Polishing after painting the car with your own hands

Car painting events are associated with two firmly entrenched myths. Firstly, that the renovation of the paintwork layer as such completely eliminates even the smallest defects on the body surface. Secondly, after performing this operation, you can start using the machine without performing additional procedures. Both of these myths dispel polishing after painting the car, which is performed in order to eliminate the unevenness of the coating and to fix the performance of the result.

Surface preparation for polishing

Preparatory activities involve the implementation of several procedures. First of all, this is a thorough washing of the body surface. Then blowing is carried out with the help of a special vacuum cleaner, which will remove the surface from the smallest dust particles. If you plan to polish after painting the car, which in one way or another was exposed to oily substances, it is desirable to conduct and degreasing the surfaces. Next, the edges are glued, which will not be polished.

In the process of preparation, it is important to immediately note the problem areas. Painting as such still does not remove external flaws, and, moreover, in poor-quality performance, it can add defects due to uneven distribution of paint and varnish. During the preparation of the body it is important to mark such zones. Usually polishing after painting the car affects completely the entire area of the body, but individual areas can be given special attention.

What tools and materials will be required?

All the inventory that will be required during the operation can be divided into two groups - directly tools and supplies. As for the first group, it includes a grinder , polishing device and, if necessary, carrying. The rest is polishing wheels, special pastes for exterior processing of the body, sandpaper and all kinds of abrasives. Also polishing the car after painting does not do without water. Therefore, it is best to connect the hose with the possibility of abundant watering of the treated surfaces.

Wet grinding

The first stage of machining the body will be grinding. This is an operation during which the surface is free from the same defects in the paintwork. In other words, swells, places with differences in coverage levels, etc. are removed. In this case, the technique of performing "wet" grinding is considered. It differs from "dry" in that it requires the use of a special machine and moisture resistant napkins for processing.

In the future, polishing after painting the car also involves the implementation of mechanical effects, but to a lesser extent. "Wet" grinding is accompanied by watering the water, which flushes the lagging particles. On the one hand, it provides a more clean and high-quality surface treatment, on the other - the operation requires more hassle and physical effort.

Dry grinding

The main difference, which distinguishes the mentioned technique, is still the possibility of using an orbital grinding machine, which at a lower cost will provide a quite tolerable result. The drawback of this method is due to the fact that small particles are not removed from the napkins used without water. In addition, it is more difficult to regulate and adjust for a particular section the mode and frequency of grinding processing.

The situation becomes more complicated if you polish the car after painting with your own hands without high-quality consumables. Still, the same napkins in many ways determine how smooth the surface will be after the first mechanical finishing session of the new coating. On the other hand, the direct action of the abrasive, before which there is no obstacle in the form of moisture, allows to achieve high results when smoothing out thick layers of paint surfacing. An alternative to this method in terms of quality refinement of the decorative surface of the body simply does not exist. In any case, from those techniques that are available to the ordinary motorist.

Polishing with abrasives

Perhaps, the most effective method is the physical processing of paintwork. It consists in the fact that the surface of the body is affected by abrasive paste. The mechanical action is exerted by the fine particles contained in the working mass.

Usually polishing cars after painting by hand using abrasives is done in three stages. Each of them differs in the type of particle fraction acting on the surface. So, work begins with a large abrasive, and ends with a small fraction of a few microns. As an operating tool, a special device is used, which is supplied with soft disks. The latter are just treated with abrasive blends. The operation is performed in several approaches, and after the end of each of them, an abundant flushing of the paste with water is assumed.

Protective polishing

This is the final and most responsible stage of the whole event. In protective polishing, the two main tasks are to eliminate small scratches and form a barrier that, during operation, will protect the body from mechanical damages and the negative impact of precipitation. The same polishing machine will help to perform this operation, but with other pastes. In particular, wax-based mixtures are now common, which are retained for 6-7 washings. The most reliable polish polish after painting the car has a Teflon base. This is a durable protective coating that will serve more than 10 washes. But it is logical that this composition is much more expensive. Sometimes, by the way, experienced car owners combine two types of compounds, treating the most vulnerable areas with Teflon, and the protected areas with wax mixtures.

Are there any disadvantages to polishing?

All the disadvantages associated with polishing operations are reduced to inefficient use of abrasives. If light grinding in principle can not harm the surface of the body, then all types of polishing with abrasive compounds are theoretically able to leave even pronounced cuts on the coating. Therefore, the polishing of the varnish after painting the car with your own hands must be carried out with utmost care.

Often, beginning car enthusiasts, trying to quickly eliminate noticeable unevenness of the paint coating, begin to actively use pastes with large abrasives, which aggravates the situation. Eliminate the same cuts from abrasive with a coarse fraction will be partially helped by protective polishing, but even then not in all cases. Therefore, if there is no sufficient experience in performing such operations, it is better to use exclusively pastes with a fine fraction, which even the varnish coating will be extremely problematic to harm. Another thing is that the effect of eliminating significant unevenness will be small.

Conclusion

Car body treatment after the execution of paint and varnish procedures, in essence, is a typical way of maintaining the optimum state of the surface. That is, it can be performed and with the purpose of regular restoration of the coating. Only if polishing the car body after painting does the accent and on elimination of the defects formed during the process of applying the decorative composition, then in the usual format this operation is performed both for cleaning purposes and for restoration of the protective layer.

As already noted, wax or Teflon coatings on the average keep about 7-10 washes. Accordingly, after a certain time, the procedure will still have to be repeated, so that the paint and lacquer do not lose their original appearance.