polishing question....

Takes to long to mask.

Some waxes are better than others. Carbrite has a great line of waxes polishes and sealers. Their Nano wax will actually look great on the black trim.

If a wax leaves to much residue behind it either has to much fillers in it which causes all the dust which can scratch or swirl the paint or you are using to much wax.

Only about 1 mm of wax actually adheres to the surface anyway.

Another cool trick to see how smooth your paint surface is before waxing is to use the cellophane wrapper off a pack of cigarettes put your fingers in side and rub the paint. amplifies the imperfections. Great for seeing the before and after when you clay.

 

Masking helps to avoid mistakes. Most badges on vehicles are a Mylar chrome tape over plastic. Hit it with a DA and see what happens.

I use a baggie to see if the paint surface is smooth. Works pretty well also.

 

+1. Its a lot easier to pull tape at the end instead of having to get polishes/wax off plastic and body panel edges. Besides if you are actually trying to detail a car PERFECTLY then masking doesn't take that long in the scheme of things.

 

Masking in just my opinion would depend on what you are doing, level of experience and types of compounds, polishes, and waxes you are using.

If I were compounding I might use masking tape. For polishing and waxing I would never use it. The waxes I use leave no powder but yes around badges and crackes might need cleaned out.

I use an old credit card with micro fiber for all the gaps.

And true badges and anything plastic could be trouble with a buffer or DA.

If you want to see a great machine google the cyclone, its a dual orbiting head polisher that is about impossible to burn paint