Water contact angle is about how water sits on a car's surface. If the water forms little balls and rolls off easily, that's a high contact angle, which helps keep the car cleaner.
Paint haze is when the car's paint looks a bit foggy or cloudy instead of shiny and clear. It happens when the paint surface isn't polished properly and makes the car look less nice.
Ceramic coating is like a special clear shield you put on your car's paint to keep it shiny and safe from dirt and scratches. It sticks really well so it lasts a long time.
It's a special liquid you put on your car's paint or wheels that helps keep them clean. After you put it on, you wash it off and it leaves a thin layer that protects the surface.
It's a special soap or liquid that cleans the tires on your car, making them look nice and helping them last longer.
LIVE
One thing I spend a lot of time doing
that I actually enjoy, and I've really done it forever,
is demystifying stuff or clarifying things for people.
And that's exactly what I had to do over the weekend
for someone who reached out.
Ken had a couple questions about the Picture Perfect Polish.
And I think just like with most of my products,
they are kind of unique and different.
And the Picture Perfect Polish is exactly that.
And since all my products are purpose-driven
and need to serve a purpose and be different,
it created some confusion, at least for Ken.
And he said, with your Picture Perfect Polish,
there's so many polishes out there.
But after polishing with the Picture Perfect Polish,
can you use any coating, and can you actually skip
the IPA or the panel prep part of it
before you go to the coating?
So can you polish the car with the Picture Perfect Polish
and then go straight to applying the ceramic coating?
And the answer is yes.
In fact, this is kind of a subtle feature
of the Picture Perfect Polish, but an important feature
that I really took a lot of time on and wanted to do
because I think it saves not only a bunch of time,
but it saves a very, very important step
where you can mess things up.
And that's actually why I wanted it to polish like this
because I personally had a lot of experience
messing things up during the panel prep step.
And so, or a lot of things can happen
during that panel prep step, you can realize
you didn't get the true result
that you thought you were with the polish.
You can mar really, really soft paint.
When you're polishing, I realized that the solvents
in the polish can kind of open up the pores sometimes.
And so it can make soft paint even softer
and then you go with the panel prep or the IPA wipe
and you actually mar the paint.
And so then you're kind of in this predicament of like,
what do I do when I polish the paint?
It looks perfect.
I go to IPA wipe and now I'm marring the paint.
How do I get this coating on the car?
It kind of opens up an area that can be very frustrating
for you as the detailer.
And in fact, a panel prep polish is not anything new.
The panel prep polishes have been around
for a very, very long time.
Just when the problem is that they only served one purpose
of prepping the panel for a coating, which is great.
And I think it's actually better than an IPA wipe
or a panel prep wipe because you eliminate
all those issues that I just talked about.
But the problem with panel prep polishes in the past,
I think CarPro had one.
I think Shine Supply even had one.
Maybe they still do and I got another one
directly from B&B blending a long time ago.
The problem with those is that they don't do anything
other than prep the panel.
They have some of the other brands
that even have them claim.
There's no cutting ability.
There's no finishing ability.
There's nothing.
In fact, back in the day, I think with the Shine Supply one
and I don't know Shine Supply even sells it anymore,
but I got the same one from B&B blending.
I was hoping that it would, and I think it even claimed to,
it could be wrong in this,
but I think it claimed to have a little bit
of finishing ability, like maybe a slight abrasive in it.
But what I found, even with the CarPro one
way back in the day, it really had no finishing ability.
So what I was looking for way back in the day
with a primer polish, the name finally came to me,
primer polish is that it would have
like a slight finishing ability.
So you could kind of like finish out the paint
and then go straight to coating.
That would be perfect.
And in my experience, I was never able to do that, right?
But when I was developing the Picture Perfect Polish,
what I wanted was a polish that could cut really heavily,
finish down really good and then not require a panel prep.
And the way you do this is by not overloading
the polish with oils.
So a lot of polishes, compounds, whatever,
use oil as the lubricant in there,
but that oil sometimes can fill the surface.
Oil also, and the oil solvent ratio mix, whatever,
can also make wipe off really difficult,
can make the polish never dry out,
which is what a lot of brands talk about,
is hey, our polish will never dry out.
And while that is good,
the workability of a polish is really good,
it can have some downsides.
Again, I've talked about it a million times,
but there's give and take to all these polishes
or all these products in general in detailing.
So as the brand owner or as the person making the decisions
for the liquids in the bottle,
you kind of always get to this roadblock of like,
huh, what do I want more?
Like workability or do I want this?
Do I want really tight water beading
or do I want easy use?
Do I want crazy water contact angle
or do I want easy use?
And so you're constantly battling these things
and that's why we had these primer polishes
that did nothing really except for prep the panel for coating.
They weren't able to figure out that perfect ratio
with like, hey, let's get a little bit of cut in there,
let's change the abrasive a little bit,
let's change up the formula a little bit
and let's also still make it able to prep for a coating.
They weren't able to do that.
So that's where actually the whole IPA
and panel prep kind of segment of the market came
is because older polishes and older compounds
had a lot of oils.
They still do, a lot of the compounds and polishes
on the market are really old formulas,
just really, really old formulas.
And so they still have heavy oil shoots,
some of them even still have fillers.
And so the problem with that is that a coating
needs to bond to bare clear coat.
And so formulators and chemists and brands
haven't been able to kind of achieve this of like,
how do we get something that can cut and finish
and leave the surface squeaky clean?
And I'll say, I get it, it's very difficult.
It took six or eight months to develop the picture
perfect polish of that being the sole focus
of the only product that I was focused on, right?
And then once we got the formula, I'm like,
oh, this is why no one's done this before
because it's super expensive, super, super expensive.
So heavy oils and fillers are relatively cheap
but to not only take the time to figure out
how to do that have comparable people
to make the formula and then you have to be able
to afford the formula, right?
So a lot of times things in detailing
like little steps are born out of other reasons.
It's kind of like, I think about construction sometimes
and I don't really know much about construction at all
other than everything is done to hide something else.
So like crown molding is done to hide
where the ceiling drywall meets the wall drywall, right?
And then baseboard is to conceal something else.
Everything in construction, I feel like every layer
is just to conceal a previous layer.
And so sometimes that happens in detailing as well.
We add extra steps to fix the problem of the previous step,
right?
And so, but just like in construction
it's not necessarily always a problem.
It's just we are eliminating one thing
and creating another so then we need to address that, right?
And so the same thing with polishing in general
which again makes the picture perfect polish so unique
is that traditionally we would,
if you're going for heavy defect removal
you would use a heavy cut compound
which you would remove the deeper defects
but then you would have a haze in the paint
and that haze is a lesser defect
but still a problem.
So then you would need a lighter polish
to remove that haze and kind of finish out the paint, right?
It still is very difficult to get heavy defect removal
and a perfect finish.
That's where the picture perfect polish came in.
You could do both.
And again, you can ceramic coat right on top of this.
Doesn't leave fillers,
it's not leaving heavy oils behind.
That's the real trick here.
So nothing is interfering with the bonding
of the ceramic coating with the surface of the car
and that is the key.
That is why you would need a panel prep.
Now I will say that you can use a panel prep
and if you do use a panel prep,
you'll get the same results.
I've tested it on dozens and dozens of cars
not using a panel prep
but some people are still skeptical.
So just like Kenny's like, I'm confused.
There's a lot of information out there.
What do I need to do?
What do I do?
And so the thing is you can still use a panel prep.
You can still use an IPA wipe.
When I do it and when I've been testing it,
you kind of feel like when you're using
picture perfect polish,
you kind of feel like you're wasting a step
or you're wasting time
because it doesn't look any different.
The picture perfect polish doesn't have any fillers,
doesn't have any excessive oils,
it doesn't have anything that you don't need in a polish
to make it work better.
So I will say if you are using the picture perfect polish,
there are a couple of things that you want to make sure
that you are doing.
You want to work the polish down
to where it's virtually invisible.
There's been a couple of videos
that I've seen of people using it
where they complain about the wipe off
like the wipe off is a little tacky
and every single video,
the consistent theme that is happening
is that they're not working the polish down enough.
Now it is a non-diminishing abrasive formula
or in the formula.
We actually use a blend of abrasives in that formula
but they're all non-diminishing.
So you really want to cycle through
and work the polish for as long as possible
almost to where it's virtually invisible.
If you're having a hard time working the polish down
you're using too much polish.
So you don't need a ton of polish
and then you want to work it towards almost clear
to where you almost look like you don't even know
if you've removed any residue.
You want to work with an extremely clean pad
because it doesn't have a bunch of oils
and there's sometimes you can get a little bit of dusting
especially mainly the dusting happens
when you hit an edge, a panel edge
because what it's doing is it's basically cleaning
out your pad of all the leftover debris.
So those are the two main issues that I see people have of like
oh it dusted on me.
You probably hit a panel or an edge or something
and it cleaned out the pad.
So to mitigate that make sure you're blowing out
or using a pad washer if you need that.
You're cleaning out the pad really well
so there's no residue in the pad.
Again, there's no excessive oils
that are kind of grabbing onto all that extra residue.
I didn't want that in there.
So if you hit an edge
and you're not cleaning your pad out good enough
you will have residual polish that is drying in your pad.
You need to clean that out
or you will get a little bit of dusting.
So that and then making sure
that you completely work the polish all the way down.
It's super intuitive.
It doesn't, again, it's not complicated.
Just work, use less polish and then work it down more
and you will not struggle with the wipe off at all.
The wipe off is actually very, very easy.
When I was testing it part of what I would do to test
is I would work the polish for a long time, not wipe it,
come back 24 hours later
and make sure I could still wipe it off easily.
So the wipe off was a big, big part of the testing that I did
across I think we had at least a dozen iterations of this polish.
And so those are the two things.
Again, if you're getting dusting
you're probably hitting an edge
or your pad isn't clean enough.
To mitigate this what I like to do,
I know it's a little expensive
but I'll have like four to six pads to do a whole car
and I just switch them out
instead of cleaning them in between.
I switch them out
and then when I'm done with the whole car
then I will clean all six pads at once.
I know it's a little bit more of an investment
to have more pads
but while you're polishing the car
it goes much, much quicker
and then you could use maybe one pad per panel
or something like that.
So maybe you need eight pads
but obviously the pads aren't like microfiber towels
they're not single use
you could use them over and over and over again.
And so yeah.
But with that again, I just wanted to,
I get a lot of questions from Ken.
This is, Ken obviously is who kind of sparked this idea
but I get a lot of questions about that.
Do I need a panel prep?
Do I need an IPA?
And again, yes you can
but if you're using the Picture Perfect Polish
you don't.
It is a completely pad dependent polish
so if you want heavy cut
it'll work on a rotary with a wool pad.
It'll, my favorite is the Burgundy Cut and Finish Pad
that I offer in the bundle
which I will link below as well.
That's my favorite kind of one step all around pad
but it also works as a primer polish as well.
So if your paint is already perfect
and you just want to, you know,
clean the surface good
before you apply coating
just put it on a finish pad
and polish, polish out the car
like you would just finishing out the car
and you'll get the best of every world
but that polish is exactly what I wanted
way back in the day
with a primer polish
but the added benefit of being a heavy cut compound
which it is
and a one step which it is with no fillers
and a finishing polish which it is.
So you really get the diversity
you get the flexibility of doing
what you need to do with one liquid
and so people said it wasn't possible
but we developed the whole thing here on YouTube as well
so if you have any questions
about any part of the development
you can just go back and watch those videos.
I demo it from the very very first sample
to the final sample
and I'm doing the same thing
even now with this foam on rinse off sealant
I have a tire cleaner that I'm working on
I did it with the Super Soaper
I just didn't do it with like Tuffa Shell
I didn't do it
because that was the first product I launched
but every product I add into the line
I do a full developmental series on it
this foam on rinse off sealant
wax whatever that I'm working on
it's the fourth video
the fourth video that I've showed
doing it
I showed the failures
I showed the successes
and I love doing that
and I did that with the Picture Perfect Polish as well
so if you have any questions
happy to answer them in the comments below
but if you're using the Picture Perfect Polish
which I think is the most
the best polish on the market
definitely it replaces all compounds
all polishes
all panel preps
and so you could actually save a ton of money
by just using one liquid
and you could be way more efficient
so a lot of brands claim efficiency
I try to demo that efficiency
and then sometimes when it needs clarification
like this with the panel prep
where it seems a little risky
I like to come in and clear it up
so there you go
hope you guys enjoyed that one
thanks for the support
of course your support in supporting my brand
not only delivers fantastic products to you
but it also keeps this R&D in full swing
and I love showcasing the R&D on YouTube
and showing you guys kind of the ups and downs
and all around
so thank you for supporting my brand
so that I can continue to do what I do
and in return
I want to give unique products
that over deliver
under promise
and really support you
in your detailing journey
so I hope that I'm accomplishing that goal
so with that
I'll catch you guys on the next one
see ya
About this episode
The discussion focuses on the unique qualities of Picture Perfect Polish, a product designed to polish and prep a car's surface for ceramic coating without the need for an IPA wipe or traditional panel prep. The host explains how this polish cuts and finishes paint effectively while leaving no oils or fillers that could interfere with coating adhesion. The polish eliminates a common frustrating step in detailing, saving time and reducing the risk of marring soft paint. Tips for optimal use include working the polish until nearly invisible and keeping pads clean to avoid dusting. The episode also touches on the challenges of formulating such a product and contrasts it with older, oil-heavy polishes.
Do you really need an IPA wipe before applying a ceramic coating after polishing?
In this episode, I break down a real email from a customer who asked if you can go straight from polishing to coating — or if panel prep is mandatory.
We'll cover:
• Where the IPA wipe "rule" came from • How different polishes leave different residues • When panel prep actually makes sense • When it's unnecessary • Why overcomplication is hurting detailers
If your polish finishes clean, do you really need to strip the surface again?
Let's clear up the confusion and simplify the process.
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