As we know, the paintwork of a car is exposed to strong external influences every day. These include constant temperature changes and fine road dust, which at speed seems to eat into the paint, thereby forming microcracks.

Thanks to the polish, a thin layer appears on the paintwork protective layer, which prevents paint from fading and various deformations appearing on it. If you polish regularly, you will preserve that original quality. this type a car that was given to him by the manufacturer, without resorting to painting services at a service station.

Types of polishes

Before answering the question of how to polish a car with your own hands, let’s consider the varieties protective equipment. They are divided into two types. Protective polishing can be either Teflon or wax based. The difference between them lies in the duration of the protective function. For example, Teflon polishes can not lose their properties up to 7-8 washes. At the same time, wax analogues are washed off the second or third time.

How long does this procedure take?

As practice shows, polishing the body of a simple passenger car by hand takes from 30 to 50 minutes. The presence of special machines with attachments can speed up this process by 2-3 times.

Regularity of execution

How often should such work be done? Experts recommend polishing the car body at least once every 3-4 months. If you very rarely use vehicle(for example, only on weekends 1-2 times a week), it is enough to do the work once every six months. Is it possible to polish your car more often? Of course you can, it won't harm the car. But each time before use, the machine must be thoroughly washed to remove any remaining wax or Teflon substance. On dirty car Under no circumstances should you rub the polish. So you're only doing harm paint coating car - you press small particles of dust and deposits into it with your own hands.

How much does it cost in car services?

The service station will charge about 1 thousand rubles for such services. If you consider that the price of one tube of TEMRO polish costs up to 100 rubles, it becomes clear that doing this procedure yourself is much cheaper. Moreover, one bottle is usually enough for 2 times.

Abrasive polishing

A lot of workshops advertise such a service as abrasive polishing. It is also called restorative. This type of work is used in cases where the car needs to eliminate microcracks, scratches and other minor defects in the paintwork. Unlike simple protective polishing, this type of polishing requires more time and special tools.

This work consists of several stages: preparation of the paintwork (this is the removal of the top layer of coating) and leveling of abrasions.

It is worth considering that along with scratches, this polish also removes part of the paintwork itself. Therefore, it is recommended to use no more than 10 abrasive restoration cycles per car. If the number is higher, instead of paint and varnish, the polish will remove the primer.

How to polish a car with a polishing machine at home?

Oddly enough, polishing is quite possible to do at home. To do this, it is enough to have an electric drill or a small grinder and a special attachment. The latter is called a polishing pad. You can also buy ready-made machines for this kind of work in stores, but the result of the work will be the same whether with an angle grinder or with such a device.

The essence professional polishing is as follows: during friction, the block heats the paintwork, while the polish particles fill all small irregularities and crevices on the body with its particles.

Preparatory work

Regardless of whether you use special tools during work or an ordinary rag, the process of preparing the machine is the same. It includes several stages:

1. Complete car wash. We definitely do this before polishing the car. After painting, part of the paintwork should dry in the sun.

2. Removing various stains from insects, ingrained resin and dirt on the paintwork near the wheel arches. Here you can use various chemicals, such as white spirit, neosteril or gasoline.

3. Degreasing the surface. It is likely that in small areas of the body after application detergents traces remained. Such places usually have a cloudy appearance in the sun. In order for the polish to stay on the body for as long as possible, you should treat the entire perimeter of the paintwork with white spirit or other chemicals (but not abrasives). By the way, you can buy Hi-Gear deep cleaning product in auto stores. It is intended for degreasing such surfaces. It's very easy to use. First, shake the bottle well, then apply the substance to a soft piece of rags and rub evenly over the entire area of ​​the body.

As a result of this, you will see the car noticeably fresher in appearance.

Polishing

So, how to polish a car after preparing the paintwork? Let's start with the bottles themselves. Polishes can be either in tubes (a thick mass) or in plastic jars (a mixture of mass with liquid). In the latter case, shake the bottle thoroughly before use.

Then we get to work. The polish should be applied to the body sequentially, in sections of 50x50 centimeters, starting from the front bumper and hood, ending with the trunk and roof. By the way, the roof can be divided into 4 parts and polished in several stages.

Determine for yourself how to apply the mass to the surface of the body. This can be done either with small circular ribbons or in the form of dots. If your polish is in a metal tube, do not touch the surface of the paintwork with it under any circumstances - it leaves gray prints that are very difficult to remove.

Applying the mixture evenly to the body, wait time (usually 1 minute) until it dries a little. After this, take a soft rag in your hands and rub the mass until it turns into a transparent, shiny film. How to polish a car with a machine? The process can be said to be similar. Only here, instead of a rag, you use a drill with an attachment. When using such a tool, it is important to remember that the polish should be rubbed with even force. You should not put all your weight on the body, as you can damage the paintwork itself. If you want to know how to properly polish a car with a machine, remember that the tool must work around the entire perimeter where this mass is applied. Move it left and right, up and down, or process in a circular motion.

During work, do not allow the polish to dry out. Remember that the dried mass will not turn into a thin film - it will simply scatter in pieces in the other direction.

The shrinkage period of the polish is 24 hours. At this time, you can travel by car, but it is best to refrain from them for a day in order to protective film finally fixed on the paintwork of the body.

How to polish a car after painting?

It is worth noting that this type of work is somewhat different from the usual application of protective mass. The fact is that polishing after painting includes a whole range of work using special equipment and car cosmetics. It is done 3-4 weeks after painting. This is necessary so that the varnish settles and does not form dips during polishing. Also, such work includes the elimination of various scratches and irregularities that could appear from high humidity or negative influences. environment. By the way, before polishing the car, you need to rub it in places with fine-grained sandpaper. The technology for this work is very complex, so it cannot be done without the hands of professionals.

Conclusion

So, we found out how to polish a car manually and using a machine.

As you can see, the process is not very complicated and not very long. Therefore, it makes sense to learn the skills of using polish on your own, and spend the saved 3-4 thousand on a pair of new tires, pads or other spare parts.

Polishing a car in a car service expensive pleasure. It will be more profitable to buy a special tool and materials for polishing once and do this process yourself. We will talk about what materials to choose and in what sequence to carry out the actions.

Preparatory procedures and precautions

Before we begin the polishing itself, we will announce a list of equipment that you may need.

List of required materials

• Car wash shampoo.
• A hard cloth or sponge.
• White Spirit.
• Polishing machine.
• Polishing pastes.

Preparatory stage

1. Polishing is best done in a garage or outside in calm, non-sunny weather to avoid dust and direct sunlight on the body. Polishes should not be used in the sun or at high temperatures.
2. Inspect the body for bitumen, tar or dirt. Thoroughly . Clean everything that is not washed off with water a second time using White Spirit. Wait until the coating is completely dry.
3. Polishing in the cold season (if the process takes place outside) should also be avoided.
4. Parts that do not need polishing must be sealed with tape or masking paper, because... When polish gets on them, stains form.
5. Provide good illumination of the space in which the object to be polished will be located.
6. Carry out polishing away from other cars if you do not want to then scrub off paint stains on nearby modes of transport.
7. If the surface of the car has recently been painted over the entire area or in spots, then you should not polish it. The polish will prevent the paint from drying out quickly, the paintwork will remain soft and will soon age. Wait 2 months.

Body polishing process

Polishing can be done either manually or mechanically using a polishing machine. Let's consider both methods.

Polished by hand.

1. Shake the tube of polish thoroughly before use.
2. Apply polishing paste to a hard cloth. Wait 10 seconds for the composition to dry and absorb. Rub it over the body in a circular motion. However, do not overdo it with the thickness of the polishing layer.
3. Polishing is best done in small islands, without covering large areas. Because The polish dries quickly and may polish unevenly.
4. Polish until the surface becomes shiny. Each section requires a minimum of 15 repeated circular movements.
5. After treating two or three surfaces, rinse the sponge with water; if you use polishing cloths, change them more often.

Mechanical polishing

Polishing by hand is quite a labor-intensive activity and requires diligence and speed. A lighter option is to polish the body with a polishing machine. This type of polishing is used for.

1. We put a rough polishing wheel on the polishing machine.
2. Start polishing with a coarse abrasive paste.
3. Apply 20 grams of paste immediately to the surface. The paste should be spread over the entire area.
4. Turn on the machine at low speed and start polishing. The movements should be cross-shaped (first horizontal, then vertical). The circle of the machine should be located parallel to the area being processed.
5. Repeat the procedure twice, and then increase the speed and do the same until you achieve a shine.
6. Wipe off the remaining paste with a special napkin or microfiber cloth.
7. Repeat the entire procedure on another polishing area.
8. Having treated the entire body with a paste with a coarse abrasive, proceed to the same treatment with a paste with a fine abrasive.
9. Don't forget to rinse the polishing pad with warm water.
10. In hard-to-reach places, it is recommended to polish manually.
11. The final touch will be polishing the body with a non-abrasive paste.
12. In addition to everything, you can apply a special protective polish twice. It prevents corrosion and ensures a long lasting shine. Protective polishing, as a rule, are carried out twice a year, more often in winter and spring.
13. Pour water over the car; if the water collects in large puddles and flows off the body, it means the polishing process was successful. Complete drying will occur in a day, but you can drive the car after three hours.

Expert opinion:

Why do you need to polish your car? First of all, it is necessary to ensure that the car retains its original appearance for as long as possible. In addition, the polishing layer protects the surface of the machine from the destructive effects of moisture. This is why polishing is extremely important for any car! In this article we will tell you about what polishing is, how often it needs to be done and how to polish a car yourself. Polishing your car yourself will help you save significantly on car care, and also guarantees you excellent result.

Car polishing

Car polishing" can be used for different purposes, depending on which it is divided into 2 types:

1. protective polishing of the car body, glass and headlights - it must be done 2 times a year (before winter season and with the onset of spring). The purpose of this type of polishing is to protect the car’s paintwork from an aggressive external environment (snow, rain, wind, pieces of bitumen, asphalt, insects, etc. falling on the surface of the car). The essence of the procedure is that the entire surface of the machine is treated with non-abrasive substances, which are “absorbed” into the existing layer of varnish and paint;
2. abrasive polishing of the body, glass and headlights of a car - it is carried out only if there are serious deficiencies in the car’s coating (deep cracks, scratches that cling if you run a fingernail across them, small chips and other defects). The purpose of this type of polishing is to restore the appearance of the car. Its essence lies in the fact that with the help of highly abrasive materials (pastes, liquids, aerosols, sandpaper and special grinding discs), the damaged surface layer is “cleaned off”, and in its place a new layer of polish is applied, which restores the surface.

It is also worth noting that all car polishing substances differ in the form of release and in their composition. Depending on the form of release, they come in the form of:

• thick pastes - the most effective in work,
• liquids - less effective than thick pastes, and also inconvenient to work with vertical surfaces,
• aerosols are the least effective, but at the same time the cheapest option for reducing agents, giving only a cosmetic effect.

As for the composition of all “autochemicals”, they are made either on a wax basis (animal or plant origin) or on a polymer basis. At the same time, polymer products are more preferable because, although they are not cheap, they are more durable and of higher quality. The most reliable manufacturers of “autochemicals” are “ZM”, “R-M”, “Meguiars”, “SIA”, “Sonax”, “Wurth”.

Do-it-yourself car body polishing

Now it’s time to talk about how to polish a car body with your own hands. Let’s make a reservation right away: this process is labor-intensive, requiring attentiveness and patience. First of all, make sure that you perform polishing in suitable conditions - ideally, if it is a garage or any other room that prevents sunlight from reaching the surface of the car. Choose a day that is not very hot, because in the heat the ether and solvent will quickly evaporate from the polish, as a result of which it dries out quickly, making the work more difficult. Make sure that the room is very clean - any ingress of sand or dust during the polishing process will play a cruel joke on you.

The entire polishing process can be divided into stages.

Stage No. 1 – preparatory. First, the car needs to be washed and dried, removing bitumen, insect and plant residues with special detergents.

Stage No. 2 – degreasing the surface. This is necessary in order to ensure better adhesion of the polish and varnish. You need to degrease the surface in parts, using special deep cleaning products and soft flannel rags.

Stage No. 3 – actual polishing. It can also be divided into 2 stages depending on the complexity of the damage. If the surface is severely damaged, then first of all it will need to be treated with a thick product with low abrasiveness (600 or 1000). If you are polishing your car by hand, then shake the tube with the product and apply the product directly from the bottle onto a 50x50 cm area of ​​the surface, let it dry for 2 minutes and wipe the product off the surface using special polishing cloths in a circular motion. A special machine for polishing a car with 1500-4000 rpm, which is a hand drill with a grinding disk onto which special grinding surfaces are secured using Velcro, can save time and effort.

When grinding with abrasives is completed, the time comes for non-abrasive products, which are applied and polished similarly to abrasives, but at lower speeds (1000-1500 rpm). It would be great if the final stage of work was to apply a protective polisher at a speed of 3000-4000 rpm. It will fix the base polish, extending its service life.

Now all that remains is to check the quality of the work: pour water over the car. If it collects on the surface in large drops and does not just flow down, then everything is fine! After polishing, leave the car to “rest” for 24 hours, and you are ready to drive!

Car glass polishing

The second most important procedure is polishing car windows. Of course, when the windows become cloudy, making it difficult to see the road, the easiest way is to buy and install new ones, but this is expensive. It is more economical to polish your car glass to prevent scratches. In this subsection we will tell you how to polish a car with minor damage.

First we wash the car, especially the windows. Then we outline all the damage from the inside with a marker so as not to lose sight of them during the work. Now we cover the car with film, cutting it in the places we will work with. We secure the film with masking tape to protect the surfaces from splashes and polish.

Now we begin the actual work with the glass. Wash damaged areas with special glass cleaners. While the glass is drying, prepare the polishing compound by diluting the polishing powder with water. As a result, we get a creamy substance. We also need a spray bottle with clean water. Apply polish to a felt disc on a drill and rub it on the glass. Then we connect the polisher and process the surfaces with slow movements at a speed of 1500-1700 rpm, periodically spraying the glass with water from a spray bottle. At the end of polishing, we wipe the glass with paper napkins and check them against the light.

Do-it-yourself headlight polishing

Polishing headlights with your own hands, just like polishing glass, will help solve the issue of improving visibility on the road. If you find that the headlights illuminate the road less well, do not rush to change the lamps. Perhaps simply polishing the headlights yourself at home will solve the problem. At its core, polishing headlights is similar to polishing glass. To remove small scratches and cracks in the headlights, it is necessary to remove the surface protective layer of plastic and fill these defects with special polishing agents. Naturally, after polishing, you need to cover the headlights with transparent acrylic, which will perform the protective function of the headlight glasses.

We begin polishing the headlight by protecting the car body with film and masking tape. After this we clean the headlights using special means or vinegar solution, and then wipe them dry with a rag. If the headlight requires polishing from the inside, then we remove it from the car. In all other cases, we polish right on the spot.

Similar to polishing the body and glass, we first treat the surfaces with abrasives with a grit of 1000 or 1500 using a polishing machine and felt discs.

Then we alternately apply products with an abrasiveness of 2000 and 2500 to the headlights. This is necessary in order to remove the consequences of the previous product. Periodically during the processing process, pour water over the headlight to wash away particles of plastic and abrasives. As a result of our work, we get a matte surface onto which we apply car polishing pastes of varying abrasiveness. After these products, apply a polisher to the surface of the headlight and rub it at 1200-1500 rpm using a polishing machine. At the end, we rub the polishing residues with special velvet or microfiber napkins and admire the results of the work!

A brand new car is scary to even breathe in, let alone operate it. And the slightest scratch, chip or microcrack, which can only be seen under a microscope, disheartens the car owner. Although such shortcomings have no effect on reliability, controllability and technical characteristics, they spoil both the car owner’s mood and mood.

What needs to be done to get rid of such annoying shortcomings? Everything is quite easy to fix - you just need to polish the car body. Car polishing is required from time to time for every car, and is very important if the car owner wants to maintain a decent appearance of the vehicle for a long time. Many people wonder how to properly polish a car so as not to damage it even more?

Polishing on time

You shouldn’t think that you need to polish your car almost every day, no. The owner can decide for himself when this needs to be done, but he shouldn’t polish the body too often either. As a result, if you take the wrong approach, you can only ruin everything.

The best solution is to carry out polishing work once every six months is enough to keep the car in good condition.

Polishing tool and polish

Should I choose a polishing machine or a sponge? Naturally, a polishing sponge and work with its use require sufficient time and effort, since the process is long and labor-intensive, but it is the safest. And polishing the body using a machine requires extreme care, since careless, and even more careless, handling can damage the paintwork even more.

Although the advantages of working with a polishing machine include quite high quality polishing, the price of such equipment is much higher than that of a simple sponge. Therefore, for the most part, this is what car owners choose.

When purchasing a polish, you should pay attention to its composition and focus more on the chosen polishing method. Plus, there are both classic types of polishes and synthetic ones, with resistance to temperature changes, chemical reagents and ultraviolet radiation.

Polishing process

The most important thing at the beginning of the process is to clean the car of any kind of contamination. The car must be thoroughly washed with a special shampoo. After the car has dried, it needs to be inspected again to identify any remaining dirt, corrosion and bitumen stains.

The body prepared for polishing must be clean and always dry; even drops of water or residues of any cleaning agents are unacceptable.

Lighting is very important when working. You should not work in the hot sun, sunlight can hide some defects from the car owner’s eyes, and the body can overheat, which will deteriorate the paintwork. It is best to carry out work on a cloudy but not rainy day.

Next, you can begin to directly eliminate coating defects. The most deep scratches You can try to eliminate it with a special pencil. And although the pencil is not able to completely remove the defect, it will make it almost invisible.

It is better to polish each area with a defect separately, since the polish tends to dry quickly. It is applied to the surface of the car body and rubbed with gentle circular movements. Do not put too much force on the sponge, as it may ultimately damage the paintwork even more. In this case, it is imperative to monitor the coating itself so as not to cause harm.

Polishing process using a machine

For polishing you need a machine that has attachments of different hardness. Plus, you need to purchase polishing paste for it. There is no need to try to save on the appearance of the car, this is of no use, so it is best to purchase three types of paste, which contains large abrasive particles, small ones, and the complete absence of abrasive.

You need to start by using the coarsest paste. A small amount should be applied to the defective area, and smeared with a machine with a hard circle installed on it. To avoid damaging the coating, use the machine at the lowest speed.

This is followed by exactly the same treatment with fine abrasive paste. In this case, you need to change the roller on the machine, and moisten the new one a little with water. The previously treated area should be wiped with a dry cloth to remove dust. The last step is to apply a non-abrasive paste and then rub it over the surface of the body. The final treatment requires a different, softer roller, and higher speed rotation. To consolidate the excellent result, you should apply polish and after the entire procedure, admire the radiant appearance of the car for another six months.

Video

For a detailed process of polishing a car, watch the following video:

To maintain a chic appearance of your car, you don’t have to be loaded to the brim with expensive equipment. It is possible to polish a car at home using available tools. By and large, car care is not difficult, but it requires regularity. If the vehicle does not participate in a rally or safari, but is used for travel on city roads, then polish its body using restorative polishes that require the use of special tool, will be needed no more than once a year. The rest of the time you can use protective compounds based on wax or silicone, which are easily applied using soft rags accumulated at home or napkins or towels specially purchased for this purpose. If you polish a car in this way once every two to three months, then its body will be in excellent condition almost all the time.

Polishing machine to the rescue

A polishing machine certainly speeds up the process, and the prices for these products are far from prohibitive, so it’s still better to have one in your bins. Then polishing the car body at home will not be difficult. You can watch the video to see how this work is done and repeat the techniques you like most in your garage. A polishing machine can be used not only on cars, so if you learn how to use it, then it will not remain idle.

Using a polishing machine to make your car shine allows you to:

• reduce polishing time several times;
• significantly improve the quality of work;
• use thick polishing compounds that adhere well to the surface;
• significantly simplify the work.

Regardless of whether you have a tool in your home arsenal or decide to do it the old fashioned way, the car must be thoroughly washed before treatment, and the room must be wet cleaned. The paintwork is very sensitive to the smallest microparticles, so any grain of sand that gets on the body can scratch it. Particular care must be taken when polishing a black car.

When working with such cars, tools or rags must be carefully inspected to ensure that they do not contain traces of old paint or dirt. It is better to use the softest types of rags, napkins and discs. Light-colored cars are less picky about the quality of the material, but it is still not recommended to use hard fabrics.

When using a polishing machine, the composition is applied in small portions to the car body and then to average speed rotation is evenly rubbed. There is no need to rush anywhere; you need to polish the car in sections, step by step. Perhaps the most important point of the job is the position of the tool.

To properly polish a car, the disc must be strictly parallel to the surface being treated. If the angle of inclination is changed, you can damage the body by scratching it, which will significantly complicate the restoration of the paintwork.

During operation, the surface heats up, due to which the polish fills microcracks, protecting the metal of the structure from possible corrosion. In this way, you should polish the entire car, which after the procedure will begin to shine like new. But this will happen only after repeated washing, which will wash away the stains that have formed on the surface and hide the induced beauty.

Rags and napkins

Some types of polishes do not require the use of a polishing machine and all you need is a rag or napkins. They are presented with several important requirements:

• absence of lint, dirt and dried paint;
• softness;
• hygroscopicity.

Aerosol compositions make it possible to perfectly polish a car at home using such improvised means, but unfortunately, the life of such treatment will not be very long. Liquid glass also does not require the use of a polishing machine. A car body coated with it will look like new for more than a year. There is currently no better polish than this one, and its use can only be limited by a very high price.

Most suitable material in order to polish a car, it is microfiber, which has an ideal structure for this.

Although working with a rag or napkin is even easier than using a machine, there are still a lot of nuances and subtleties that may not be clear the first time. Therefore, before polishing a car, it is better to watch a video of how it is done. Technologically, work with a polishing wheel and a rag is very similar, only it takes place on different speeds. The process also occurs sequentially, in small sections. Manual polishing is convenient when you need to process not the entire car, but a small section of it. In other cases, this is titanic work, accessible to few. Anyone who tries to thoroughly polish a car to a shine a couple of times will definitely go to the store before the third time and buy at least a simple polishing machine.

What is better to choose for polishing the body at home?

To make your car look expensive, you should not buy any professional polishing equipment in specialized stores. The essence of polishing can be explained in simple terms as follows: you take a polishing machine with a special attachment and begin to process the body with it, heating the car's paint. Due to friction, the paint heats up and fills all the irregularities present on the body. To prevent the coating from becoming faded, you should not get carried away with this method of updating the color of your car and reduce such procedures to once a year. If you want to maintain the gloss of your car at a decent level, it is enough to rub your car with car wax once every 2-3 months. Follow the recommendations below and your car will be sparkling like new in just a couple of hours.

Instructions for polishing a car at home

STEP ONE: First, wash the car by hand in the shade, out of direct sunlight. Wash the car thoroughly, but do not wipe it dry.

Tech Tip: Polishing a machine, using special electrical equipment, is very difficult process and we recommend that you do it away from other cars, pets and walls that you don't want to scrub paint off later. Use the softest cloth possible when polishing a dark-colored car, as this color is the most sensitive to mechanical surface treatment. For cars of lighter shades, you can use a coarser material.

STEP TWO: Place a clean, slightly damp buffing pad on the buffing wheel and apply a moderate coat of auto polish to one of the body parts. Spread the polish evenly over the entire selected area of ​​the car using a buffing wheel at medium speed. The whole secret is that the circle of the machine is parallel to the surface being processed. This will avoid unexpected scratches or unevenness. When polishing, apply equal force by moving the machine back and forth across the entire surface of the element. As the clear coat heats up and the paint becomes warm to the touch, the scratches will begin to fade. You will be able to see this only after finishing the work and washing the car again. After finishing work with one part of the body, move on to the next one, following the same pattern.

Technical advice : Do not apply polish to the entire car at once, but only to the one you are polishing. Also remember to keep the surface to be treated damp.

STEP THREE: If necessary, stop, or upon completion of work, wash the polishing nozzle with strong pressure from the tap so that there are no pieces of melted paint left on it, as well as dried polish, which can subsequently scratch the surface of the next car being processed.

Tech Tip: The outer edges of the rotating circle move faster than the middle, and therefore wear out much faster. Keep this in mind when processing the following parts of the car: mirrors, car emblems, complex bumper contours, which can be polished using only the outer edge of the circle.

STEP FOUR: Wash the car by hand again after completing all work, Special attention Pay attention to the doors, trunk, hood and jambs of the car. Let the car dry completely. In the meantime, while the car is drying, you can familiarize yourself with the polishing of which you may soon want to master!)

STEP FIVE: Apply a layer of special car wax to the surface of the body, which will help hide all the swirls left behind. polishing machine and remaining surface defects. Apply a 60:40 mixture of wax and polish to the grinding wheel. Spread the wax over the surface of the body with forward and backward movements at medium speed, but with constant pressure.

STEP SIX (final): While the wax dries, wash the remaining parts of the car (windows, interior elements, etc.). Wipe off any remaining wax with a microfiber towel. Remember that bath towels or rags can damage the surface you have so carefully polished.

That's it, the job is finished! Now you can take your car out into the sun, invite your family, friends, neighbors and celebrate your car's second birthday.

If our article was able to encourage you to update the body of your car, namely polishing it at home, we are ready to help you with other types of work. Subscribe to our blog and follow the instructions that we regularly publish on the site.

If you notice small scratches on the surface of the car, do not despair. You can easily remove them yourself without a polishing machine.

It will be possible to completely remove scratches only if they are of insignificant depth. If the scratch reaches the ground or metal, then it is ideal smooth surface It won't work, but they will become less noticeable. If rust spots appear on the surface of the body, then hand polishing won't help either. In this case, it is better to paint or overhaul the part rather than polish it.

When you can get by with polishing by hand:

• the paint layer has faded;
• cloudy spots appeared;
• minor scratches and roughness;
• enamel stains;
• graininess, shagreen;
• if the color does not match, after tinting.

How to polish a car with your own hands without a polishing machine:

• wash the part that has scratches well;
• treat it with fine sandpaper and water;
• rub with car polish;
• coat with protective polish.

If you suddenly find that the polished part shines brighter than the whole car, then it's time to polish the whole thing. This can also be done without a polisher. Just take G-3 paste and rub the car, sprinkling it with water periodically. Then rinse everything off and apply G-10 paste. It should be taken into account that both of these polishes are abrasive, and they must be used in moderation and carefully so as not to erase the paintwork of the car.

With each abrasive treatment, approximately 5 microns of the paint layer is erased. That is, about 15 polishes can be done on a new car without losing the quality of the paint. But before polishing a used car, it is better to use a thickness gauge. And only after determining the actual thickness of the paint layer, make a decision about polishing.

The work should be completed with any preservative paste. To add shine and protect the paint.

Types of polishing:

• restorative;
• protective;
• soft.

To treat dark spots or dull spots on a new car, a protective polish is sufficient; it should not contain abrasive particles.

Polishing a car yourself takes a lot of time. You will spend a lot of effort to give your car a beautiful, even shine. But this allows you to save a certain amount of money. And control the polishing process yourself.

You might also like:

How to choose a telescope for viewing the stars? Spyglass Review 2017

The best electric planer of 2017. How to choose an electric planer for your dacha

How to fix a dent on a car without painting

What is better world of tanks or war thunder – pros and cons

Your car is painted, varnished, looks perfect and is ready to go. But for an impeccable result, it’s worth staying a little longer in the workshop so that polishing the car becomes the final stage and allows the freshly applied paintwork to become mirror-like.

Many amateur painters will find this step unnecessary. They say the paint is applied perfectly, smudges have been eliminated, the coating is varnished, protecting the paintwork from damage and other troubles. What else do you need for happiness? Some put their cars up for sale, others drive them themselves.

Necessity

However, it is worth considering that polishing a car allows you to:

• prevent paint scratches;
• eliminate defects;
• close microcracks in varnish;
• increase the reflectivity of the body surface.

Materials and tools

To begin the final stage of the entire painting cycle, you need to prepare:

• pieces of rubber of various densities;
• grinding machine set;
• a set of polishing wheels (soft, dense);
• bag;
• bucket (basin);
• an old toothbrush;
• medium width tape;
• sandpaper (grit from 1500 to 3000);
• a set of polishing pastes (abrasive, medium-abrasive, non-abrasive).

Technology

Polishing a car consists of the following stages:

You should start polishing your car yourself by preparing your workplace – the garage. Anyone who painted a car in this room already has prepared lighting, consisting of a pair of powerful spotlights of 1 thousand W each, as well as a portable lamp for working in hard-to-reach places. It should be as clean as possible, free of dust, and the floor should be moistened (everything is the same as before painting). There is nothing unnecessary in the room so that you can open the car doors freely.

Preparing a car involves visiting a car wash or washing it yourself. Alternatively, wash the body part by part, immediately before starting polishing.

It is equally important to know how long after painting you can polish your car in the garage. The time interval depends on several factors during which painting and drying were carried out:

• ambient temperature;
• humidity;
• density, thickness of paintwork.

At a constant temperature in the range of 18-25 degrees Celsius, with moderate humidity, it is enough to withstand three days. You can check the readiness of the body for the next cycle of work: press your finger on the paintwork in an inconspicuous place. If there are no traces left, then the coating has dried completely and you can start working.

To fully master the technology and know how to properly polish a car, you need to master grinding. At this stage it is done like this. Using sandpaper, the entire surface of the part is rubbed. The number must be selected depending on the resulting shagreen paintwork. It is better to remove large ones with a cloth R1500 - 2500; for small ones you can use R2000, R2500.

Grinding

It is important to decide which method will be used for sanding: wet or dry. If there are no restrictions on access to water, it is better to use the first option. It consists of constantly washing paper and body parts from traces of varnish and paint and provides a sufficient degree of elasticity and softness.

But to verify the result you have to wait until the surface dries. When using dry grinding, you have to deal with constant wear and tear on the sandpaper. Small pores are constantly clogged with dust, which is why the material has to be changed frequently. Experts in workshops often use the first grinding option as it is more effective.

Before you polish your car in the garage, you need to carefully rub it down. In the end zones, it is enough to perform a couple of movements so as not to fray the edges of the body part along the perimeter. Everything needs to be done carefully and smoothly. It is better to start work from the top section - the roof. You can move on to the next fragment after the glossy effect disappears. When performing work, do not allow a grain of sand to scratch the varnish layer.

Process nuances

This stage begins by applying abrasive paste to a small area. You can try to coat the polishing circle itself (the lighter one). The machine is set to the minimum mode using a dial located near the handle.

To determine whether a metal surface is sufficiently polished, you need to compare it with other parts. After treatment, it should shine more than after varnishing (evenly and without matte baldness).

The following two pastes are used using the same technology: first medium-abrasive, then non-abrasive.

Here are some tips on how to properly polish your car:

1. The body can be slightly moistened with water so that the paste does not dry out.
2. Clean the wheel from adhering paste to achieve maximum polishing efficiency.
3. If the surface being treated overheats, it means it’s time to move on to a new area, and then, if necessary, return to the cooled one.
4. If you do not set the speed to low, the applied paste will scatter to the sides. After working at low speeds, you can add a little, but do not exceed 2500 per minute.
5. Before using a non-abrasive paste, the surface is washed and the wheel is changed to another.
6. While using the grinder, you need to watch the cord so that it does not come into contact with the surface of the body, otherwise scratches cannot be avoided. Experts recommend throwing the power cord over your shoulder or enlisting the help of a partner.
7. If the machine is not held perpendicular to the surface, but at an angle, streaks will form.
8. It is unacceptable to touch plastic elements around. They can be irreversibly damaged due to exposure to abrasive paste and hot rotating wheels.
9. It is enough to lightly walk along the ends, but do not cling to the edges of the corners, so as not to damage the circle.

Now you know how to polish a car after painting it yourself. To ensure that the work is completed completely, the car is thoroughly washed. This is where having a toothbrush comes in handy. This extraordinary tool will help remove lumps of paste from crevices and corners. Within a few hours of hard work, the result will be obtained.

After the car is washed, you can begin manual rubbing with finishing paste. It is applied to the surface using a dry, lint-free cloth.

Before polishing a car after painting, many motorists have doubts about the need for this labor-intensive and somewhat costly process. However, it is worth listening to the opinions of experts who recommend polishing.

The procedure for using polish can be repeated. After all, depending on the brand, it can withstand from 4-8 to 8-12 wash visits. Repeated applications of the composition will not require sanding.

The information will be useful for novice painters and car enthusiasts.

Expert: Andrey Volkov.

Any car enthusiast knows that his vehicle is not kept in greenhouse conditions, and is therefore susceptible to the negative influence of harmful environmental factors. During the operation of the machine, small cracks, chips and scratches inevitably form on its paintwork. As a result, the car loses its presentable appearance. And what’s most unpleasant is that damage to the body can lead to the development of corrosion. To prevent this, it is necessary to polish the car in a timely manner.

To successfully polish a car body from scratches with your own hands, you should take care to create optimal conditions for the work.

• the surface of the machine must be absolutely clean and dry;
• Polishing should be done in a closed, clean room with good ventilation and no dust;
• It makes sense to take care of high-quality artificial lighting. To achieve the best result, you should clearly see the surface of the car from all angles.

Before carrying out the procedure, you will need to remove all dents, and apply special tape to significant scratches and chips. If deep polishing of scratches is planned, the damage is processed separately.

Important! You should not polish in direct sunlight, as the polish dries out instantly, and this leads to stains and stains.

Only by following the above rules can you polish your iron horse no worse than in car dealerships, and at the same time win significantly financially.

Scratches before polishing

Choosing a polish for a car body

Before purchasing specialized compounds, you need to assess the general condition of the car’s surface and the degree of damage. If there are no visually visible defects, but the color has faded and the shine has been lost, a simple protective polish will solve the problem.

If there is a network of small scratches on the body, clearly visible on a clean car on a fine day, it is recommended to purchase two types of polish - with abrasive particles and a composition with a low content of abrasive elements. Products of the first composition are able to clean the varnish layer from the depths of scratches. The severity of the damage should be taken into account. For deep cracks, you need to buy highly abrasive pastes.

Please note that products with hard particles intensively remove the varnish layer and make the surface more vulnerable. Therefore, after using them, you cannot do without applying a protective composition.

In addition to the composition, polishes can be classified according to parameters such as cost, scope and consistency:

• paste polishes- have a dense consistency and are suitable for polishing scratches on any area of ​​the car body. The price of such products is quite high, but the pastes are enriched with elements responsible for color saturation;
• liquid polishes- they are used mainly for processing the hood, roof and trunk of a car, since they spread over vertical surfaces. However, they can polish the car thoroughly and for a long time without fear of erasing the paintwork down to the ground;
• aerosol passwords- easy to apply, easy to use. But the components in the cylinder for effective spraying contain a very small amount of polishing materials.

Polishing scratches on a car body is carried out using selected products and can be done either manually or using a polishing machine or drill. It depends on the severity of the imperfections on the surface of the car.

Stages of simple polishing of a car body

Simple polishing of the surface of the machine can also be called preventative. Car enthusiasts who care about their iron horse will perform it once every 3-4 months. This procedure eliminates minor damage to the car and gives it a flawless shine. The process itself is absolutely not complicated and does not take much time and effort.

The required amount of polish should be applied to a soft, lint-free cloth and distributed evenly. (If an aerosol is used, it must be applied directly to the surface of the car.) The composition on the fabric should dry until white plaque- then it will be possible to polish it effectively. Next, the body is treated with smooth circular movements until an intense shine appears.

Stages of deep polishing of a car body

In order to get rid of significant scratches on the car body, the deep polishing method is used. It is necessary to have certain skills and be armed with knowledge about the procedure in order to get a truly high-quality result. In addition, the process takes a long time, but the change appearance cars are far away better side worth it.

First you need to prepare tools for deep (abrasive) polishing:

1. Pastes of various types - abrasive, non-abrasive and with a medium content of abrasive particles.
2. Polishing machine.
3. Polishing wheels.
4. Sandpaper P2000 and P2500.
5. Soft rubber scraper.
6. Any soft, lint-free cloth.
7. Water in a spray bottle.

Abrasive polishing of a car surface should be carried out in stages:

• cut the sandpaper into small pieces and soak in water to soften it;
• rub the scratched areas with sandpaper, while using a scraper and water to remove the cleaned particles from the surface;
• Sprinkle the area to be treated with water and apply a polishing machine with the hardest wheel (white) to it. Before turning on the equipment, apply and evenly distribute a highly abrasive compound on the wheel;
• After polishing all areas, wash the car with car shampoo.

Wing before and after polishing

The grinding machine must be selected taking into account the ability to easily adjust the speed. Polishing a car should begin from the very low revs

machines - 900 per minute, then you should increase the speed to 2000 rpm.

Important! During the polishing process, you should never put too much pressure on the machine - this can lead to damage to the paintwork.

The work process should proceed smoothly and calmly, without unnecessary fuss and haste. Particular care must be taken when processing edges and corners of the body. After polishing an area, you need to thoroughly wipe it with a damp cloth, evaluate the result of the work, and only then proceed to other areas. In this way, the entire body is gradually polished.

The polishing machine moves completely effortlessly across the surface of the car as long as there is sufficient quantity pasta and water. In case of overheating, it is necessary to turn off the equipment, let it cool down and only then apply water and continue working.

After washing the car with car shampoo, let it dry and then apply a protective polishing compound that does not contain abrasive particles. But wax will also work. It can simply be dripped onto the body and distributed with light movements without rubbing. After drying, you need to remove excess wax with a soft napkin or rag.

Properly carried out deep polishing of scratches on a car body with your own hands guarantees the return of the car to a practically new appearance and gives a second, if not a third life to the paintwork on the surface.