Does polishing damage your car?
Quick answer: Polishing always removes a tiny layer of paint. Done occasionally and correctly, it’s safe; over-polishing or poor technique can thin/burn through clear coat and force a repaint. For deep defects, machine correction is a calculated risk vs repaint — often worth it, because if it breaks through the paint, that panel would need repainting anyway.
Every time you polish your car, some of the paint is removed, and so excessive polishing can remove too much paint. Incorrect technique can also lead to buffing through the paintwork or burning the paintwork, which might lead to the area needing repainting. But this is not always caused by improper technique, sometimes if there is damage to a panel such as a deep scratch, it might take bigger risks to correct it using paintwork correction. However, as the alternative to paintwork correction is repair-and-repaint, it is often worth taking the risk, as if successful it's a cheaper alternative, and if you go through the paintwork, the panel would have had to be repainted anyway.
If you have had your car ceramic coated, you will be removing some of the coating, but this is less of a problem as coatings are very tough and can stand up to all but the coarsest polishing compounds, but it's still not a good idea unless to remedy a specific problem.
Written by Danny Argent. Last updated 25/09/2025 16:00