Is a polish always necessary?

W

White330

New member
I have a car that's a week old. I am going to wash it tomorrow and then do some clay bar work if it feels like it needs it, which it probably will. Do I need to apply a mild polish before I apply sealant?
 
A polish or a cleaner is usually a good idea to get the surface in optimal condition to apply a sealant or wax. You don't NEED to use a cleaner unless you have stains or oxidation to get rid of. And you don't NEED to polish unless you desire to remove swirls/scratches.
 
White95Max said:
A polish or a cleaner is usually a good idea to get the surface in optimal condition to apply a sealant or wax. You don't NEED to use a cleaner unless you have stains or oxidation to get rid of. And you don't NEED to polish unless you desire to remove swirls/scratches.
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.........but, during the claying process, you may induce light scratching/marring, which would require a light polish to remove.....

Other then that, you dont necessarily need to "polish" before sealing. Cleaning should be a minimum requirement however.......
 
Polishing isn't always necessary. With the proper wax choice and the use of a glazing product, a good deal of defects present in the paint can be hidden. I would personally rather go this route than to thin out the clearcoat by polishing it.
 
Neothin said:
Polishing isn't always necessary. With the proper wax choice and the use of a glazing product, a good deal of defects present in the paint can be hidden. I would personally rather go this route than to thin out the clearcoat by polishing it.
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On a new car, with plenty of clear, I'd get it nice and keep it that way. While I do use glaze on our older cars that have thin paint, on our cars with b/c *that I've owned since new* I've never had a problem from polishing out flaws (and we keep some of our vehicles a very long time). As long as you wash correctly, it shouldn't be necessary more than once a year or so anyhow.



Biggest thing IMO is to work on the wash technique so you don't instill marring. That way you can keep the new paint looking that way indefinitely.



Not trying to be critical of the glaze/heavy wax approach, it's just that IMO one of the great things about buying a new car is the joy of having marring-free paint and being able to keep it that way.
 
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