How often can I cut my paint?
 

Hi,

So I had my car in for a service and forgot to ask the service guys not to wash my car for me and so I have some very light swirl marks on my car since they used brushes on them.

I've read that one should only polish once a year to avoid damaging the clear coat - how many years of car ownership is that based on? My car is a 2007 and was polished for the first time this year so I assume I've got plenty more clear coat left.

In any case anyone have recommendations on something that's suitable to remove very light swirl marks? I used Poorboy's SSR2.0 earlier this year but the swirl marks that time were much stronger - this time it's very, very light stuff that's only barely visible to the untrained eye.

thanks,

One would never know without paint thickness measurements. Honestly though I would not worry unless you are doing some heavy compounding. If the swirls are very light, chances are you can use a finishing polish with the corresponding pad to clean it up. Something like menz 106fa or 85rd with a green/black pad on a DA would barely take off enough to register on a paint meter if that gives you any more confidence.

That's a tough question to answer. To be honest, you'd have to measure your paint thickness (and even then it's not really a foolproof indicator of how often you can cut polish it since it doesn't differentiate between base paint and clearcoat).

With that said, I do mine twice a year since I have notoriously soft Acura paint. I haven't encountered any clearcoat failure or appear to have cut through my clearcoat yet. Polishing takes off very little clearcoat.

What products do you have right now that you're using? I personally use Optimum Polish for light swirls (and as a follow up on my more agressive polishes like Menzerna SIP or M105)

Thanks for the advice - I'm driving an 07 Acura and I cut the first time with Poorboy's SSR2.0 (eShine Canada: Poorboy's Super Swirl Remover 2 (16 oz)), I had 2.5 available but didn't need to use it. I could get their 1.0 which is for really light swirls but I figure I could get something at Canadian Tire that would do the job too since I can't get Poorboy's locally and I want to skip on the shipping charges.

I'm using a Porter cable in this case and I used the SSR2.0 with the white pad the first time around.

cheers,

Honestly you dont have to worry about it. As long as you're not cut polishing every weekend you're fine.

Ive always used menzerna power finish, and if I want only light cutting I'll use a white pad

Using a DA with a white or green pad and a polish like the ones being mentioned, you'll never go through your clear.