For the majority of people out there, a freshly washed car is a shiny car. This page is about detailing though, so we’re going to get into the details of how to achieve true shine.
Let’s start with the basic premise behind washing your car. In order to have the paint “shine”, you first need to remove the dirt. By doing so, you’re allowing light to reflect off the smooth surface of the paint and back into your eyes. Most people will stop here and be satisfied. But, lets’s keep going.
Take for example, a brand new mirror and one that is several years old and has some hazing and light scratches. Which one will allow for the best reflection? The new and smooth one, right? This is very similar to how your paint becomes less reflective and dull over time. Through daily driving, automatic washes, and the sun causing oxidation, imperfections in the paint gradually reduce the smooth appearance of the paint. This is why most vehicles can look great in the shade and then completely different when out in the sun; it’s how our eyes perceive the reflection of light.
The next step after washing is to clay the vehicle. This removes any bonded contaminants from the paint that cannot come off from a simple wash. Again, allowing for an even smoother finish on the paint and therefore creating a better reflection.
Typically your average vehicle will look 10x better after a wash and clay process, but to get the best reflection possible, swirls and scratches need to be removed. This will allow the light to have the smoothest surface to reflect back.
In order to fix this, a compounding step is typically needed to remove defects by leveling out the paint and creating as flat of a surface as possible. Remember that you will be removing paint by doing this, so it is important to be cautious when compounding; there is only so much paint on vehicles from the factory these days. Not all defects can be safely removed, and it’s always better to live with some defects rather than missing paint. A compounding step is typically followed by a polishing step to remove any hazing or marring from the more aggressive compound.
If your paint is not terribly swirled or you don’t have the time, the compounding step can be substituted for a polishing step and should remove the majority of swirling, but you may be left with some deeper defects in the paint.
After either process of compounding and polishing, your paint will be greatly more reflective and looking amazing!
Lastly, you want to protect and lock in that reflection by picking your choice of a wax, sealant, or ceramic coating.