Polishing Outdoors

myshirt

Is this safe?

What are the risk factors?

Has anyone any practical tips here? Any observations from experience?

Is the short and sweet of it that it's a waste of time... Irish weather... dust... wind.... improper lighting.

I've seen some of you guys absolutely lay into one poster about the quality of his work. And you are right with the principle; you are only as good as your last job; the last job gets you the next job; do it right or don't do it at all.

Extending that principle, if you are gonna correct your car, should you just be doing it indoors and accept that it is disingenuous to the cause to be doing it outside, and you are really just letting yourself down.

MetzgerMeister

There's nothing wrong with correcting your car outside. I fully corrected my last car outside. Just make sure you wash it, clay it etc beforehand and work on a panel at a time. Keep the whole panel and adjoining panels clean and dust free as much as you can, always work on a panel when it's cool and in the shade otherwise the polish will dry up faster and don't let the pads fall on the ground and you'll be fine.

Curran

myshirt wrote: »

I've seen some of you guys absolutely lay into one poster about the quality of his work. And you are right with the principle; you are only as good as your last job; the last job gets you the next job; do it right or don't do it at all.

^^^
If you are running a business and planning on doing polishing outdoors, then no - its not advised!!


But as Metz said, it can be done if you car careful...its not ideal, as you cant control / allow for....
Wind - dust being kicked up
Rain - water obviously
Sun - temperature of panel

But you can do things to limit the effect those things have...
Wind - obviously if its very windy, you're wasting your time...but give the panel a light wipe down with a plush MF before doing a set, and you should be OK
Sun - park the car in the shade, or turning the car so sun isnt hitting the side you are working on - allow panels to cool off.

Metz also made a good point; make sure none of your pads and MF's get dirty or dusty...then you are wasting your time.

You should be able to get great results, with a bit of patience....as Irish weather can be a nightmare when trying to do anything outdoors with the car...even now, its too warm during the day, and dew sets in quickly when its cooler in the evenings!

JAMES VTI S

In this heatwave weather stay in the shade or the millisecond you put polish on the paint its going to dry in, or turn the side of the car you are working on away from the sun

Dust would be a big one in this weather, living long side a road or a gust of wind blowing dust on the panel you're polishing would send me over the edge in to crazy land (i dont like that place the bunnys scare me)

Iv compounded my van outside no difference just be aware of the environment

OH! one more thing, get the work done before ten or so .... MIDGES!!!!!!

MetzgerMeister

Fooken midge baxtards have the roof, boot, windscreen and bonnet of my car destroyed with whatever they excrete along with a load of them dead along my wipers and boot crevices :mad:

JAMES VTI S

Poor bee's just roast on the panels

i watched them for a while, they land turn upside down and go aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

myshirt

What do you think of the merits of something like a gazebo?

http://www.homestoreandmore.ie/gazebos/folding-gazebo-brownbeige/invt/049198

Or covering the car in plastic sheeting and uncovering a panel as you get to it... uncover... already de-tarred, de-ironised, clayed, but spray with some quick detailer, or dry wipe with microfiber, if its got dusty... polish away... carpro eraser after compound... carpro eraser after jewel... seal up and leave exposed, move on to remove more plastic... and so on

What way have people worked this? E.g Wash, clay etc one afternoon, compound the next day, jewel the day after and apply lsp. Or full correction panel by panel.

How long is it ok to leave a car clayed and naked?

It has all been experimenting for me to this point!

MetzgerMeister

There is no point in doing it any way other than panel by panel IMO. I just don't see the point in doing it any other way.

myshirt

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

There is no point in doing it any way other than panel by panel IMO. I just don't see the point in doing it any other way.

Do your pads not dry out? Or get crusty on the surface?

Is it doable to just wash as you go, and maybe spin dry them?

I suppose though, if you haven't went overkill with the polish, and you have worked it well, there should be little impact on the pad.

Do you really need to wash the pad before each panel because of how long it's been sitting waiting for you, eg while you are applying a jewel, or waxing ? Maybe not.

Q though, should you thoroughly wash the pad and wait for it to dry fully, rather than a spin dry, if you are going to try a different polish on the pad?