Machine vs hand polishing

Its no contest as to which is faster, however there seems to be some silly myth that hand polishing is 'safe compared to harmful and harsh machine polishing'.

While it isn't totally untrue, it is definitely misleading. Under proper usage, machine polishing will not 'harm' the paint. If required, it is very possible for me to damage your car paint with my bare hands and yet restore the same damage with a machine. Somehow when it comes to detailing, most people simply forget to use their common sense when reading brochures and leaflets on grooming promotions and such.

What do we do when we encounter a scratch? We polish a localised area around the scratch such that the clearcoat is leveled. Try using your hand to polish away something like say, Audi clearcoat. I'd give you 50 bucks if you can do it successfully without creating more scratches!

Polishing is a process concerning the paint, polish, polishing pad, machine and the user. Of course there are so many variables like applied pressure, speed, user technique and such. My point is, its totally untrue to write off machines as 'harsh' or 'harmful' because they certainly aren't.

So next time you hear somebody who says hand polishing is better than machine polishing, you can conclude a few things. That person's a noob at machine polishing or can't afford a machine. That person doesn't have a readily available power supply. That person simply refuses or is afraid to learn machine polishing. That person is incredibly stupid.

Period.

Sealants vs waxes

People always ask me, 'are you using a sealant?'

Or they tell me stuff like 'sealants are better than waxes!'

Waxes generally refer to carnauba waxes, and its pretty impossible to apply carnauba wax by itself. Hence they are mixed with solvents that ease application considerably.

Sealants are essentially synthetic waxes, they may or may not contain carnauba. There are mainly 2 forms of sealants, acrylic and polymer. The 3rd 'sealant' is carnauba based, that's what we call carnauba wax.

In fact, sealant as a term is just overhyped. Essentially sealants and waxes serve the same purpose. They are the LSP (last step procedure) in a detail and they protect the paintwork by acting as a sacrificial layer against the elements. Of course, they give off different looks which are subtle to the untrained eye but the distinction between sealants and waxes is a pretty undefined one.

Personally if you ask me, carnauba gives a look that is to die for. Therefore, I always top a synthetic sealant with carnauba.