Thread Starter
#31
Something to know!
So many products by so many names are available in market, so that the correct choice may be confusing.
Below are some broad categories of products.
CLEANER: A cleaning agent may be either friction or chemical. A friction cleaner is usually either a silicate or clay particulate. The friction or abrasive type cleaner will clip the tops of mountains off and help fill in the valleys.
A chemical cleaner will usually strip equal amounts of hill and dale and thus not help smooth the paint. A cleaner should also remove old wax and other contaminants in the paint.
GLAZE: A glaze usually denotes a superfine friction type of cleaning agent, usually with essential emollients and lubricating oils and may even contain some mild chemical cleaners. Glazes will usually remove mild swirl marks, scratches, refresh the paint with oils and smooth out the finish.
POLISH: A polish is normally a non-abrasive product based on a nutrient oil matrix and may or may not have a chemical cleaner as part of the package. Most polishes use fillers to help cover swirl marks.
COMPOUND: A compound is the "coarse sandpaper" of the paint-cleaning world. This should be used only if the paint is in serious trouble and all else has failed. If you are one step away from 1-800-NEW-PAINT, then you may consider a compound.
CLAY: Literally a plasticene/abrasive mixture used to smooth new paint and remove over spray. This type of product must be used with lots of lubricant.
CLEANER/WAX: A combination, one-step chemical cleaner and a wax. Its bit confusing, as they are required to perform two very diverse functions simultaneously. A cleaner should remove old wax, so how does it simultaneously apply a coat of new wax?
WAX: There are two broad categories of wax, organic and polymer based. The organic waxes may be derived from plants such as Carnauba, or varmints. The polymer-based waxes are usually collected from specially trained robotic bees that gather the polymer nectar from plastic flowers (or it may be made in chemical factories).
DEGREASERS/TAR/BUG REMOVERS: These types of products are normally solvents designed to dissolve surface contaminants such as road tar or bugs. There are two broad classifications of solvents, petroleum distillates and citrus based. The quality citrus products tend to be gentler on the paint. Any degreaser/tar/bug remover will remove wax.
Which one to use?
If your paint has swirl marks, acid rain marks or faint scratches, then you may wish to use a glaze. The definition of a faint scratch is one that you can see but not feel. If you can feel the scratch with your fingernail, then it is beyond the scope of this article and should be treated as a paint chip. Rule #1: Use the least aggressive product/technique to get the job done! It is very easy to repeat an application of a mild product to achieve a result, but is very expensive to replace paint when you have gotten too aggressive. If your paint does not have swirl marks/scratches, but has lost some of it's luster, then you may consider using a polish.
Source & More Details
So many products by so many names are available in market, so that the correct choice may be confusing.
Below are some broad categories of products.
CLEANER: A cleaning agent may be either friction or chemical. A friction cleaner is usually either a silicate or clay particulate. The friction or abrasive type cleaner will clip the tops of mountains off and help fill in the valleys.
A chemical cleaner will usually strip equal amounts of hill and dale and thus not help smooth the paint. A cleaner should also remove old wax and other contaminants in the paint.
GLAZE: A glaze usually denotes a superfine friction type of cleaning agent, usually with essential emollients and lubricating oils and may even contain some mild chemical cleaners. Glazes will usually remove mild swirl marks, scratches, refresh the paint with oils and smooth out the finish.
POLISH: A polish is normally a non-abrasive product based on a nutrient oil matrix and may or may not have a chemical cleaner as part of the package. Most polishes use fillers to help cover swirl marks.
COMPOUND: A compound is the "coarse sandpaper" of the paint-cleaning world. This should be used only if the paint is in serious trouble and all else has failed. If you are one step away from 1-800-NEW-PAINT, then you may consider a compound.
CLAY: Literally a plasticene/abrasive mixture used to smooth new paint and remove over spray. This type of product must be used with lots of lubricant.
CLEANER/WAX: A combination, one-step chemical cleaner and a wax. Its bit confusing, as they are required to perform two very diverse functions simultaneously. A cleaner should remove old wax, so how does it simultaneously apply a coat of new wax?
WAX: There are two broad categories of wax, organic and polymer based. The organic waxes may be derived from plants such as Carnauba, or varmints. The polymer-based waxes are usually collected from specially trained robotic bees that gather the polymer nectar from plastic flowers (or it may be made in chemical factories).
DEGREASERS/TAR/BUG REMOVERS: These types of products are normally solvents designed to dissolve surface contaminants such as road tar or bugs. There are two broad classifications of solvents, petroleum distillates and citrus based. The quality citrus products tend to be gentler on the paint. Any degreaser/tar/bug remover will remove wax.
Which one to use?
If your paint has swirl marks, acid rain marks or faint scratches, then you may wish to use a glaze. The definition of a faint scratch is one that you can see but not feel. If you can feel the scratch with your fingernail, then it is beyond the scope of this article and should be treated as a paint chip. Rule #1: Use the least aggressive product/technique to get the job done! It is very easy to repeat an application of a mild product to achieve a result, but is very expensive to replace paint when you have gotten too aggressive. If your paint does not have swirl marks/scratches, but has lost some of it's luster, then you may consider using a polish.
Source & More Details