Car Polishing Or Car Waxing?

Car polishing or car waxing? Often i got customers who are not too sure of what is suitable for them when they enquire about the types of car grooming services. The 2 terms are widely used locally and in general it means 'shine my car'.

Here's my definitions of the 2 processes :)

Car polishing - it is the process to make the surface smooth and gleaming with chemical activity or rubbing with abrasives (car polish). We use the hand polish method and hand held polishing tool method which is commonly known as 'machine polishing' method. Car waxing - it is the process to coat or fill the surface with automotive wax. We have the hand waxing method and the machine waxing method as well.
The machine polishing method was introduce into the grooming industry to speed things up and perform jobs/ tasks that hand polishing method cannot achieve but we still use the hand polishing method for tight areas and the final 'Midas' finish.
Products shown above is Rainaway Nanowax which is a wax in paste form and we use the hand waxing method to utilize it. I hope i haven't confuse things further, the followings pictures will help visualize which processes that your car may require. Strong lighting aids the identification of the paint defects. The sharp edges of the scratches and edges of etch marks reflect light when the strong light is casted.

The pictures shown above are rides with good paint conditions, you can use the hand waxing method regularly to maintain the shine and lustre. You really do not need machine to come into the picture at this point whereby the paint conditions are near flawless. The next set of pictures shown below is a different ball game. Bird's poo/ tree saplings etch marks (above) or acidic etch marks Water etch marks (above) Oxidised paint covered with swirl marks + water etch marks and acidic etch marks (above) Swirl marks + machine/ buffer trails (above) Swirl marks + water etch marks (above)

Pictures above are rides with severe paint defects. You can use the hand waxing method first, follow by machine waxing method to eliminate the paint defects or improve the paint work. If the paint conditions does not improve much, you will require machine polishing to sort out (paint correction process) the paint defects. This process is usually follow up with a LSP coating to protect the polished work.

New car straight from the factory with poor polishing done will look flawed and an old car with properly polish paint will look outstanding. New or old, they'll need the wax occasionally. Car polishing or car waxing, which is your needs? Thank you for viewing.