Wax vs. Polish

Often time our customers get mixed up with the application purpose of polish and wax. The two is v ery different and serve separate functions. The following information helps differentiate the two products to make your detailing experience safe, efficient, and effective.

Polish

Polish is an auto detailing compound made for cleaning and clarification. Its primary function is to remove impurities and imperfection from the paint to prepare for waxing, sealing, or protecting. Polish, depends on the abrasive level, can reduce or eliminate paint minor surface imperfections such as stains, swirl marks, acid rain etching, scratches, water spots, and oxidation. The two forms of polishing agents come in liquid or paste. These typically contains the levels of the aggressive abrasives for various situation or level of severity. In order to remove these imperfections polishing agents must level the paint to the lowest point of the defect. Polish will establish a flat paint surface by cutting or thinning a small amount of paint in microns. The leveling of paint is done by diminishing abrasive materials in the polishing agents. The cutting ability is based on the sizes of diminishing abrasive materials. Unfortunately, not all defects can be removed. If the scratch is deeper than the catch of your fingernail which is approximately 4.0 Mil (1/1000 of an inch) or 0.004 inch, polisher can only make it less noticeable.

To polish you may consider two methods of polishing application : by hand or by machine. Polish machine provides better and faster results than by hand. The polishing machine comes in two types, orbital or rotary buffer. The Orbital Polisher is user friendly, more safe and easier to use than the rotary. It is ideal for minor paint corrections. I would highly recommend this for beginners. The pad on the Orbital Polisher oscillates in a random orbit much like the motion of your hand when you hand buff or wax the car but at a greater speed. The motion of its oscillation does not generate heat or friction that can cause damage to the paint. In comparison, to acquire a higher level of correction Rotary Polisher is the best option. It is mainly used by professionals or experienced detailers. Rotary Polisher has the ability to produce friction heat that can correct deep scratches. In order to do so it must break down the diminishing abrasives in polishes to abrade the paint film surfaces. If one is not experienced or skilled, using the rotary buffer can burn or damage the paint. This can be noticed by the appearance of marring or haze effect on the paint.

Wax

Refer to Wax vs. Sealant

Comparison Summary

Sealant	vs	Wax	vs	Polish	vs	Combo of Sealant & Wax
Protective Coating		Protective coating		Cleaning compound		Give durability and additional depth of shine finishing
		Improve shine and prevent oxidation.		Remove impurities/oxidations from paint
		Hide paint imperfection such as cover up or mask swirl marks.		Prepare for waxing, sealing, or protecting
More durable and can last more than 5 months depend on condition.		Lasts more than 1-3 months depends on how the car is kept.
Give paint surface ultra smooth & ultra reflective.		Very warm appearance. Extremely wet, deep shine finishing