The Honda Odyssey is a minivan, which is a family vehicle built to carry people and gear. Because it’s used a lot for everyday trips, the paint can get dull or scratched over time. That’s why people might spend extra time cleaning and fixing the paint on one.
An IPA wipe is a quick wipe-down with isopropyl alcohol. It removes leftover polish residue so you can better see what the paint actually looks like before you do more work.
Haze is when the paint looks cloudy or not fully clear, even if it’s clean. Polishing steps can remove it by smoothing the surface and clearing away residue.
Swirl marks are tiny, circular scratches that make the paint look dull or hazy. They’re usually caused by washing or wiping the car the wrong way, and polishing can reduce them.
Clear coat is the shiny protective top layer of your car’s paint. Polishing can wear it down little by little, so you want to make sure you don’t remove too much.
Paint correction is polishing the car to reduce visible paint problems like scratches and dullness. It’s done carefully so you improve the look without sanding away too much of the clear top layer.
Some polishes have “fillers” that hide scratches or swirl marks instead of actually sanding/polishing them out. The paint may look better at first, but the improvement isn’t as real or lasting as true paint correction.
This is a cleaner that removes waxes and oily residue from the paint. If the paint still looks bad after using it, that suggests the polish was mostly hiding defects with residue or fillers.
“Work time” is how long a polish remains effective while you’re spreading and buffing it. If a product has an unusually long work time and starts to look oily, it may be relying on oils/fillers rather than cutting and correcting the paint.
A one-step polish is a product meant to both remove defects and leave a nice finish in one go. The point here is that newer one-step products can correct paint for real, not just hide problems.
In car detailing, “glazing” is when the paint looks shinier because the product fills in tiny scratches or imperfections. It can look great, but it may not actually remove the damage underneath.
A “pad dependent polish” means the same polish can act differently depending on the pad you put it on. Softer or different pads can change how much it cuts and how glossy the paint looks afterward.
PPP, or “picture perfect polish,” is a named polish product. The host’s point is that you can’t assume it will perform the same with every pad—pad choice affects the outcome.
A “microfiber pad” is a polishing pad made with tiny fibers. Those fibers can help the polish remove more defects, but the finish can come out different than with a foam pad.
A “finishing pad” is usually a softer pad used to make the paint look extra glossy at the end. Softer pads generally remove less paint/defects than more aggressive pads.
The foam pad is the part that touches your car’s paint while you polish. “Medium” means it’s not the gentlest option and not the most aggressive—it's meant to balance cutting power and finishing.
Microfiber and cutting pads are the more aggressive polishing pads. They’re used when you need to remove more paint surface issues, not just make the finish look nicer.
“Correction” is detailing-speak for fixing the paint surface—like removing swirl marks and light scratches. The more correction you want, the more aggressive the pad/polish usually needs to be.
“Wipe off” is the step where you remove the leftover polish from the paint. If you used too much polish, it can leave more residue and become harder to wipe clean.
Residue is the leftover polish film on the paint after you polish. Too much residue usually means you used too much product, and it can be harder to clean off.
Polish is a product you spread to refine paint. If it dries out on the pad, it can turn into residue that smears and makes the job harder, even if it looks like “dust.”
In detailing, contaminants are bonded or embedded substances on the paint surface—like road film, fallout, and other residues—that polishing can smear around. Removing them first prevents them from getting trapped in the pad and re-deposited onto the paint.
Even “smooth” paint has tiny microscopic texture. Dirt can get stuck down in those tiny spots, and polishing can pull it out—but if you don’t clean first, it can just get moved around.
A clay bar is a special cleaning tool that pulls off stubborn grime stuck to paint. It’s usually used before polishing so the polish can work on the paint, not on dirt.
Road film is the grime layer that collects on your car from driving. Washing it off first helps make sure polishing improves the paint instead of spreading dirt.
An iron remover is a cleaner that targets brake-dust-type contamination on the paint. It helps get that embedded stuff off before you polish so you don’t spread it around.
Refining the paint means polishing to make the surface look clearer and smoother. The point is to polish in a controlled way, not to aggressively force the product to work like it’s digging out dirt.
A rotary polisher is a machine that spins a polishing pad like a power tool. It can remove defects fast, but it’s also easier to mess up your paint if you’re new—so you need good control.
A dual action machine moves the pad in two ways at once, not just spinning. That motion helps it be more forgiving on paint, which is why it’s often recommended for people learning to polish.
The “learning curve” here means how hard it is to learn the right polishing technique. If it’s steep, beginners are more likely to get uneven results or accidentally hurt the paint.
Rotary marks are bad-looking scratches or swirl patterns left behind by a rotary polisher. They usually happen when the tool is used too aggressively or with poor technique.
A primer polish is a polishing step meant to prep the paint for the next product. Think of it as getting the surface ready so the final protection sticks and looks better.
Modern car paint usually has a clear top layer. Polishing can sand it down a tiny bit to smooth out scratches and make the paint look clearer and shinier.
Tuffa Shell is a product used to protect your car’s paint after polishing. The idea is: polish to make it look better, then apply protection to keep it looking that way.
“Panel prep” means doing a final cleaning step on the car’s paint before you apply protection. The host is saying their polish leaves the surface clean enough that you can skip that step.
Silicones are additives that can leave a slippery residue on paint. The host is saying their polish doesn’t leave that kind of residue, which can help later protection products stick better.
The Honda Accord is a regular family car that many people drive. Because it’s common, you’ll often hear about it when people talk about cleaning and polishing the paint. The point is that even a normal car can benefit from careful detailing.
The Toyota Corolla is a small, everyday car that many people buy. Since it’s so common, it often comes up in conversations about washing and polishing paint. The idea is that taking care of the finish can be worth the effort, even on a typical car.
LIVE
Paint polishing is one of those things
that could either be like super awesome,
rewarding, very fun, therapeutic,
or it could be a total nightmare.
It could be filled with frustration
and in fact, a lot of times it is filled with frustration
and that's part of the process.
But more often than not,
it takes too long to polish out a car
or to get the car to the desired result that you want.
And most of the time it's not because you lack the skill
or you don't have the tools,
it's that you have too many tools.
And so by having too many, you have too many options
and what starts to happen and one thing that I found
and this is really just from my experience,
is one thing that I found is the more options I have,
the harder it is for me to find the right combo that I like.
So I've really had to refine what polishes and pads
and even machines that I have, machines not so much.
I've actually, that's one thing I'm gonna talk about,
is the machine doesn't really matter.
It matters to a certain extent,
but if you have a 15 millimeter throw
or a 12 millimeter throw or a 20 millimeter throw
or whatever, 18, whatever, 21, doesn't really matter.
That's more of a preference thing.
That's more of that in my mind goes into the nice to have
or the nice cities, whether you have a cheap,
Harbor Freight, Amazon polisher or you have a Flex or Rupes,
they both can do the same thing
in the hands of a skilled person
or someone who knows what they're doing.
They can make either one of those work.
The Flex and the Rupes might get you there
a little bit faster and might actually be a little bit nicer,
but that doesn't mean that the Harbor Freight
or the Amazon special can't get you there.
But in this podcast, in this video,
I wanna talk about like, I don't know,
eight to 10 paint polishing tips
that I've kind of figured out the hard way
and hopefully help you to shortcut
your paint polishing efforts.
And really, this is kind of why,
I'll be dead honest, like paint polishing to me
is not therapeutic.
Paint polishing to me is not very fun.
It's a necessary evil in my opinion.
I don't know if I have ADD or what it is,
but it's very brainless activity to me
and it's very frustrating, though it could be very rewarding.
And so when I would team up with Tom
and we created a polish together,
he loved polishing paint.
He was very therapeutic for him
and kind of it goes either way, right?
And so, but just for me,
I just wanna get it done as quickly as possible,
as fast as possible and as few amount of steps as possible.
That's my personal preference.
And so when I was looking to design a product to polish,
we kind of had both angles going there
of like someone who really loves to polish out a car
and has extensive knowledge.
And then me, who I don't really like to polish out a car,
I could do it, I'll do it.
I just don't really like it, right?
And so I guess the first tip that I would start with
is going into the car with the goal before you start.
So before you even pick up the polisher,
before you even decide what polisher you wanna do
or what pad, what are you doing?
Are you doing a full correction like 100%?
Are you doing a one step
to see how much you can get out of it?
Are you just doing like a gloss enhancement?
Are you doing just a quick cleanup
so that you can apply something like the gloss boss?
If you're doing this for money,
you're detailing for money,
what are the customer expectations?
If it's just, how is that customer
going to maintain the car?
Which I think is another thing to consider.
And so I think starting with the end in mind
and starting with the end first is a very good start to it all
because I think a lot of people get into it by
or start polishing by like,
I need to remove every single defect possible.
I need to, what is Jim talking about?
One size machine, I need eight different size machines
all the way down to a quarter inch polisher
so I can get behind the door handles.
Well, look, that may be fine
but a daily driver, a mom minivan, a soccer minivan
probably doesn't need 100% correction.
Most people just want the paint looking cleaner,
glossier, deeper and make it easier to maintain.
That's kind of, I think there's a famous line
from someone in the detail industry
that like most people just want like glossy paint,
clean streak free windows and shiny tires
and that's about it.
So again, the goal isn't always perfect.
Sometimes the goal is just to get the car
or the paint looking better in a realistic amount of time.
There's so many times that newbie detailers
have gotten into it saying, oh, I spent 40 hours
paint correcting this soccer mom Honda Odyssey, right?
And it's like, bro, she has the monthly membership
at the local car wash.
That thing is gonna be swirled up to death next week.
You didn't understand the assignment.
You probably didn't get paid enough for that
because she wasn't willing to pay for that
because it's not even what you wanted, right?
And now you're on a Facebook group complaining about it.
Well, you didn't listen to your customer
of what you wanted, right?
And so you gotta start with the end in mind.
That's my number one.
So number two would be to stop chasing perfection
on every car.
So much time is wasted with detailers
and I know we're type A, we wanna get everything
but so often we get stuck and probably the number one reason
why polishing takes so long is we're chasing
every single little thing, right?
You polish one section and you inspect it
under 18 different lights.
You see something, you inspect it again,
you do an IPA wipe, you change liquids,
you do it again, you change pads, you do it again.
You're going, your arm speed is so ridiculously slow.
You're never gonna finish the whole car
and then it's not enough still, right?
And you waste a ton, a ton of time.
So I think, again, there is just a difference between
improving gloss, making the paint shinier,
removing the haze, reducing swirl marks,
restoring depth and clarity of the car.
Just sometimes, and finally I think the discussion
that's coming around to, you know,
making sure you leave enough clear coat on the car
is such a valuable, important conversation to have as well
of like, hey, you could, by chasing everything
and doing a deep paint correction session,
you could actually be harming
your customer's car long-term as well.
Now, this is, again, why I wanted to develop something
that was super, super safe and that's why I call it a polish,
the picture perfect polish, not compound,
because compounds are too aggressive.
It's the abrasives in the formula mixed with the solvents
and the other things that make up a compound or a polish,
but the main ingredient that changes a lot of things
is the abrasive and a lot of those abrasives,
which are sand or, and there's a slew of them,
but the abrasives in compounds are really, really aggressive.
That's why they leave a haze.
So people talk about it like it's common,
but when you have a compound that's hazing up on you
and people brush it off like, oh, no big deal.
No, that's actually damage that the abrasive
in there has created.
Granted, it is less damaged than the scratch
that you took out, but it is damaged nonetheless, right?
So the thing that I learned from Tom
is that it doesn't have to be like that.
You can actually create different things, right?
And so you could change the abrasive blend.
You could change the percentage of abrasive.
You can change the abrasive altogether, right?
And so, and then of course,
there's other niceties of the formula.
Like when you use a non-scented solvent
because you opted for a,
to spend more money on the formula,
it doesn't smell like a solvent.
That is that important to anyone?
Maybe, maybe not.
But once you go with an odorless polish,
like the picture perfect polish,
and then you go back to something like 3D1,
you will realize how smelly it is.
And you probably will have headaches
and that goes into a whole other thing,
but nicety, right?
And so, yeah, I went off on a little bit of tangent there.
Number three, do a test spot.
So take your time, do a test spot on the hood,
and just do a little area.
Sometimes this feels like you're slowing down,
but do a, pick a small section,
pick your polish, pick your pad, pick your machine,
test out your pressure that you wanna put onto it.
Your number of passes, the wipe off,
see the final result, and inspect your work.
If it looks good, boom,
you've just repeat that process around the car.
If it doesn't look good, you can adjust,
but limit your options.
That's why I only wanted one liquid,
a compound and a polish in one
that didn't have fillers
that you could actually ceramic coat right on top of,
because then you're hitting, checking so many boxes.
And really, the feedback that I get
is people are so amazed that you can do
such a variety of things with literally one product, right?
But do the test spot.
Start with the least aggressive method, obviously.
I like the burgundy pad,
and I call it a one step polish
with the picture perfect polish.
And I have found that doing that
is the vast majority of the time
gets the paint where I want it,
without a haze, without anything.
So that's my tip number four, is use a one step polish.
Most people, a great one step polish,
especially if it's not overdone with oils,
it's not overdone with fillers.
And you may be saying, how do you know
if it's got too many oils or fillers?
Usually, it's pretty common,
a brand will tell you if there's fillers in the polish.
If there are not fillers in the polish,
or if you wanna test their claims,
you can do a wax and grease remover after you use it.
And if you, after you use the wax and grease remover,
if the panel looks like you didn't polish it,
it has fillers, right?
If it has heavy, heavy oils,
sometimes you'll get separation in the bottle.
You will be able to tell while you're working the polish,
like it has a really long work time,
but it almost looks oily.
And so, again, I think that's kind of an old school,
like one step polish is great, 3D one is great,
the picture perfect polish is even better.
There are, you know, like all in ones
that have fillers and those have their place kind of,
but I think we've even gone away from that.
And we're going to like,
you could have a really good one step polish
that offers true paint correction
without haze, without any of that, right?
So I think a good one step polish,
though it used to mean you're kind of being lazy,
you're filling the paint, you're, you know,
glazing up the paint,
I think we've kind of worked away from that
to where a lot of one step polishes are
really good in giving you a true correction.
So, yeah, I think a lot of times too,
and it kind of goes into my theme of like,
sometimes you have too many options.
The fifth thing I want to talk about is sometimes
just change the pad, not the product.
And so this is the number one thing that I have realized.
This is why I developed a pad dependent polish.
PPP, picture perfect polish is also a pad dependent polish
because the pad can change how the polish
and the braces behave.
So sometimes the same liquid, different pad,
you could get a completely different result.
So again, that's why I have two different pads, one liquid.
Change the pad, get a different result,
keep the liquid.
And I have people using a microfiber pad
and all different types of pads with one liquid, right?
Obviously a softer finishing pad
will give you more gloss but less cut.
A medium foam pad gives you kind of a balance
like that one step.
A microfiber or cutting pad
is going to give you more correction.
You do run the risk of haze when you do that
because you're actually getting haze from the fibers.
And a finishing pad can help on softer paint
that's hazing up easily.
But again, this is why I like the idea
of a pad dependent polish.
It gives you one less variable to worry about.
Instead of grabbing five different bottles,
you can often keep just the one liquid, switch up the pad.
And that makes for faster process, easier control.
And so it just helps kind of, again, speed up the process.
So number six, I see this happen a lot
is a lot of people are overusing product
or just using way too much.
I get complaints of like Jimbo, the wipe off is too hard.
And I'm like, for the picture perfect polish,
you should literally have very little to no residue
before you wipe off.
So if it's too hard for you to wipe off,
you have way too much product on the surface of the car.
So you either started with too much
or you haven't worked the product enough.
So too much polish can kind of oversaturate the pad.
It can make wipe off harder.
It loads up the pad faster, obviously,
so that pad's getting dirtier.
You're wasting product, right?
And it always makes you think
that the polish isn't working on the way it is.
So the goal is not to drown the pad in product
because they're a team.
It's the liquid and the pad structure together
that are trying to get you the result.
It's not just the liquid.
And I think that's something that I used to think of like,
oh, I'm using this compound, polish.
It's the polish doing the work.
It is, but it's actually, they're working in tandem.
So more polish doesn't mean more results.
Sometimes it just means more of a mess
because it's like 50-50, right?
The polish, the liquid, and the pad.
That's why a lot of brands also say
to stay within their ecosystem of product and pad,
or liquid and pad, because like me,
I have a zillion videos on the development
and picking the pad and the liquid and all that.
I think I have like seven or eight videos,
10 videos on that because it's overwhelming.
But what I found is that it really, really helps people
to hone down their selections.
And then I could just test that and say,
hey, this for sure I know works.
Like this system, the picture perfect polish bundle,
this system I know without a shadow of a doubt
works exactly how I'm talking about.
And so a lot of the issues
or a lot of the customer complaints that I'll get,
when I start asking questions,
they're working outside that system
that I've created, which can work.
The liquid is actually designed to work outside the system.
However, you may just get some weird,
oddity things happening outside of the system
that you got a troubleshoot.
That's why I picked the pads that I did, right?
That makes sense.
So tip number seven is to clean your pads constantly.
So instead you can use compressed air,
which is my favorite.
You can use a tornado that also works really good as well.
You can use a brush.
But my favorite thing to do is just to switch out pads,
because most people stop thinking the polish work,
but really it's the pad that stopped working.
Again, they're working in tandem,
they're working together,
the pad and the liquid together.
So as the pad builds up,
you have less surface area of that microfiber,
of that foam, of that whatever.
And so it stops cutting efficiently.
So then what happens is people push harder,
they'll do more passes, add more product,
blame the polish, whatever.
But the real problem is just the pads clogged, right?
So clean it often, like every panel clean it,
or rip it off, switch to a new pad,
which is my favorite thing to do.
Then when you're done, then you clean everything up, right?
That can really speed up the timeframe.
And that's also when I see a lot of people getting dusting,
is they're not cleaning their pad good enough.
So the picture perfect polish does not have excessive oils,
it does not have any fillers.
And so what can happen, especially in a foam pad,
is after you work it,
that dried polish is sitting deeper in the pad
and people will hit like an edge or something
and they think it's dusting, like the polish is dusting.
When in reality, it's just the pad is,
there's dried polish in the pad
and it hasn't been cleaned enough, right?
Super, super common.
So tip number nine would be to prep the paint
before polishing, and this is a big one too.
If polishing, you want all the contaminants out of the paint
because yes, polishing will remove the contaminants
in the paint, in the embedded pores of the paint,
but then they'll be in your pad.
And so you're already gonna have clear coat in your pad,
but you wanna get all those contaminants out of the paint.
So wash it really well, pre-soak it,
remove the road film, clay bar if needed,
do an iron remover if needed,
and just really get the paint as bare
and as clean as possible before you polish it
because all that crap is just gonna get in the way
and polishing is about refining the paint
and not, you know, you don't want the polish
to be forced into like fight and dig out
that grime and contamination.
You want the polish to refine the paint,
polish it, restore the gloss,
remove anything that is allowing you to see the depth
and shine and gloss.
And so removing those embedded contaminants first
is, you know, just a must.
So, and then again, not as important,
but using the right machine for the job.
I am just not a proponent of if you're a DIYer,
if you're brand new to detailing,
I'm just not a proponent of putting a rotary polisher
in your hand.
I think with the right liquid, the right pad
and a dual action machine,
you could actually polish paint way faster than a rotary.
You can get a better result
because here's my issue with doing a rotary polish
if you're a beginner.
The learning curve is actually pretty steep
and the risk is really high.
So my opinion is why are we doing that?
Like why are you taking on this really high risk, right?
For a result that is mediocre, mediocrely better,
maybe not, right?
Every video I've seen of a newbie doing a polish
with a rotary, when they choose to show it
under correct lighting, which is one in 10,
there is still haze.
There are still rotary marks there, right?
So why even assume that risk if you're unskilled
when there's a machine that does not have that risk?
It's crazy to me, right?
So I think polishing is about,
all of detailing is about risk mitigation.
I mean, we're worried about removing too much clear coat,
but then we're going to tell people to use a machine
that can zap clear coat like that.
Like that's crazy to me, why would you do that?
A dual action machine is gonna be totally fine, right?
So, and then the last one,
once you polish the paint,
obviously don't just leave it buck naked,
put something on it.
This is where the picture perfect polish is perfect, right?
Because you could go straight to adding something
like the gloss boss, the ceramic coating.
It's also a primer polish.
So not only can you correct the paint,
but you can prime it and get it ready
because we don't use excessive oils in it, right?
There are no fillers, there are no excessive oils,
there are no bad smells, there's nothing bad in it.
You're literally refining the paint,
cutting the clear down as minimal as possible,
getting the best result possible,
whether you're doing a paint enhancement
or a full correction depending upon what you're doing.
And then it is ready for Tuffa Shell,
it's ready for the gloss boss.
It is ready, you do not need to IPA wipe it,
you do not need to panel prep it.
Though you can, you do not have to
because polishing makes the paint look better
and then protection locks it in.
So my choice would be obviously the gloss boss,
but yeah, you don't definitely put something on it
after you polish it,
especially if you're using like the picture perfect polish
because there are no fillers, there's no waxes,
there's no silicones or anything like that.
So I don't think polishing needs to be complicated
and I definitely don't think it needs to take forever,
I do not want it to take forever, right?
You don't need to turn every vehicle
into a multi-day paint correction project
and if you don't do that, you are not less of a detailer, okay?
If you do not spend 45 days polishing
your mom's Honda Accord that she just got,
you are not a loser, you are a detailer,
you are perfect, you're perfectly fine, right?
If you choose to spend that amount of time
on your mom's Corolla, knock yourself out, right?
I'm just saying, you do not have to do that,
but I think if you have the right process,
the right pad, the right polish, realistic expectations,
start with the end in mind,
you can get better results in less time, really?
And really, I think that's the whole idea,
make the paint look better, make the process easier,
protect the result and make detailing fun.
That's the whole goal, at the end of the day,
I think this hobby should be enjoyable
and for so long, we've taken ourselves way too serious,
that's why all the Jimbo's products are fun.
It's the ultimate kind of gotcha to me,
is that I don't take myself too serious,
I wanted something that reflected that in my brand
and so that's why we have the characters.
It's fun, it's funny, I think, it's light-hearted,
but where I get real serious is the liquid in the bottle.
So it's kind of this contradictory thing
that I think is really fun.
A lot of brands try to be very serious on the label
and they try to be very tech-forward
or heavy on the chemistry, which I think is fine,
but they tell you all about that
and it looks like it was made in the lab,
but really it was just made in the boardroom.
But one thing I thought would be the ultimate reversal
is make the labels look funny,
make the brand look light-hearted
and then when you try the products,
you're like, holy crap, this stuff is legit
because I am serious about the liquids.
I am very, very serious about the liquids.
That's all my focus, pretty much.
And so I have serious liquids and not-so-serious bottles,
which I think is the ultimate fun part about it.
And so yeah, when it came to paint polishing,
I just wanna have more fun too, right?
I don't wanna take it very serious either.
So hopefully those tips and tricks help you
to cut your paint polishing time down.
If you choose, if you don't, keep doing your thing, right?
So with that, I will link everything below,
including the Picture Perfect paint bundle.
If you wanna check that out as well,
thank you for the support.
Thank you for supporting this channel,
this podcast and my brand.
I work really hard on it and I love it.
So it's awesome to see you guys getting great results too
and I'll catch you on the next one.
See ya.
About this episode
Polishing paint gets frustrating when you’re overwhelmed by options, chasing every tiny defect, and re-checking under “18 different lights.” The host reframes speed as a workflow problem: set a correction goal first, match it to realistic customer expectations, and use the right pad/polish system. They explain why compounds leave haze, how pad buildup causes dusting, and why test spots (plus proper paint prep) prevent wasted time. For faster results, start with the least aggressive setup and keep pads clean.
Most people make paint polishing way harder than it needs to be.
In this video, I break down why polishing your car takes too long, what mistakes slow people down, and how to get better results with a simpler system. We'll talk about test spots, pad choice, product amount, cleaning your pad, realistic expectations, and why a one-step polish can be the smarter option for most daily drivers.
The goal is not always 100% paint correction. A lot of the time, the goal is to make the paint cleaner, glossier, clearer, and easier to maintain without spending an entire weekend chasing every last scratch.
In this video, you'll learn:
Why polishing takes too long
Why chasing perfection wastes time
How to do a proper test spot
Why pad choice matters so much
How to use a one-step polish correctly
Why cleaning your pad speeds up correction
How to protect the paint after polishing
How to make paint correction simpler and more enjoyable
If you want a simpler way to polish paint and get great real-world results, this video will help.
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