Maintaining the Paintwork – Part 2
In the earlier article, we looked at keeping the car paintwork clean with regular washing, washing tools and methods. Here we will look at car waxing and polishing.
No matter how well you look after your car with regular washing, eventually, you will need to do more like waxing and polishing. First up, let’s look at the difference between waxing and polishing. Waxing essentially means putting on a protective layer of wax or other synthetic material to cover the paint. Polishing on the other hand means removing a thin layer of paint to remove dirt that’s bonded to the paint.
Most of the time, we will just wash the car and every so often, we will wax the car. This is not the best way to maintain the paintwork. The reason is when you do not clean the paint surface properly, you are essentially covering the dirt with wax. The correct process is to wash, polish then wax. When you polish your car, what you are doing is removing microscopic dirt that’s stuck to the paint.
Photo Credit airgap
Like I mention in the earlier article, automotive paint is quite different today and of the yester years. Paint is now much thinner, water based and if we use the wrong type of polish or method, you are stripping the paint off your car. You might no notice it now, but after a few year and few cycles of polishing, you could strip off the clear layer especially if your car has metallic paint.
At the moment, there is 2 main types of waxing products. Those that are made from carnauba wax and polymer sealant type wax. You can find more information about carnauba wax online but generally, carnauba wax don’t last very long where as polymer sealant wax last much longer. I’ve used both types of wax before and today, today I use the polymer type wax due to their longer lasting properties. While I like cars, there is more to life than just spending every weekend waxing my car.
The most complete car care package I’ve found at the moment is Meguiar’s Complete Car Care Kit. They are in the car detailing business for many years. Car detailing basically means keeping your car at or better than showroom condition. That is what classic car collectors and enthusiast do when they want to show off their car at car shows.
Some of Meguiar’s product do tend to be priced higher so consider them if you don’t mind spending a bit to make your ride the shiniest. However there are other products to choose from if budget is a contraint.