You will have heard the term polish thousands of times, which in this case is not the translation of "polacco" (Polish) in English.
What are polishes in car detailing?
Polishes are more or less abrasive pastes for polishing the car body, or rather, for removing scratches and restoring shine to the transparent layer of paint, i.e., the clear coat that covers car bodies.
In the past, the term polish was associated with products that did not correct scratches, but rather hid them, giving only a cosmetic shine to the paint. Perhaps your dad told you a thousand times that he used polish with cotton wool to shine the car.
This method is not a true car body polish, but merely a temporary cosmetic treatment to improve shine in the very short term.
Polishes are abrasive products that differ based on the "size" of the abrasive compound they contain.
What are abrasive polishing pastes made of?
Today, 4 terms are used to identify polishes. Want to call them "pastes"? A bit 80s, but okay.
Differences between compound, medium, and finishing polishes
-
Compound polish
The "coarse paste," as it was called in the old school. It can remove scratches, oxidized paint, and the classic swirls, which are micro-scratches from washing, often appearing thin and light but can actually be very difficult to remove. Compound is used in the polishing phase called Correction. -
Medium polish
It is "finer" than compound, so it has less action in correcting scratches, but it gives the car body a beautiful shine and gloss. Yes, because although abrasives have evolved a lot over the years, we can still simplify it like this: the sharper the abrasive (i.e., the more defects it can remove), the worse the finish it leaves.
Finish refers to the brightness and depth of the car body's color.
Medium polish is used to eliminate very light defects while leaving a beautiful finish, or as a subsequent step to compound to further improve the paint's brilliance and eliminate small defects remaining or created by the compound itself.
-
Finishing polish
Contains even finer abrasives and is used to further increase the paint's brilliance, giving a deep gloss.
There is also super-finishing polish: if worked correctly, it provides even more brilliance and color depth.
What is used to apply a polish to a car body?
All polishes mentioned so far can only be used with a polisher.
Polishing a car by hand is absolutely not effective.
The myth of hand polishing is a big nonsense: you will only waste time, get tired, and the result will always be poor. You will only achieve a temporary cover of defects which, after the first or second wash, will resurface, showing a situation identical (if not worse) to the starting one.
All-in-one polishes for hand polishing your car
There are two categories of polishes that, in some cases, can also be used by hand: all-in-one (AIO) polishes and glazes.
Glaze polishes for hand polishing
Glaze is very simple: it can be applied by hand and, having no abrasive action, it helps to cover lighter micro-scratches, giving a beautiful cosmetic gloss effect to the car paint.
The effect will be temporary, but the application is quick and repeatable after each wash.
AIO polishes for hand polishing
AIO polish, on the other hand, is composed of micro-abrasives comparable to those of a finishing polish, but enriched with substances that help hide lighter micro-scratches, remove some, impart shine, and also leave a protective layer similar to a synthetic wax.
If used with a polisher, AIOs can eliminate some micro-defects; if used by hand, they have an effect similar to glazes but with superior covering ability, thanks to the polymers and/or waxes contained.
