question about abrasives

J

jDizzle

New member
alrite.. ive been detailing for well over 3 years now.... i read on here a lot, and have several friends that detail.. and i havnt been able to figure this one out...

you see companies advertizing their swirl removers, polishes, cleaners etc... that are NON-abrasive... how can any of those be non abrasive.. they have to be either chemically or mechanically abrasive to level a surface and get rid of defects, or atleast round off the edges of a defect to make it less visable.. right? how can they be non abrasive? do they just contain a crap load of fillers or something? if so shouldnt that be a glaze..i feel kinda stupid for asking, cuz i feel like it will be something obvious... lol.. a lot of questions, and sorry my post is so long... someone please enlighten me.. id really appreciate it :-) thanks for your time
 
jDizzle said:
alrite.. ive been detailing for well over 3 years now.... i read on here a lot, and have several friends that detail.. and i havnt been able to figure this one out...

you see companies advertizing their swirl removers, polishes, cleaners etc... that are NON-abrasive... how can any of those be non abrasive.. they have to be either chemically or mechanically abrasive to level a surface and get rid of defects, or atleast round off the edges of a defect to make it less visable.. right? how can they be non abrasive? do they just contain a crap load of fillers or something? if so shouldnt that be a glaze..i feel kinda stupid for asking, cuz i feel like it will be something obvious... lol.. a lot of questions, and sorry my post is so long... someone please enlighten me.. id really appreciate it :-) thanks for your time
Click to expand...



Some contain fillers, some contain chemical cleaners, some have a powder that is sort of like an abrasive but not actually in the "abrasive" category. There are a ton of options.
 
I think the problem lies in the meaning of "abrasive" in the popular mind. I know that Meguiar's, e.g., sometimes speaks of its mild cleaning polishes as non-abrasive, even though they contain diminishing or non-diminishing abrasives. The reason they do so is because they believe that the popular mind connects "abrasives" with harsh compounds. Even SwirlX, e.g., is advertised as a "non-abrasive formula," despite the fact that it is (potentially) stronger than M83. It's a marketing problem.
 
and to make it a little more difficult

there is on standard on the names of products



Meg's "pure polish" = Glaze



Zaino & Aquawax polish = LSP

ect, ect.........
 
thats kinda wat i thought.. they just say that to keep customers from thinking that the product removes any paint, even tho it does... that seems like false advertizing to me... seems like the same peepl always give great info... thanks for your time.. i really appreciate it :-)
 
Akimel pretty much summed it up.



It stems from popular conceptions that abrasive detailing products = scoured, or scratched paint. Thus, companies have to word things in a way that it makes sense for the generally ill-informed customers.



Now, you will also notice that this mostly just occurs with consumer line products, as products catered for professional use can be more direct and less vague.
 
jDizzle said:
thats kinda wat i thought.. they just say that to keep customers from thinking that the product removes any paint, even tho it does... that seems like false advertizing to me...
Click to expand...



It may at first glance sound like false advertising, but I do think context here is everything. I do not believe there is any intent to deceive; rather, the intent is to distinguish the polish from older-style compounds that do scratch clearcoat paint surfaces. The word "abrasive" sets off alarms in the minds of the ordinary consumer--hence the necessity to assert that a specific polish intended for the ordinary consumer is not abrasive. The pre-understandings of one's intended audience is decisive here. Those who are acquainted with autombile polishes well understand that all polishes that remove swirls and scratches are necessarily abrasive; if they weren't, they wouldn't remove swirls and scratches.



To return to the example of Meguiar's--one of the first things one learns when one visits their forum is that the only way to correct paint defects is to remove paint.
 
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