Why do you need to measure the paint before polishing??

[awesomejun]

I have a question.
Why do you need to measure the paint??
Is that for you to choose which polish product you are gonna use??

Thanks.

[xx3]

(from my limited understanding of paint) You measure the thickness of the paint to know how aggressively you can polish the clear coat. If you use a pad thats too rough you'll eat through the clear-coat and damage the paint permanently...

[awesomejun]

Thanks for reply.
Then.. what's the clear-coat?? Is that some kind of layer formed by wax or sealant??

[detailersdomain]

the clear coat is the top coat of your paint.

Uses:
- Identify repainted panels and all previous refinish work
- Buff with precision and confidence. Locate where extra work is needed
- Improve finish consistency and quality
- Cut expensive paint materials and costs
- Show customers where more paint stripping or re-clearcoating is needed
- Determine depth of acid rain damage

[awesomejun]

Then... a vehicle after great detailing would have thicker clear-coat?? or thinner??
As far as my understanding...
if the clear-coat(or paint) gets thinner whenever you polish the surface, then too frequent polishing is not really beneficial in terms of long-run maintenance, right ?

thanks.

[detailersdomain]

thinner yes.

correct you can polish too much.

[Joe Daher]

Generally speaking, you don't need to worry about the thickness of your paint if you're just going to polish the car. If, however, you're using a buffer and you're actually going to compound and/or wax the vehicle, you should definitely take things like that under consideration.

In some professional shops, we use paint thickness gauges to show the customers when/if they need to get a wax, because you can tell how many mils (the layers of paint and it's measurement) are left on the vehicle. A vehicle with too many mils is pretty obviously repainted, and might need more upkeep because of this; a vehicle with too few mils will need to be waxed, because the vehicle doesn't have a fresh enough coat of wax.

For residential applications, I wouldn't worry about the thickness of your paint.

[awesomejun]

So like.... it wouldn't be a matter if I polish with Menzerna PO85RD,
but it would be better to consider the thickness when I compound it with SIP..., right??

[detailersdomain]

it would matter but much less, 85rd on an orbital won't do much sip wouldn't either.

I have actually never heard of taking measurements before and after wax....

[Joe Daher]

I wouldn't worry about it unless your using a high-speed buffer to compound your whole vehicle. Under those circumstances, you can identify areas of your vehicle's exterior that might need extra work.

If you're just waxing your car, no, I wouldn't worry about it. If you're hand buffing a scratch off your car with rubbing compound, no, I wouldn't worry about that either.

If you're repainting your car yourself and wetsanding it, then buffing over it for that sparkling finish, then you might want to take it under consideration. ;-)

Truth be told, there are few reasons that people other than professionals would need to guage the thickness of their paint.