Repairing a car’s paint job is not easy. It requires skill, tactics and a lot of patience. A car with a nice paint job is something to be cherished. If you have enough time to spend on your car and you are painting or polishing your own car at home then three components that treat paint surfaces are polish, cleaner and rubbing compound. All of them vary in aggressiveness. They work by removing unwanted dirt or paint, in small proportions, from the surface of the car. To choose any of these products you must examine the condition of your car carefully. If your paint has a dull look after car wash then polish will be the better choice. If paint is extremely dull then you need a cleaner and or rubbing compound.
Rubbing compound can remove entire paint where as polish removes only the smallest amount and a cleaner removes in-between. Removing paint is a serious job. You must choose product with right amount of aggressiveness. First you start with polish and if that does not get the job done or give enough effects then try the cleaner. If polish and cleaner both do not succeed then use rubbing compound. But do take safety measures while using rubbing compound, as it is a strong abrasive. If there is some minor fault or dull effects on your car then use polish. Polish helps you to remove contaminates on the paint surface that may include air borne pollutants, bird dropping or tree sap etc. Rubbing compound can easily scratch the surface of some cars, so extreme caution must be used.
In some cases painting your car with a spray gun is necessary to remove some blemishes or scratches. For that you need an air compressor and a spray gun. Before doing anything just take a spray card and paint it to examine the color match because once you paint the car change is quite difficult. Spray must have high quality solvents to guarantee high performance. If you avoid drying times, sanding times or flash times then this may result in very poor presentation. Even if you follow the instructions perfectly still you cannot replace a professional painter. It is highly advised to take help of their experience.
Mainly there are four basic steps that are required to paint a car and you must understand before going in for the process. They are prep, primer, blocking and spray job. You must also know that how to strip a car of all its trim, bumpers, mirrors, grills and other things that need to be removed before painting. You must strictly follow the instructions of mixing and spraying paint to get good results.
Nowadays a thin adhesive film is available in the market that comes in numerous colors. It is quite useful in creating large areas of color or graphics. It is just like masking. If you don’t have enough time and fine painting skills then please don’t ruin your car’s beauty at home. Just send it to a professional car washer and detailer and they will work for you. Only if you want your own satisfaction of doing it yourself, and you have a lot of time to practice and perfect your skills should you attempt to do any serious detailing to your own car.