Waxing and Polishing Cars

Commonly used interchangeably, waxing and polishing are words that are incorrectly used by those who are keen to make their cars look showroom new. Though similar, waxing and polishing serve different purposes.

What is Polishing?

Polishing removes small damages done to the top coat of your car’s paint. This includes removing road gunk, bird poop, and swirls that have built up over time. One importing to note is that polishing doesn’t make your car sparkle!

Once washing your car and leaving it out to dry, inspect the car paint. If you notice swirls, scratches, chunks of bird poop or water spots, these are indications for the need to polish your car. Polishing your car will remove those pesky bumps and make the surface of your car smooth again!

Polish comes in three forms, namely cream, spray, and liquid. Once you’ve polished your car, it looks all classy again right? If you have waxed your car within the past few months and it still looks shiny, then yes, the job is done. The polish will give your paint a tune-up. If you have last waxed your car in the past few months, it may be a good time to re-wax your car again.

What is Waxing?

Wax is what makes your cars go bling-bling. It also provides the paint with a protective coating to keep it from fading and acts as a defence against scratches. On a day-to-day basis, your car paint takes a lot of toll as you drive on the road. Tiny rocks may hit it, dirty mud may stick onto it, and people open their car doors and ding it. With the hot weather and strong sunlight all year round your car paint will start to look dull.

While polish will take care of external dirt and minor scratches, wax will restore the lustre of your paint. Similar to polish, waxes which also come in the form of cream, spray, and liquid form. Waxes also have UVA and UVB absorbers to protect the paint from the sun.

When to polish and/ or wax?

Rule of thumb is that you should wax your car in about every 3 months. For Malaysians where our country is super-hot all year round, you should wax your car to give the paint a layer of protection from the UV rays. On the other hand, polishing only needs to be done when you notice trouble spots.

Now that you have understood the difference between waxing and polishing, you now know how to better protect and care for your car. If you have not polished and/ or waxed your car, start considering them after your next car wash!