Polish

Car polish is a product that removes dirt, grease, scratches and scrapes from automobile paint. It is a car detailing product that comes in several different forms such as liquids, sprays and creams. Car detailing refers to the cleaning and shining work done on vehicles. Many car polishes contain solvents such as turpentine that clean the auto paint and remove impurities from it to allow the shine to show through.

Although car polish brings out the shine in a vehicle's paint finish, it's important to understand that polishes are not the same as waxes. This is confusing to many people since some waxes are sold as polishes and vice versa, but the two products are actually very different. Car wax applied to automobile paint acts as a protective layer. It's non-abrasive and fills in little dents in the paint finish.

Car polish on the other hand, is slightly abrasive and it removes surface grime.

While car polish can be used before waxing, car wax should never be used before polishing. Wax will seal in any dirt and impurities rather than remove them like polish does. Years of dirt build-up and exposure to sunlight can give auto paint a dull look that can usually be brightened and improved with car polish. The polish often removes scratches or scrapes as well.

Polishing is only something you should do when the paint finish has become flat. Years of dirt grime and road film along with sunlight can degrade the finish on a car. You need to determine if the paint defect is above or below the surface and use either a finishing wax or polish the paint first.You need to determine if the paint defect is above or below the surface. After washing the car sweep your fingers over the paint and if it feels smooth any defects are below the surface and if it feels rough, pitted or slightly sticky it indicates above surface imperfections.Below surface defects are dealt with by polishing and above surface defects like traffic film, tar, bug guts and the like are best treated with a clay bar.After a clay bar treatment look closely at the paint - if there are still imperfections these will be below surface and need to be polished out.