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I have my Mitsubishi lancer 2004 (silver) that was painted last year. Today I bought a polishing compound named http://www.abro.com/pc-310.html . I put a small amount of the polish on a cotton cloth, and using my hands I applied the polish to my entire car, area by area.

I thought that this would protect my car paint from sun, dust, rain , etc., but it seems I should have applied wax rather than polishing compound. Unfortunately I should have read more before buying the product. Can anyone advice if applying a polishing compound can ruin my car paint?

Now I read the instruction on the product, I noticed that it mentioned this polishing compound is not recommended for clear coat finishes, rubber surfaces, and plastic term. Can anyone advise on this please? It seems the product I used is some sort of abrasive , but I am not sure how serious the damage can be in polishing my car like I did, and I don't know whether there's a way to fix any damage that could happen. Some online articles said that applying a good polishing compound product (like the one i used) on a good paint (my car was painted last year) is not a big problem - can anyone advice if I did any damage to my car paint by applying the polishing compound? If the answer is yes then how serious is the damage, and how could I fix it?

John John
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Yes, you did indeed apply an abrasive "compound". Polish materials come in coarse and finer grits just like sandpaper. To polish scratches left by a polish of a course grit finer grits are used to polish out the deeper scratches. The good news the clearcoat can, very likely, be restored to a normal smooth surface shine.

You have two options: You can take it to a professional detailer and have it polished. Or you can obtain the required tools and materials and polish it yourself. See my answer to this question for the required materials. How to polish clearcoat

Community
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Fred Wilson
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I thought that this would protect my car paint from sun, dust, rain , etc., but it seems I should have applied wax rather than polishing compound. Unfortunately I should have read more before buying the product. Can anyone advice if applying a polishing compound can ruin my car paint?

You're right, there's no point in polishing a new car, or a fresh coat of paint, with or without a clear coat finish. The purpose of polish is to remove dirt, industrial overspray, and oxidized old paint on the top level of an older paint finish. A new (or one year old) paint coat should not require polishing. If it does, it should be a warranty service done by the paint shop.

Put a coat of high quality wax on it and move on.

kmarsh
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Can polishing compound ruin your car's paint? Yes. Is that a guarantee? Nope. The purpose of compound is to remove just enough paint that surface imperfections (scratches, swirls, holograms, oxidation) go away with the paint that is removed.

The compound you linked to is specifically for hand application and as such is likely very aggressive. Thankfully it takes a lot of effort to destroy aftermarket paint when compounding by hand, even with the most aggressive of compounds. Your paint probably looks fine as is, but chances are it's just a little less shiny than it was. A compound that aggressive almost always requires a finish polish to achieve maximum shine. Omitting the finishing polish will not damage anything, you just won't have as much shine as you could.

In the future, if the paint is rough, clay it. If there are scratches, swirls or holograms, compound it. After whatever else you do, wax it. Any time I take the paint all the way down to... well... paint, I like to put at least two coats of wax on it to restore the protective layer. That protection is critical when you park outside like I do.

The difference between polishing/compounding and waxes/sealants is that the former is for paint correction and the latter is for paint protection. They are both important for maintaining the best finish possible for your car, but please use them appropriately in the future. Your paint will thank you.

Lathejockey81
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