How to apply a glaze
Written by: Vinnie van Rooij
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.
Contents
Applying a glaze by hand
Apart from the product, you would need a microfibre towel and an application pad (either microfibre or foam).
- Make sure the surface is clean and dry (claying first would be recommendable)
- Apply the glaze to the application pad (about 5 pea sized dots) and swipe across an area of roughly 20 by 20 inches.
- Spread the product quickly to achieve an even cover
- Rub in the glaze by making small circles and slowly going over the entire area.
- Keep rubbing until you see that the product starts to haze.
- 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.
- Make sure the surface is clean and dry (claying first would be recommendable)
- Apply the glaze to the finishing pad on your DA or rotary polisher. (about 4 to 6 pea sized dots)
- Spread the product over an area of roughly 20 by 20 inches (without turning the machine on).
- Turn the machine to the lowest setting and turn it on.
- Spread the product a little more with the machine running.
- Go back to the beginning, and slowly move your polisher criss-cross over the surface.
- Continue buffing until you see that the product starts to haze.
- 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.
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