So for those that don't know, I do Mobile Detailing in Southern California and one of the questions I get asked a lot is "Do I Need To Polish My Truck or Car Once or Twice A Year ?", "I just bought it and it's new".

The answer is NO unless you don't wash your vehicles consistently and whether your vehicle is kept indoors or outdoors then you "SHOULD" but maybe.

There are a lot of factors that will determine if and when you should polish your vehicle. Normally a brand new vehicle that you just bought "should" have a very clean surface and free of contaminants. Most dealerships will have onsite detailers that will wash and detail your vehicle before they hand you the keys and take it home.

But from experience with customers, about 75% of the time onsite detailers at dealerships do more harm than good to your vehicles. They will wash your car and use dirty brushes to quickly get your car "CLEAN" and in the process they introduce swirl marks, mar your paint and sometimes even damage your vehicle's paint by scratching it.

I always tell friends, family and customers that are going to buy a new car to request that they "DO NOT" wash your car before they hand you the keys at the dealership. Just tell them to leave it the way it is but that you will do a walk around before you drive off with it.

A new car shouldn't need to be polished, buffed or paint corrected for at least a full year, but in order for this to happen, you should wash your vehicles regularly and avoid using drive-thru car washes at all costs ! These car washes "WILL" damage your vehicles paint very quickly, especially if you run your vehicles through them when they are very dirty.

Drive-thru car washes use water reclamation systems to "recycle" the dirty water and use it again and again on your vehicles. They also don't clean the big giant brushes that roll over the surface of your vehicles like they should so dirt and grime get stuck, harden up and end up scratching your vehicles paint.

These dirty brushes eventually get so dirty that they become 50-100 RPM spinning sand paper brushes which is why a lot of vehicles end up with clear coat failure and deep scratches that can not be removed. At that point you "DO HAVE TO" polish or buff your vehicles either by hand or with a polisher/buffing machine.

Depending on how bad your vehicles paint/finish is after regular drive-thru car washes, you might need up to a 2-3 step paint correction which can cost you between $500 to $5000 depending on the severity of damaged caused by these drive-thru car washes.

But it doesn't end there ! Daily driving your vehicles exposes their paint/finish to industrial fallout which contains metal shards, particles, dirty road water and the risk of rock chips while driving at high speeds.

A well cared for vehicle can go over a year without having to do any type of paint enhancement or correction. If properly washed either by You or by a professional detailer, you can avoid having to do what is called a "claybar treatment" which many detailers use to scam people and they call it a "Clay and Seal" package. I will talk about this service in another topic.

Any type of paint enhancement or correction which are two different processes to remove scratches from your vehicle's paint/finish "surface" slowly removes clearcoat from your vehicles "surface". Most new cars will have between 1.5 to 2 mils or 35 to 50 microns of clear coat which protects your vehicles paint. As reference, that is only as thick as a piece of paper or a sticky note.

Polishing and Buffing will remove between 2-3 microns if it's not an aggressive process. The least aggressive process is what we call a paint enhancement which only removes very light scratches that are normally introduced by drying your car with a towel or simply washing your vehicle.

My personal vehicle has only been polished 2 times since I bought it in 2018. I washed it regularly, sometimes up to 3 times a week, but I don't always do a hard contact wash. Most of the time I just simply wash away the dust and let it air dry since I use spotless water. I try to avoid drying it with a towel unless I absolutely have to.

If you do decide to get your vehicle polished or buffed, you should apply a ceramic coating to "replace" the clear coat that was removed by polishing or buffing it. A ceramic coating is going to protect your vehicles surface against UV rays, makes it easier to wash your vehicle and protects against swirl marks by making it harder for contaminants and industrial fallout to stick or embed into your vehicles surface.

A vehicle can go without needing to be polished, buffed, paint corrected or even ceramic coated for many years. My truck is not ceramic coated and it is 8 years old now. It is due for at least a 1 step or a paint enhancement and when I do decide to do so, I "WILL" apply a ceramic coating.

Polishing should be the last thing you do to your vehicles and only be done at most 1 time per year to avoid clear coat failure. Remember, your vehicles only have clear coat that is only as thick as a sticky note, if you polish your vehicles 1 - 2 times a year, you are removing at least 2-3 microns every time you polish your vehicle and most knowledgeable professionals will only remove a total of 12-13 microns total from your vehicles surface.

If you polish/buff your vehicle 2 times a year, you can potentially remove 6 total microns in 1 year which is half of what most professionals that care about their customers will agree to remove.

One more thing thing before I finish up here, don't ever allow anyone that does paint corrections to perform this type of work on your vehicles surface without first measuring the thickness of your vehicles paint and clearcoat. Most professionals will have a thickness meter that will help determine how many total mils/microns your vehicle has.

Well if you made it this far thank you for your time and I hope this answered your questions about polishing, buffing, paint enhancement and correcting your vehicles 1 or 2 times a year.