Polishing my white VW Taigun GT: A simple DIY process

Took me about 5 hours and achieved pro-like results

BHPian Yesterdaysnews recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

9 months and 22,000 km in, my white VW Taigun GT seemed like she wanted a good buff and polish. I’ve tried ceramic coating on my previous car, and wasn’t too impressed, as far as bang for buck is concerned.

I started making calls to my usual places and was quite taken aback by how much they wanted. Even for just polishing and waxing, everyone seemed to be pushing for 20,000 – 35,000 packages – 4 polishes a year. I think it makes no sense to buff and polish 4 times a year. Twice or so a year is more than enough!

For single services, 3M quoted 9,500, another centre 7500, someone said they’d come home and do it for 6k, myTVS asked for 4k but had horrid reviews…

I’ve always wanted to polish and detail myself, but was wary after reading threads here on TeamBHp with too much information which made detailing seem rather difficult. Elsewhere online was quite confusing as well – “you’ll burn your paint,” some said and others “you’ll take your clear coat off.” Yet others were recommending expensive Dual action polishers saying they are the easiest for novices, and rotary polishers were dangerous in the hands of a noob. I really didn’t want an expensive polishing machine as I’d be using it only 2 times or so a year.

I decided to take the plunge and try machine buffing and polishing on one panel, and if I burnt it, I figured I’d scratch a wall and claim insurance.

So I bought a 6-speed polish machine on Amazon for Rs 3,500 which came with 2 pads, including a woollen one.

And Turtle wax compound, hard shell polish and ceramic spray coating. Also a clay bar and a new set of micro-fiber cloths.

The Internet was screaming that a woollen pad was in the hands of a noob detailer a recipe for disaster – so I got a foam pad as well.

When everything arrived, I tested the machine on my coffee table with the foam pad. And I ended up scratching the table. I next tried it on my refrigerator while my wife was screaming blue bloody murder, and I scratched it.

I went to sleep in the guest bedroom as my wife was still screaming blue bloody murder over the coffee table and fridge, woke up this morning and decided to just go ahead on my car.

I first washed it, using my Karcher 120 bar washer. Then clayed the surface and got the machine ready.

Didn’t use the foam pad, instead the buffing pad that came with the machine.

Dabbed some compound and off I went on a panel. Started slow, and picked up speed. I was sure that I was going to scratch the panel. But after I was done, and wiped away with a cloth, nothing had happened to the panel and in fact, all the swirls and minor scratches were gone!

Boom! Finished compounding and buffing the entire car, and then wiped it with a cloth. All swirl marks are gone, and scratches are gone.

I had by now worn out the buffing pad and had to get on the wool pad. Was wary again, for everyone said it was really aggressive and would scratch the car, but my confidence was boosted by now and rubbing some hard shell polish on it and dabbing a panel, I went to work. Started slowly first working myself to full RPM.

Again, nothing adverse happened and the panel came out sparkling. In fact, the woollen pad was the easiest to work with!

Finished the entire car, and I then sprayed the Turtle wax ceramic spray and buffed it with a microfiber cloth.

I’ve given my previous cars to many a wax and polishing, and like mentioned previously even for an expensive ceramic coating with Ceramic Pro.

My results were equal if not better. The picture above of the sky reflecting off the bonnet.

Took me about 5 hours, I got a really good workout, drank much more water than I usually would, and achieved pro-like results, for a mere 6,000 – and except for the can of polish and one pad, everything remains for me to use again – which means about Rs 1,000 next time – 600 for polish and 400 for a pad.

Sometimes, we just gotta take the plunge!

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