Faded and scratched paintwork?
A car's paintwork endures all sorts of things during its lifetime. It wears, fades, and loses its shine, making the car's paintwork look unpleasant and dull, meaning car polishing becomes timely. Especially in dark cars, summer sunlight reveals all scratches. Car paintwork is worn down by, for example, snow brushes in winter, brush car washes, and poor and dirty washing tools can also cause damage. The sun's UV radiation can also fade car paintwork, which is often seen in red cars. However, car paintwork can be restored to its original glory by machine polishing, i.e., compounding the car's paintwork.
What does car compounding mean?
Car compounding is the mechanical polishing of a car's paintwork. A car's paintwork consists of 3 layers of paint of different thicknesses: primer, color, and the thickest layer, clear coat, which provides the shine to the paintwork. In car polishing, the scratched surface of the clear coat layer is sanded off with a polishing machine and various polishing compounds. In practice, a few micrometers of the clear coat surface are removed from the car's paintwork to eliminate scratches and smooth the clear coat surface back to a clear finish.
(image of car paintwork layers)
What supplies are needed for car compounding?
There are many different power and size polishing machines available for car compounding. Larger machines can polish large and even surfaces, while smaller ones can reach all corners and difficult areas. So, if you want an excellent result, you need several machines of different sizes, but a good result can already be achieved with a medium-sized polishing machine.
Another important part of polishing is polishing pads and the polishing compounds themselves. There are almost more of these than one person can remember, and when choosing the right compound and pad, it's advisable to consult a professional. The polishing pad and compound depend entirely on the condition of the paintwork to be compounded and how hard the clear coat layer is.
Microfiber cloths and isopropyl alcohol are used to wipe off polishing compound. Since polishing compounds are quite greasy, isopropyl alcohol helps remove all polishing compounds from the paintwork. Finally, we recommend compounding the car in a clean and well-lit space.
- Polishing machine
- Polishing pads
- Polishing compounds
- Microfiber cloths
- Isopropyl alcohol
- Clean space and good lighting
Should you compound your car yourself?
Car polishing is a very time-consuming task and also requires expertise so as not to accidentally damage the paintwork. An inexperienced person can easily cause significant damage, and in the worst case, the car may need to be repainted. However, you shouldn't be afraid of compounding your car. The latest polishing machines are quite safe to use, and with the right technique, car polishing can be successfully done at home.
But should you do it yourself or have a professional do it? Before you can start polishing a car, you need the supplies mentioned above, and these can cost starting from 300€, depending entirely on the type of polishing machine you buy and whether you already have any supplies at home. Professional fees for car compounding start from 200-300€ and can go up to over 1000€, depending entirely on the condition of the paintwork and the size of the car.
So, one could almost say that if you only intend to compound one car and you don't have the time, place, or interest in the task, take your car to a professional. But if you are willing to invest time and effort in learning and doing car compounding yourself, then go ahead and polish it yourself! The result will be rewarding!
