Why is hand polishing pads Better?

If you remove people from the equation, the answer to this question is very straightforward. Machine polishers such as rotary, orbital and dual-action polishers, are the clear winners at removing water spots, scratches and swirls. They are all capable of providing faster, more consistent results than when you hand polish cars. Having said that, these hypothetical results assume the user is an expert who is completely familiar with the polisher he or she is using and the paint finish he or she is correcting.

With competitive price and timely delivery, Leading Diamond Tools sincerely hope to be your supplier and partner.

In practical application, DIY detailers with a small amount of experience may find they get better results from polishing by hand, at least until they grow more familiar with polishing compounds, applicator pads and the clear coat they're working on. Hand application is far more forgiving than polishing with a machine, so you'll be less likely to wear the clear coat thin on the curves and corners of your car. Before investing in a machine, you'll likely benefit from learning to polish by hand. During the first couple of sessions, you'll have the ability to study the effects of your polishing and how compounds of various cutting strengths work on your clear coat.

Once you're ready to move onto a machine, we recommend an entry-level dual action polisher. Their combined rotary-and-orbital motion will help you keep the polishing pad moving, so you don't spend too much time on one specific area, which can potentially burn the clear coat. Entry-level machines are also great for beginners because the pads will stop spinning if you apply too much pressure. This can help you avoid damaging your clear coat. Pro-level, high-end polishers are gear-driven and will continue to cut into the clear coat, no matter how hard you press. Once you get better and more comfortable using a machine, then you can upgrade to one of the pro-style, gear-driven models.

Are you interested in learning more about hand polishing pads? Contact us today to secure an expert consultation!

As Bill Murry said in the move Stripes,

"That's the facts Jack"


Let's begin'

I'm going to rub-out the driver's side of the hood by hand and before starting, I've sliced up half of the hood by taking some painter's tape and taping off small sections to show you how to break-up a panel to be worked by hand when applying an aggressive product to remove swirls and scratches.

As you can see, you can't tackle half a hood at one time, you have to work small sections at a time.

For reference, I also placed a Meguiar's Supreme Shine Microfiber polishing cloth folded in half to give you and idea as to the size of the major sections to be worked. Meguiar's Supreme Shine Microfibers are 16" by 24" inches so the folded cloth you see on the hood is 16" by 12".

This is about as big a section you want to work at one time. You can tackle a 16' by 16' section or any size around these dimensions but you really don't want to work a section any larger than this. The reason why is because you won't be able to focus enough energy to do a thorough job of evenly removing the swirls. As a result the paint will still be all swirled out when you're finished.

Now on this Lincoln, the hood has a raised thin panel down the middle with two hard body lines to be careful around. The sides of the hood also have thinner panels separated from the major section between the middle of the hood with a hard body line running most of the length of the hood..

As you can see the thinner panels are broken up into two thin sections. The thin panel of paint on the side is too long to work all at one time so I broke it into two sections.

Then there's a section in front of the driver's side A-Pillar that need to be it's own section as it's joined to the major section in front of the windshield. (If that all makes sense)

Every hood, door, roof, trunk lid etc, is going to be different, so you have to do your best to figure out how to slice-up each panel. The important thing to understand is anytime you're removing swirls out of a modern clear coat you must only work a small section at a time. You cannot physically rub-out a huge section by hand and do a great job.


This is how I would slice-up the hood of this Lincoln



Now that I've shown you how I sliced-up this particular hood, it's time to remove the Supreme Shine Microfiber and the tape. Remember, I only placed the tape on the car as a visual tool to help show you how approach the defect removal step by hand.

Note: You actually slice-up each panel of a car in a similar fashion whether you're working by hand or with a dual action polisher for the same reasons. And the reason for this is because modern clear coats tend to be harder than old fashioned single stage paints like the paint that would have came on a Mustang.

Even if you're using one of the popular dual action polishers like the Porter Cable polishers, the Meguiar's polishers, and/or the Griot's Garage polisher, because these tools have a clutch which stops the pad from rotating if you apply to much pressure, you can only work a small section at a time when doing any kind of defect removal step.



Here's a safety tip that's a best practice to develop anytime you're using Painter's tape on automotive paints. When you remove the tape, pull it back at and angle, not straight up, off the paint.




First we're going to use Meguiar's Ultimate Compound for our first step process with both the orange and the white

We'll start with the aggressive orange pad and put quite a bit of passion behind the pad and then follow this with the white foam applicator pad and lessen our pressure. After the compounding step we'll do the polishing step, so this half of the hood is going to get 6 cleaning steps before applying the wax.




With a new, dry pad it's important to add an ample amount of product to start with, as your pad becomes wet with product you can cut down a little on the amount of product you apply. Because you're going to be applying firm pressure with a quick hand movement, you need enough product to provide good lubrication.

Just to note, even though swirls can be removed by hand and the paint polished and waxed to a high gloss and it will look a zillion times better than when you started, it's still never going to look as good as the results you can achieve using a dual action polisher.Assaid in the moveLet's begin'I'm going to rub-out the driver's side of the hood by hand and before starting, I'veup half of the hood by taking some painter's tape and taping off small sections to show you how toto be worked by hand when applying an aggressive product to remove swirls and scratches.As you can see, you can't tackle half a hood at one time, you have to workat a time.For reference, I also placed a Meguiar's Supreme Shine Microfiber polishing cloth folded in half to give you and idea as to the size of the major sections to be worked. Meguiar's Supreme Shine Microfibers are 16" by 24" inches so the folded cloth you see on the hood is 16" by 12".This is about as big a section you want to work at one time. You can tackle a 16' by 16' section or any size around these dimensions but you really don't want to work a section any larger than this. The reason why is because you won't be able to focus enough energy to do a thorough job of evenly removing the swirls. As a result the paint will still be all swirled out when you're finished.Now on this Lincoln, the hood has a raised thin panel down the middle with two hard body lines to be careful around. The sides of the hood also have thinner panels separated from the major section between the middle of the hood with a hard body line running most of the length of the hood..As you can see the thinner panels are broken up into two thin sections. The thin panel of paint on the side is too long to work all at one time so I broke it into two sections.Then there's a section in front of the driver's side A-Pillar that need to be it's own section as it's joined to the major section in front of the windshield. (If that all makes sense)Every hood, door, roof, trunk lid etc, is going to be different, so you have to do your best to figure out how toeach panel. The important thing to understand is anytime you're removing swirls out of a modern clear coat you must only work a small section at a time. You cannot physically rub-out a huge section by handdo a great job.Now that I've shown you how I sliced-up this particular hood, it's time to remove the Supreme Shine Microfiber and the tape. Remember, I only placed the tape on the car as a visual tool to help showhow approach the defect removal step by hand.You actually slice-up each panel of a car in a similar fashion whether you're working by hand or with a dual action polisher for the same reasons. And the reason for this is because modern clear coats tend to be harder than old fashioned single stage paints like the paint that would have came on a Mustang.Even if you're using one of the popular dual action polishers like the Porter Cable polishers, the Meguiar's polishers, and/or the Griot's Garage polisher, because these tools have a clutch which stops the pad from rotating if you apply to much pressure, you can only work a small section at a time when doing any kind of defect removal step.Here's a safety tip that's a best practice to develop anytime you're using Painter's tape on automotive paints. When you remove the tape, pull it back at and angle, not straight up, off the paint.First we're going to use Meguiar's Ultimate Compound for ourwith both the orange and the white

CCS Euro Foam Hand Polish Applicators

. That's right, we're going to rub-out the paint using two different levels of aggressiveness in our foam applicators because we want the driver's side of the hood to look as good as the machine buffed side.We'll start with the aggressive orange pad and put quite a bit ofand then follow this with the white foam applicator pad andour pressure. After the compounding step we'll do the polishing step, so this half of the hood is going to get 6 cleaning steps before applying the wax.With a new, dry pad it's important to add anamount of product to start with, as your pad becomes wet with product you can cut down a little on the amount of product you apply. Because you're going to be applying firm pressure with a quick hand movement, you need enough product to provide good

For more information, please visit htc polishing pads.