[Jackalope501]

Now that we've talked about the pad types, let's discuss how to use them. Yes, there is a big difference between buffing and glazing, and you don't always need to do both. For basic principles, let's define them both.

Buffing:
Here we're spinning a wool pad with a more aggressive product to remove oxidation and scratches from the paint at higher rpms. Normally 3000. Buffing products have different levels of silicates (sand) in them to accomplish this. Heavy compounds will feel gritty between your fingers like toothpaste, while products like Malco's Lite Finish will have more of a hand lotion type consistency.

Glazing:
Now we're spinning a foam pad at lower rpms, around 1800, with a wax or polymer based product to seal the paint, remove swirl marks and/or enhance the shine on the car's finish.

The buffer speed combined with the material of the pad produces heat that's used to break down the product and push it into the paint. Buffing products break down at higher heat than the glazing products do, which is why we glaze at lower speed settings.

When to buff or glaze?

Let's say your paint feels dry to the touch. You put your hand on the hood palm down and pull it to you and it sounds like this...eeeeeeeeeeeeeee. But the paint isn't oxidized or scratched up. Glazing it will do. Glazed and waxed paint will feel soft, warm and smooth.

If you have oxidation(chalky appearance) and scratches in the paint, it's time to buff. The standard rule of thumb is this...if you can prick the scratch with your fingernail, you won't get all of it out. I've compounded deep scratches out of cars before, but you're gonna burn through some layers of paint to do it. Not something for an inexperienced person to attempt. Buffing creates a lot of heat and friction, so burning the paint is easy to do. You can destroy a car's finish quickly if you don't know what you're doing, which is why I recommend you start by glazing until you get the hang of it. Everybody burns cars while buffing. Anybody who says they haven't has never buffed.

Two types of burns:

Working burns- These occur due to failing paint or clearcoat, or around sharp body panels where the paint is extremely thin. One simple pass can do it, and you won't notice it until the damage is done. Oops, now you gotta fix it...

Neglect burns- These occur due to an idiot with the buffer who stays too long in one place, or grinds the edge of the pad against the paint. An example would be buffing around a spoiler and bumping the pillar with the edge of the pad. That's why we do those areas by hand, and you always mask rubber body trim. Now it's time to fire somebody...

Now here's where it gets complex. Let's say we've got a dark green Chevy truck to work on. Fairly common color for them, right? It's got some oxidation and a few fine scratches. We can buff this out with Lite Finish and a wool pad, wax it, and be done.

Next we have a dark green Nissan truck with the same problem. Once we buff it out with Lite Finish and a wool pad, we'll have to glaze it with a foam pad and Phase II glazing product before we can wax it.

Why? Because GM uses a harder clearcoat than Nissan and other auto makers do. Softer clearcoats are prone to swirl marks after you use a wool pad on them, especially with darker colors. Lexus black is a bitch.
We'll cover that more later...

Tomorrow I'll start covering buffing and glazing products...