. The client asks me,"So the car is perfect, what are you doing? Jewelling it?"
It sounded good, so on my click and brags I started using the term "jewelling" to describe the step after finishing (which again was done with mechanical pads at the time on this forum and others). Obviously I am not the first one to use the term jewelling (body shop used it in the 1950's) and I am sure some other detailers have used it before, but until I started posting on about it in my click and brags, nobody was using it with any regularity.
I also noticed that by going back over the paint with a non-mechanical "glazing" pad that the paint seemed to increase visually, since the microscopic damage on the paint's surface was reduced. So not only does this step (when done after finishing) possibly promote more gloss, but it has helped eliminate the chance occurance of holograms reappearing. As it stands today, I would never consider finishing the paint with anything more aggressive then "glazing" pad.
Now again, this is nothing different then what Meguiars' has been preaching all along (finshing with a non-mechanical pad).
So my definition of term would be something like this..... Polishing the paint with the sole intent of increasing maximum gloss by reducing micrscopic pad abrasion on the paint's surface. Only carried out when the paint already appears to be perfect.
As far as the term burnish, Rydawg and I kind of came up this that. We had both started calling it 'jewelling' long before I posted about it and when nobody on the forum used that term. When I started using it, I noticed it popping up more and more, and people finishing with non-mechanical pads more and more. Everybody called it jewelling, which we thought was a riot. So I told Ryan and I am going switch gears and start calling it burnishing, to see if this term would catch on too. So I did, and sure enough it started creeping it's ways in. As far a I use them, they are the same.
By autopia traditonal detailing standard...
Compounding/Cutting/Defect Removal- Using an aggressive pad and compound/polish designed to quickly level the paint and remove the defects... Depending on the depth of the defects, it may take several passes
Polishing- Refining the finish by removing light defects (either light marring or damage instilled by the compounding process). What ever steps are used to remove the light marring would be considered polishing (with out going to a compound or agressive set up that will require at least two more steps)
Finishing- Done by using a low cut pad and a finishing polish. Helps refine the paint, removing any trace damage from the polishing stage. At this point, only one application should be needed because the defects remaing from the polishing should be very light.
Burinishing/Jewelling (Meguiars' calls this finishing)- A optional step after finishing, done with a non-mechanical pad and an ultra fine polish. For the sole intent of removing any microscopic (and possibly invisible) pad abrasion from the finishing step. Reduces the chance of holograms or pad abrasion holograms appearing months down the road and may increase the gloss of the paint further (most people feel it does)
