How to use polishing pads with a drill
Many people use a touch-up pen or touch-up bottle to make minor repairs to their car, and simply finish it off with a touch of lacquer for shine and added protection. However, even minor paintwork repairs can benefit from a quick polish to remove any residues, blend in paintwork fixes and imperfections, and bring out the beauty of your car’s colour.
Blend, permanently fix, and protect your paintwork
You can polish by hand, but you’ll get a superior finish - faster and with less elbow grease, if you use a power tool. You don’t need to buy expensive power tools - your household drill will do in conjunction with our cost-effective polishing pad kit.
Professional Scratch & Scuff Remover permanently removes light scratches, scuffs and sanding marks within the first layer of the topcoat paint or lacquer.
It will fix swirl damage caused by the friction of up-and-over car washes, jet wash brushes that have been dropped on the ground, and grit caught in a hand-wash mitt.
This innovative product will also blend in and diminish the look of deeper defects, and help protect your car from dirt, grit, bird lime and a whole host of other nasties.
Tools
- Polishing compound (Scratch & Scuff)
- Polishing pad
- Backing plate
- Buffing cloth
- Drill (charged!)
- Safety goggles and gloves
The PaintNuts Scratch & Scuff Kit + Drill Pad includes polishing compound, a polishing pad, a drill backing plate and a microfibre buffing cloth. The polishing compound included is our Professional Scratch & Scuff Remover, which is the same quality that body shops use. You really can’t get a better product with such excellent value.
Step-by-step
- Start by removing any moisture or dirt off the damaged area so it’s clean and dry.
- Attach the backing plate to your drill, then attach the polishing pad to the Velcro on the backing plate.
- Smear a light coat of the scratch and scuff paste onto the polishing pad.
- Applying medium pressure and rotate across the damaged area for 10-15 seconds.
- Wipe with buffing cloth and repat steps 3, 4 and 5 until you achieve the desired results.
Note: Using the drill polisher for too long OR not using enough paste could burn through the lacquer and paintwork.
Top tips
- Slow speed for swirls.
- Fast speed for minor scratches, scuffs and chips.
- The kit is available without the backing plate if you want to use it by hand.
- Scratch & Scuff Remover is safe to use on solid, metallics and pearlescent paints.
- Deeper scratches, scuffs or chips will need careful layering with touch-up paint and lacquer before applying the polishing compound. See our guide to using touch-up paint.
Ready to order?
We recommend ordering everything on the ‘tools’ list at the same time, so you’ve got everything on hand to get the job done.
If you need paint, you can find your paint code using your reg. Once you have your paint code, our website takes you to the products - precision pen, bottle or aerosol - so you can make your selection.
When you’ve added everything to your basket that you need - like primer and lacquer and not forgetting your PaintNuts Scratch & Scuff Kit + Drill Pad - click through to checkout and choose from a range of delivery options.