Why should you never polish your car?
Quick answer: The rule isn’t “never polish” — it’s “don’t polish needlessly or with the wrong products.” If your car has specialist protection (e.g., ceramic), you don’t need to polish; just maintain the coating. Otherwise, an occasional, correct polish is fine to reduce wash marks/oxidation on modern clear coat, which doesn’t need routine polishing.
We don't agree that you should never polish a car. You should never polish your car with the wrong products, and if you have speciality protection, you don't need to polish your car. But otherwise, polishing is always an option, especially for solving the particular issues that polishing can solve.
A better question might be, 'Do I need to polish my car?', to which the answer is no, not if you keep it well protected.
There is a myth that modern cars don't need to be polished, this is because older cars had a single colour coat which was prone to fading and oxidation. It would go dull and milky and so would require fairly regular polishing to remove the dead paint. While modern cars have a clear coat (like a varnish) which protects them and makes the paintwork far more hard wearing.
However, it will still oxidize and will get wash marks. Although it won't need regular polishing, a modern car's paintwork will benefit from a polish, as even a hand applied polish will remove dead paint and take the edge off the light scratches you get from washing.
Written by Danny Argent. Last updated 25/09/2025 16:44