Sunday, July 31, 2011

Paint Buffing vs. Paint Polishing

Many detailers offer buffing as part of their premium detailing package.  Buffing is whenever a product is applied to a vehicle using an orbital or rotary polisher.  What exactly are they buffing onto your vehicles paint?  It could be an AOI (all in one polish) compound, glaze, polish, sealant or wax.  Buffing is a “broad word” and leaves a lot of room for customer interpretation and allows detailers to get the most money for the least amount of work.


Paint correction, often referred to as paint reconditioning, is a more in depth and thorough approach to removing and not just hiding paint defects.  Typically involving 1-3 steps (compounding, polishing, jeweling) after each step the paint is inspected to ensure the desired results are being achieved.  Each panel is meticulously inspected using a combination of halogen and LED lights from various angles to ensure no buffer trails or holograms are left behind. 


Buffer trails and holograms are caused by a number of things such as: dirty buffing pads, dry buffing, excessive pressure, overly aggressive pad and polish combination.  An inexperienced detailer can end up doing more harm than good when taking a high speed polisher to a vehicle’s paint. 

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