How to apply a glaze

A glaze is a product that hides very light surface imperfections. It is often used when somebody doesn’t have the time to give the car a full polish, but wants to achieve a freshly polished look. There are certain positives and negatives with using a glaze. Knowing exactly when to use it will help you to get the most out of it.

Applying a glaze by hand

Apart from the product, you would need a microfibre towel and an application pad (either microfibre or foam).

1. Make sure the surface is clean and dry (claying first would be recommendable)
2. Apply the glaze to the application pad (about 5 pea sized dots) and swipe across an area of roughly 20 by 20 inches.
3. Spread the product quickly to achieve an even cover
4. Rub in the glaze by making small circles and slowly going over the entire area.
5. Keep rubbing until you see that the product starts to haze.
6. Get your microfibre towel and wipe off the residue.

Don’t wash the surface, the oils take a little while to cure completely. The first 12 hours, the layer of glaze is very easily removed.

applying a glaze by machine

Apart from the product, you would need a microfibre towel, a DA or rotary polisher and a finishing or light polishing pad.

1. Make sure the surface is clean and dry (claying first would be recommendable)
2. Apply the glaze to the finishing pad on your DA or rotary polisher. (about 4 to 6 pea sized dots)
3. Spread the product over an area of roughly 20 by 20 inches (without turning the machine on).
4. Turn the machine to the lowest setting and turn it on.
5. Spread the product a little more with the machine running.
6. Go back to the beginning, and slowly move your polisher criss-cross over the surface.
7. Continue buffing until you see that the product starts to haze.
8. Get your microfibre towel and wipe off the residue.

advantages and drawback of a glaze

Advantages:

• Gives that “freshly polished” look
• Hides imperfections, which can be useful when you go to a car-show
• It can be applied on top of any product when needed.
• Can be layered for better effect.
• Is very similar to work with as a polish, so it can be used as a safe way of practice before working with polish.

Drawbacks:

• Has a negative effect on durability of a wax, coating or sealant.
  A wax contains oil, and only suffers from a little bit less bonding because of an oily surface. A sealant will not properly bond with the surface because the polymers aren’t designed to work with oils. Coating need a perfectly clean surface to adhere to, a glaze is not the perfect clean surface it needs.
• It gives the impression of perfect paint, even when it isn’t.
• A glaze will perform the best when applied by machine.
• A glaze on it’s own will offer no protection.
• Much more then 2 or 3 coats will not give better results.

Common misconceptions

• A glaze does not offer protection on its own.
• A glaze does not remove swirls.
• In almost all cases, it will decrease the longevity of any protective product.
• The use of a glaze is just a temporary cosmetic fix
• Some products that have the word “glaze” in the product name, don’t have to be a normal glaze. They often just refer to the shine a glaze might give.
• A pre-wax cleaner is not a glaze, but can have certain fillers that give a similar effect.