{"id":13186,"date":"2019-09-27T13:17:32","date_gmt":"2019-09-27T12:17:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theultimatefinish.co.uk\/car-care-blog\/?p=13186"},"modified":"2024-04-04T07:37:29","modified_gmt":"2024-04-04T06:37:29","slug":"machine-polishing-whats-it-all-about","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theultimatefinish.co.uk\/car-care-blog\/polishing\/machine-polishing-whats-it-all-about\/","title":{"rendered":"Machine Polishing – What’s It All About?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Machine<\/a><\/p>\n

Keeping a vehicle’s paintwork in perfect condition is a time consuming and tricky job. All too often it falls victim to swirls from poor washing techniques, scratches from hedges, etching from bird droppings and even marks caused by acid rain fallout. Removing these blemishes by hand can be incredibly labour intensive and some of these defects cannot be removed without the mechanical intervention of Machine polishing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Once the purview of the professional detailer, Machine Polishing has become increasingly popular with the car care enthusiast and advances in technology have made the process easier for the novice to achieve great results. In this article we take a look at the variety of defects likely to be encountered and the different types of machine polishers available in order to tackle them safely and effectively.<\/p>\n

The paintwork on your car is made up of different layers. First, the bare metal body panel is coated with a primer, typically a greyish white colour, to ensure the paint adheres more efficiently to the surface and increases the paint’s durability. The base coat (colour) is then layered over the top, the total thickness of which varies with manufacturer. Then, to protect the colour pigment, a clearcoat (lacquer) is applied on top. This provides an optically clear sealant that enhances both the colour and gloss and helps protect the base coat from being scratched or oxidised. Importantly, the clearcoat also contains UV protective elements designed to inhibit fading caused by the sun’s UV rays. The UV protective elements are lighter than the other sealing elements and tend to settle towards the upper layers as the clearcoat cures, an important point to remember when machine polishing. You can read more about clearcoats in our Car Care & Detailing Guide: 10.4: Clearcoats Explained<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Paint Finish Types:<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Clearcoat lacquers can vary greatly in hardness. Typically, German clearcoats are highly scratch resistant, developed over time to cope with their laws on waste water which prevent cars from being washed at home, as we would do here in the UK. On the other hand, paintwork on Italian marques can be much softer, but there are no guaranteed rules as to which cars will have a certain type of finish. Harder paints will require more effort to remove defects, softer paintwork typically may be trickier to refine. You can read more about paint finishes on different car marques in our Car Care & Detailing Guide: 10.5: How Hard Is My Paint?<\/a><\/p>\n

Paint Defects:<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Paint defects have many causes and they all have the potential to affect different layers within the overall paint finish. Here’s a look at the different types of commonly found paintwork blemishes.<\/p>\n

\"Commonly<\/a><\/p>\n