Driving a car, especially on the highway, is not very good for the car's paint. Rocks are thrown around and can scratch your paint, which only takes away value from your car. When it comes time to sell, you may find yourself forced to sell the car for less than you expected. However, using a little elbow grease, you can remove surface scratches by messing them up with a little polishing. This is the predicament I found myself in recently, when I was planning to sell my 2008 Honda Civic Si sedan. The paint is, well...it's not good. Years of winter driving, highway miles and contactless car washes have left numerous scratches all over the bodywork. Luckily, my friend Billy had just purchased some retail equipment and expressed interest in using my car as a test bed for his new toys. “Your painting can’t be much worse,” he remarked. Good point. So, taking advantage of this three day weekend, I went to Billy's house and we went to work./images/articles/201405/buff_1_1401216441_600x398.jpgThe main idea of ​​polishing is simple: polishing removes a small layer of paint ( ideally, the layer covered with surface scratches) to help your car look closer to new. The main tool we used for this is a dual action polisher, which uses an internal clutch in order to keep the speed of the polisher constant. If you use a clutchless polisher, you risk burning off multiple coats of paint by holding the polisher in one place for too long./images/articles/201405/buff_2_1401216465_600x398.jpgThere are (almost literally) a million types of polishing compounds . on the planet, but no matter what you choose, you really shouldn't spend your land cheaply. Better compounds produce better results; clearly you don't... middle of paper... it's much better. You can be a crazy person and use heavier grits and even more passes over the panels, but again you risk damaging the varnish by doing HAM on it. At this point, it's best to consult a professional or consider new paint./images/articles/201405/buff_15_1401216773_600x398.jpgThat said, if you like to get your hands dirty and have a car with gnarly paint. , consider purchasing a dual-action polisher and some compound (and about 100 microfiber cloths). You have a much better chance of selling your car for a good price when your paint isn't swirling to the high heavens. Billy built his own car first, which gave me the confidence to let him work on mine, even though his car was much nicer than mine./images/articles/201405/buff_16_1401216808_600x398.jpg Anyway, I think I owe him a drink. or three once I sell this bad boy.