How often can I cut my paint?

[supafamous]

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,

[blacK20]

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.

[syee]

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)

[supafamous]

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,

[!Yaminashi]

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

[911fanatic]

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