Polish Power

(Thanks a million to Oleg for the compounds and goods, and thanks a ton to Josh for the time, effort, garage, and food. Oh and the cruise in Cape Cod after with two good looking cars.)

2 guys + 1 power sander + 3 pads + 3 different compounds + 1 wax = 7 hours of work. This was a task and a half. Me and my girlfriend went up to the Cape to Altspace's (Josh's) house early in the morning to complete a full polish on the car. He told me all about the pains and long hours we would go through, but because of my inexperience I assumed it would be cake walk. Just for a few hours. Boy, was I wrong.

We started off with a quick car wash, making sure we got to every detail: the wheels, the plastic parts, everything. After drying the car, Josh used a vacuum that could be used as a blower to go along the lines of the car and blow out any remaining water. This ensured that the car was as dry as possible. Then, we rolled it into the garage and got ready for the polish.

We started off with a heavy compound to take care of all the small surface area blemishes, going along from top to bottom. As Josh went along with the machine, I followed behind him with the buffing towel to use some serious elbow grease and rub the polish out.

After, we used a heavier compound to go deeper into the clear coat and really work out any smudging. We could already start to see an impressive difference as the smudging was almost gone, and the car had become more like some sort of mirror.

As our fifth hour approached, we finally finished applying the last and heaviest compound to really get deep down and smooth out as much etching as possible from the car. It worked well, and the car literally became a mirror. But, sadly not all the etching that the previous owner left for me had dissipated from the clear coat. I haven't really decided what to do about that, but for now it looks good enough for anyone else who sees my "brilliant black" coat... or the black mirror, whatever works for you.

After we were done, we applied some PoorBoy's wax and wheel wax and headed out to catch some dinner. We cruised around the windy back roads of the Cape, as well as along Main Street.

For more pictures, take a peek here.