How to polish a car by hand
By David Morley · 24 Jan 2025
Hand polishing a car sounds like second best in a way, doesn’t it. After all, if the industry has developed a range of machines designed to polish a car’s paintwork, then that must be a better concept.Surely, it’s like the difference between strapping on a jet-pack versus standing on the garage roof flapping your arms. Right? Not necessarily.There are two factors at work here. The first is that – just like a jet-pack - polishing machines in the wrong or inexperienced hands can cause more damage than they fix. And secondly, when it comes to delicate surfaces like automotive paint, hand polishing – even with an expert doing it – can be a safer, gentler way of bringing paint back to life.That said, machine polishing by a professional will usually result in a better finish, and if the car’s paint is severely damaged, faded or scratched, then machine polishing is probably the only way to remedy it.But if you’re simply looking for a brighter, shinier car and maybe attend to a couple of smaller scratches or swirl marks here and there, then hand polishing in the driveway is a viable approach. At which point, the question becomes how to polish a car by hand and not mess it up.We’ll have to tackle this in a broad sense, as there are a lot of variables in terms of paint type, paint condition, as well as the actual chemical make-up of the hundreds of polishing products out there on shelves.But either way, the absolute first thing to do is make sure the car you’re about to polish is spotless. Not clean. Not even sparkling clean. Absolutely spotless. Otherwise, you’ll simply be rubbing dirt and whatever other contaminants are present into the paintwork. And that can cause even more damage than the fading and scratching that you’re trying to address in the first place. As well as a thorough wash, the experts recommend the use of a clay bar (and that’s a whole other chapter) to get rid of the very last, tiniest bits of crud from the car’s surface.The second step is to chamois the car dry and then park it somewhere in the shade. You can’t polish wet paint, and the polish products themselves don’t like hot paint. They’ll dry too quickly and will be difficult to buff off. And suddenly car polishing becomes a bigger job than it should be.Choosing the right compound for hand polishing, meanwhile, involves doing a bit of homework. You need to match the compound with the type of paint your car has (single-stage, two-pack, enamel whatever) and then make an honest assessment of how bad the paint is looking.There are stronger compounds for more damaged paint and gentler polishes for older, more delicate painted surfaces. Be sure to read the product information carefully and don’t be afraid to call the polish maker’s info hotline to get even more details.Some polishes need to be rubbed right in till they’re dry, others need less work on your part and can be buffed off immediately. But they all work on the basis of removing an ultra-thin layer of the car’s surface, taking with it any debris, scratching or dead paint cells that typically cause fading and blotchiness. With that in mind, you can see how getting it wrong can really damage a painted surface.The next thing to know is that hand polishing has its limits. If you have badly scratched paint or bulk swirl marks, the best advice is probably to use the services of a professional detailer or paint specialist who will use a machine polishing method to sort things.The industry view seems to be to restrict hand polishing to cleaning or removing light swirl marks. And don’t be tempted to use a professional cutting compound as part of the hand polishing process.These compounds are designed for machine polishing and are way too aggressive for driveway use. You could end up going backwards.The best car polisher for beginners remains the right type of buffing cloth and plenty of elbow grease. Like many other things, too, knowing how to cut and polish a car is just part of the deal.You also need the right equipment, which, in the case of professional cutting compound includes the mechanical polisher than can produce the speed and heat needed to get the right result.Which suggests the next step to all of this is to become proficient at a professional level which opens you up to the world of machine polishing and perhaps even making a part-time (or full time) living in the process.Many car detailing business offer one and two-day courses (and some longer ones) that can show you the ropes and turn you into a detailer rather than just a driveway tinkerer.Topics covered will include how to machine polish a car and how to polish a car with a buffer and will also offer information on professional car polish grades and types.If you find it’s for you, you can even learn how to apply ceramic coatings and other high-end finishes. As well as the basics on how to buff a car, you might even pick up some tips on how to polish a car windshield which, to be honest, is a whole other area that we’ll tackle in its own feature.More wisdomThere’s more to polishing a car than the above. So here are a few tips you might not have thought of.Don’t use a more aggressive polishing compound than you need. The aim is to use a product that is just abrasive enough. Experts agree that a swirl removing compound is about as aggressive as you’d want to go in your driveway. The packaging should give an idea of the intended product’s intended use.Follow the darn instruction on the product packaging. This information is included for a reason. Different products require different applicator cloths and different buffing compounds.Even the length of time you can let the product stay on the paint can vary. So can the first aid instructions if it all goes wrong. Don’t ignore this info; it’s for your own good.When trying to remove swirl marks, experts reckon the best approach is to use a backwards-forwards motion rather than a circular motion as you might for some polishing. That’s because swirl marks are, themselves, mostly circular, so a fore-aft action will see them disappear before your eyes. Hopefully.Don’t confuse car wax and polish with car cut and polish. They’re two very different compounds and while the former is a good start for a Saturday morning in the driveway, the latter can be better left to the pros.If you do intend to try a cutting compound, stick with something mild like a cream cut and polish rather than something more aggressive and abrasive. For the desired paint finish and car shine polish type and compound is crucial. So know what you want to achieve before you start.Car paint polish is a great example of getting what you pay for. More expensive generally means a better product. The best polish for cars, then, is the best one you can afford.In fact, we’ll extend that to include the advice that you should sidestep the really cheap or unknown car polishing compound, because the good brands are well known for a reason.Like anything else, how to polish a car information is all over the internet, but only some of it is worth reading.Searching for 'how to polish car by hand', is a good start, but then weed out the wheat from the chaff on the basis of who has provided the information. Advice from a well known brand is far more likely to yield useful information.Another common question is how often should you polish your car.Frankly, you can overdo it and if you look at an older car that’s been polished maybe hundreds of times, you might see where the paint on the edges and other parts of the car has worn thin, allowing the undercoat to show through.Okay, so that’s an extreme case, but it certainly supports polishing a car only when it’s needed. Don’t forget, either, that regular waxing is at least as important as the wax protects the paint and means that less polishing should be required over the life of the vehicle.