Polishing, One-Step

You only see it in low sunlight, or under a streetlamp on the way out of the car park: a web of fine, circular scratches across the entire bonnet. The paint isn't damaged, it's worn from being washed the wrong way. Every round through an automatic wash has added a few marks, and together they've stripped the depth from the colour. Black looks grey. Red looks pink. It isn't dirt — you could wash the car three times over and it would still be there.

A one-step polish removes that layer.

What we actually do

Most of a polish is preparation. Everything sitting on the paint has to come off before anything rotates against it, otherwise we'd be grinding the grime in rather than off.

1. Hand wash using the two-bucket method, so we don't add new scratches in the first minute.
2. Chemical iron removal. The product reacts with iron particles from brakes and rail lines embedded in the paint, and they run off as purple streaks. These are particles that would otherwise be pressed further into the paint by the polishing pad.
3. Clay bar. The paint is worked over with a clay cloth until it's completely smooth to the touch through a plastic bag. Resin, cement, paint overspray and industrial fallout all come loose here.
4. Degreasing, so the polishing compound meets a clean, dry surface.
5. Masking of rubber trim, badges, plastic details and edges — polishing compound on matte black plastic leaves white marks that are hard to remove.
6. The polishing itself, one step, panel by panel. We choose pad and compound according to how hard the paint is — Japanese paint is typically softer than German, and a pad suited to one will cause holograms on the other. Along the way we wipe down and check the result in LED light from several angles, because a panel that looks perfect from above can show something quite different from the side.
7. Wax protection applied over the whole car at the end, so the newly polished surface isn't left unprotected against winter.

Why it pays off

The clear coat is the only thing protecting the colour layer beneath. When the surface is covered in micro-scratches, water, salt and UV light get more edges to attack from, and the gloss fades faster with every year. Polishing evens that surface out again — and an even surface holds on to protection, whether wax or coating, considerably longer than a scratched-up surface does.

It's also the cheapest visible lift a car can get. A one-step polish costs kr 2 399 and changes how the car reads to everyone who sees it, including a future buyer.

How often should you have it done?

Once a year is right for most cars. The clear coat can't take unlimited polishing, so we'd rather recommend protecting the result — hand washing, and applying wax or coating on top — than polishing more often.

How long does it take?

Around 5 hours for a small car, most of the day for an SUV. We need dry weather and preferably shelter, such as a garage or carport.

See available times and book a one-step polish — we come to you in Tønsberg and Vestfold.