I have always done an IPA wipedown on correction polishing jobs for the past 20 years. It's the only way to get very accurate true results. All compounds and polishes have lubricants in them and under extreme heat from the polishing, they can get buried onto (not into) the paint. This is very normal and happens all the time. So it is important to do an IPA wipedown to
reveal what the true polished paint now looks like.
Also, it's good to do IPA wipedowns during different polishing/compound steps, so you do not cross contaminate the left behind compound dust/lubes into the polishing/finishing polish. If you think just a wet/dry MF will remove all the residue/lubes then...WRONGDirector
If you do not remove the compound lubes/dust with IPA before your next polishing step, then your next polishing step will not be 100% pure polishing step.
Example: Menzerna polishes are
superb for their mild cutting and finishing. While they do have lubes in them, it's the fine abrasives in them that do all the work producing the accurate results. The lubes just act as a cooling-lubricating process that spreads evenly and carries the abrasives throughout the whole polishing process while tumbling the paint making the scratches finer (or gone) while resurfacing the structure of the clearcoat giving it a true and accurate gloss and correction.
What's now left on the paint is totally spent residue that has no meaning anymore... So, get it off. What lies under the residue is super shiny real paint. If IPA reveals anything that needs to be fixed, then repeat the process till happy before you move to the next step.
p.s. If your only doing a regular basic detail polishing job for a couple hundred, then disregard everything I just said.:devil:
Ryan Blanchette