Spring Full Speed Ahead

Spring is just around the corner and the roads are finally clearing up. Now that everyone has the salt off their car or truck, you can see what winter has done by looking at the swirl marks and imperfections in your paint job. Black, red, blue, and other bright or dark colors show imperfections the most. The question now is, "How do I get rid of these nasty marks on my car?"

There are wrong and right ways to doing almost anything. The same goes for taking care of swirl marks, scratches, and other paint imperfections. You'll notice the word FILL or FILLER down below several times. Products containing a FILLER have their uses, but they are not meant to correctly take care of imperfections in your paint.

The wrong ways:

Wax

Buff and wax

Clear coat sealant

Anything else that contains wax, silicone, or another kind of FILLER

Wax is a protective coating that has been engineered to FILL in swirl marks and imperfections.

The common buff and wax offered by most detailers is a terrible idea. Buffing is done to smooth out imperfections but it leaves compound marks in your paint (the long thick streaks up and down your vehicle). Most detailers will then wax your vehicle to give it a nice shiny finish. Your vehicle will look good at first but 4 to 6 weeks later, compound marks will start to appear. This is because wax is a FILLER. It filled in the compound marks to make your paint appear smooth and shiny. The only problem is wax doesn't last very long; usually 4 to 6 weeks at most.

Clear coat sealants are an absolute waste of money. They are simply fancy waxes that do not last any longer than regular wax. Companies claim that they last 6 months, 1 year, or sometimes multiple years. These are lies. You can quote me.

The point is, wax is good but it is limited in the results it can achieve.

The right way:

Compound

Polish

In order to correctly remove swirl marks, scratches, and other imperfections permanently, you first need to machine compound your paint. Compounding is something that takes a lot of time to perfect. If your paint looks rough, it's best to let a professional handle it.

After compounding, you need to remove compound marks that were left behind. This requires polishing the entire vehicle. Using a polish that contains a FILLER will do no good. It needs to be a true polish that contains no wax, silicone, or other kind of filler. Again if you have never done this, let a professional do it. If you wish, you can wax your vehicle after polishing for added protection

Affordable Automotive Detailing sticks to doing things the right way and their charges are not outrageous. You can call or text Kyle at 616-540-0126 or go to affordableautomotivedetailing.com for more information.