https://swpolishandpaint.com.au/recent-work daily 0.75 2026-09-17 https://swpolishandpaint.com.au/recent-work/4wd-bush-scratches-sgfyc-6s2wk monthly 0.5 2026-09-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a9b3e3d3f34e308b456bd3c/53cb44ab-689d-47d0-ac6b-7a79a9c2585f/IMG_6338.jpeg Recent Work - Getting a Car Ready for Sale - Bringing the paintwork back The first stage was a full machine buff over all of the painted panels. This removes much of the lighter scratching and weathering that builds up over time and begins restoring the gloss to the paint. Once that was complete, I went back with the smaller mini buff and concentrated specifically on the worst scratches. The smaller machine lets me work much more precisely on individual marks without unnecessarily cutting the surrounding paint. Extra care should always be taken around door edges meet points. Too long, or too much pressure here and you can cut through the clear. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a9b3e3d3f34e308b456bd3c/7efda325-639c-4f14-9219-b32bcae5c3e7/IMG_6349.jpeg Recent Work - Getting a Car Ready for Sale - The areas a machine can't reach Areas such as inside door handles tend to accumulate thousands of tiny scratches from fingernails over the years. Individually they're barely noticeable, but together they dull the paint and become particularly obvious on darker colours. The door sills suffer from a similar problem, with shoes repeatedly rubbing across the paint as people get in and out of the vehicle. I hand-polished these harder-to-reach areas to reduce that fine scratching and bring back the gloss before moving on to the final polish over the vehicle. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a9b3e3d3f34e308b456bd3c/a47f542f-3042-419a-a358-957fd72075d4/IMG_6366.jpeg Recent Work - Getting a Car Ready for Sale - Getting the finish right With the heavier scratches dealt with and the harder-to-reach areas hand-polished, I went over the entire vehicle with a high-quality anti-swirl polish. This final stage makes a particularly noticeable difference on darker colours. Fine swirls and hazing scatter reflected light and can make dark paint look dull even when it's clean. Refining the finish brings back the depth and clarity of the paint, giving it that deep, mirror-like appearance you associate with a well-presented showroom vehicle. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a9b3e3d3f34e308b456bd3c/73018cd3-452c-4f99-9bf9-14a060f58cad/IMG_6376.jpeg Recent Work - Getting a Car Ready for Sale - Taking care of the remaining marks Machine polishing can dramatically improve paintwork, but some damage is far beyond a buff job. Door sills can become heavily scratched and, in some areas, wear right through to bare metal. I colour-matched paint to the Hilux and carefully brush-touched these areas along with the remaining stone chips and deepest scratches that polishing couldn’t remove. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a9b3e3d3f34e308b456bd3c/035a1416-8941-4e35-b8ee-cfbc07b30efd/IMG_6395.jpeg Recent Work - Getting a Car Ready for Sale - The finishing touches Finally, I revived the plastic trim around the roo bar. It's a relatively small detail, but faded exterior plastics can make an otherwise tidy vehicle look considerably older and worn out. Restoring some of that original depth and shine helped bring the front of the Hilux back in line with the freshly polished paintwork. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a9b3e3d3f34e308b456bd3c/12ab8eea-4630-4808-940c-6707681c5993/ChatGPT+Image+Sep+16%2C+2026%2C+07_13_17+PM.png Recent Work - Getting a Car Ready for Sale - All spruced up and ready for sale! https://swpolishandpaint.com.au/recent-work/4wd-bush-scratches-sgfyc monthly 0.5 2026-09-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a9b3e3d3f34e308b456bd3c/7843fe71-3f94-4d9e-bf66-9a693ae70a81/IMG_6426.jpg Recent Work - Headlight Restoration - There are plenty of headlight restoration products available that promise a quick and easy result. They can certainly make a yellowed headlight look much clearer immediately, but the way some of these products achieve that result can create another problem. Rather than evenly refining the damaged surface, these products effectively eat into the plastic, stripping away the sun-damaged layer. Unfortunately, with time the effect weathers again leaving unsightly, uneven clarity. Once this has happens, restoring the headlight properly becomes considerably more difficult. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a9b3e3d3f34e308b456bd3c/98e41644-ceff-4a49-8c6e-214e17beb260/IMG_6479.jpeg Recent Work - Headlight Restoration - Protecting the surrounding paint Before any sanding begins, I carefully tape around the entire headlight. This is an important part of the job because I'm effectively sanding the surface of the headlight. The abrasives that remove the damaged layer from the lens can do serious damage if they come into contact with the surrounding painted panels. A few minutes spent properly protecting the paint can prevent a very expensive mistake. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a9b3e3d3f34e308b456bd3c/f76cdac6-2295-4e1a-858d-26acd15b7d62/ChatGPT+Image+Sep+18%2C+2026%2C+05_56_02+AM.png Recent Work - Headlight Restoration - Working through the damage For headlights this badly affected, I use Abralon sanding pads. These are essentially soft, flexible pads with an abrasive face, used with an orbital sander and plenty of water. Rather than trying to remove all the deterioration in one aggressive step, I progressively work through: 500 grit → 1000 grit → 1500 grit → 2000 grit https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a9b3e3d3f34e308b456bd3c/c1600be7-70ab-466c-b72a-dbc13d79c4a1/ChatGPT+Image+Sep+18%2C+2026%2C+05_35_02+AM.png Recent Work - Headlight Restoration - Bringing the clarity back After the final 4000-grit stage, the sanding is finished but the lens still needs its clarity brought back. I finish the job with the mini buff and compound paste. This removes the fine haze left from sanding and brings the transparency and clarity back. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a9b3e3d3f34e308b456bd3c/f070f8be-d96f-419d-9829-0d490cfa907c/ChatGPT+Image+Sep+18%2C+2026%2C+05_09_42+AM.png Recent Work - Headlight Restoration - Small repair. Big difference! https://swpolishandpaint.com.au/recent-work/4wd-bush-scratches monthly 0.5 2026-09-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a9b3e3d3f34e308b456bd3c/a7169807-8c92-4874-a60e-a5a677d5ecb4/IMG_6099.jpeg Recent Work - 4wd Bush Scratches The first step was a heavy compound, using a large rotary buff and cutting paste — roughly equivalent to a 3000-grit. I worked across the affected panels using a mix of horizontal and vertical lines. This combination helps reduce the impact of swirls across the paintwork at the end. For the deeper and more stubborn scratches, I then switched to a mini buff with the same heavy cutting compound The smaller machine lets me concentrate on individual scratches without unnecessarily working the surrounding paint. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a9b3e3d3f34e308b456bd3c/a7e3022d-8f45-47ee-824d-beaa2da32c04/IMG_6104.jpeg Recent Work - 4wd Bush Scratches - Refining the finish Once the heavier cutting was complete, I went back over the paint with an orbital buffer and a combination compound and polish. This stage removes more of the remaining scratches, while the polish also fills and conceals some of the finer marks that are still there. This allows scratches that can't safely be completely buffed out to effectively disappear while also restoring the gloss and clarity of the paint. But there’s a limit to how far you can safely go with a buffer. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a9b3e3d3f34e308b456bd3c/35da3de8-35b4-43cb-bfa6-d459b21fb17a/IMG_6424.jpeg Recent Work - 4wd Bush Scratches - Finishing the deeper scratches and the occasional stone chip For some of the scratches that remained, I used an ultra-fine paint brush and clear paint to further hide and protect the damaged area without unnecessarily applying colour. The deepest scratches were finished using the corresponding colour-matched paint — 1F7 for this Prado — again applied carefully with the fine brush. https://swpolishandpaint.com.au/home daily 1.0 2026-09-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a9b3e3d3f34e308b456bd3c/20eb8b70-2af7-4d69-adf2-182b07c4573c/IMG_6338.jpeg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a9b3e3d3f34e308b456bd3c/e717a231-8d18-4865-9937-6312a4ca2135/IMG_6430.jpeg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a9b3e3d3f34e308b456bd3c/76041c0b-7e89-4352-8901-496efb6c0eda/ChatGPT+Image+Sep+17%2C+2026%2C+07_33_20+PM.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a9b3e3d3f34e308b456bd3c/517fb8b2-fa8d-421d-9216-0d0e712c053a/ChatGPT+Image+Sep+22%2C+2026%2C+05_44_14+AM.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a9b3e3d3f34e308b456bd3c/08968d20-c8c7-4571-8251-c64e7adafbac/IMG_6363.jpeg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a9b3e3d3f34e308b456bd3c/0dba1f46-ce90-4eb9-b6a3-c0b74d801dde/ChatGPT+Image+Sep+17%2C+2026%2C+09_56_19+PM.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a9b3e3d3f34e308b456bd3c/952a269e-ed35-4c89-b7f9-10a6eecc5789/3C7006F0-8B7A-4637-A6E3-C7966AAA5AA3.jpeg https://swpolishandpaint.com.au/home-2 daily 0.75 2026-09-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a9b3e3d3f34e308b456bd3c/1788817804298-VFOIPGHJ7TX2GOVZGGDV/unsplash-image-gAm_dPRQqvQ.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a9b3e3d3f34e308b456bd3c/1788647721073-7L3CFMWFEX7O799D56R9/unsplash-image-c-ebQX7w9FI.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a9b3e3d3f34e308b456bd3c/6b09d968-22f4-4c17-96f7-e60281b9d8df/ChatGPT+Image+Sep+17%2C+2026%2C+02_03_20+PM.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a9b3e3d3f34e308b456bd3c/1788647754750-O6QDRW5W2ZOLC3PI8VYA/unsplash-image-O-9ZolZHZvw.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a9b3e3d3f34e308b456bd3c/1788822203606-125AB0K38OAMGXPALR2Z/unsplash-image-yX0D2Iihluc.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a9b3e3d3f34e308b456bd3c/1788823661821-WTSQUO5O973X7K0GNYNN/unsplash-image-r3cA8C6a-UA.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a9b3e3d3f34e308b456bd3c/1788823564056-HVHZQ3W77PZUQX6MEFGG/unsplash-image-qdIUrufLBg4.jpg https://swpolishandpaint.com.au/about daily 0.75 2026-09-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a9b3e3d3f34e308b456bd3c/6f65711a-db2c-4ad1-a503-bab18f489aad/IMG_6175.jpeg