Okay, performed a test recently on a scrap panel to test the ability of a variety of products to remove swilrs by hand for those who dont have access to a machine polisher.

Each product was tested on a small area of a red metallic bonnet, pre-washed with some steelwool. This left...

Ok, thank you. Is it typical for y'all to use more than one application of polish at a time? I've read about layering the wax but this is the first I've heard about "stacking" polish (then again, I've only been here a week).

My arm tired after one coat of polish and I half limped the wax on... I can't imagine polishing by hand 3-5 times prior to waxing.

Do you do the entire vehicle at a time, or complete all 3-5 applications on a single panel before moving on to the next?

to prevent having to polish the whole vehicle 5 times by hand, most people rely on machine polishing,

for those who do polish by hand, hopefully once their vehicle is flawless ( or as close to it as possible ) they maintain their wash / dry methods so that the vehicle does not get in that bad of shape.

let's hear it for the PC

thats some good info. I will forward this post onto my uncle and my cousin who always ask me about hand polishing. Great work!

Welcome to Autopia!

FWIW I've been playing around with trying to take photos of this sort of thing. Noting that I've been shooting with SLRs for over 30 years I find it incredibly hard to get show-what-I-see pics of this sort of thing. Pretty frustrating, actually, but interesting too (at least to me).

Ceezer- Machines break polishes down very differently from hand use (and rotaries do it very differently from PCs), so by hand you often have to use more steps. Think of it like sanding wood with increasingly finer grades of sandpaper.

If you're doing the whole vehicle at once (and know what products/progression will work) then I'd do the whole vehicle with polish #1, then whole thing with #2, etc. If you're working piecemeal (which I recommend in many cases) then I'd work one panel with every product/process from aggressive polishing all the way through LSP and then see if you want to do another panel or wait until after the next wash.

That piecemeal approach is a real lifesaver at times; as you noted, doing this stuff for hours on end can really be a PIA.

And yeah, IMO "hits" and "passes" oughta mean working a product to the point of removal.

Doing it this way won't produce off-colored/mismatched panels, right, since it's protected by a waxing (I'm assuming LSP means something like last stage product, since I couldn't find it on the decoder or through a few search returns)?

I really appreciate the help

did you apply by hand?

Yeah, "LSP"= Last Step Product, i.e., wax/etc.

You might see *some* difference between done/not panels depending on how bad things are when you start, and yeah, in some extreme cases it can make a vehicle look like a real work in progress. But generally it's not all *that* bad and even when it is, you have to weigh the pros/cons of trying to do the whole vehicle at one time.

One of the things I'd consider is that after a few hours of doing this stuff, it can be pretty hard to maintain the same level of work that seemed so easy when you were fresh.

Just when I tot SRP is crap...hhmmm...Got me thinkin here mate.. Great write up and pics.

Yeah, SRP really *is* good stuff, within its limitations. Nice to see it getting some attention.

awesome comparison!

can you repost the "Final" picture of the Meguiar's Scratch X? For some reason, I get a red X (missing image) in my web browser. Maybe a broken link? thanks.