Polish restores the shine to paint. Paint loses some of its lustre due to UV rays and pollution. Some polishes also feature UV protection. New cars really don't need to be polished. Wax is a protective clearcoat. It acts as a physical barrier against water, soot, smoke and dust. It does nothing to make paint shinier. Polish is not needed more often than once a year, if that, depending on the climate where you live. Wax only lasts six months, and needs to be restored to protect the paint.

Polish is an abrasive cleaner for your car's paint, while wax is just a protectant coat. You should polish your car whenever it has imperfections, embedded dirt, or pollution discoloration. Polish is mildly abrasive (some are more abrasive than others), and this is why it restores shine. Polish can also help reduce the appearance of small scratches by getting foreign particles out of the paint. Before polishing, it is best to remove any wax on the car by washing it with dishwashing liquid. After polishing, you should wax your car to protect that shine. Do NOT wash the car with dishwashing liquid unless you are going to wax it again immediately, because this will remove all the protectant wax.

Polish is what creates the shine and the aesthetically pleasing "wet" look to a car's paint finish; however, wax seals, protects and prolongs the effects created by the polish. Think of car polish as an exfoliant for your car like an exfoliant one would use on his/her skin. Polish contains mild abrasives that removes the micro layer of dull, weathered, dried out paint away to reveal the brighter, newer pigment underneath. Now think of the wax as lotion you apply after exfoliating to protect the shiny paint (or skin) from drying out. Bottom line, if you want shine, you gotta polish. Add wax, much better in the long run as far as finish protection.

Compound is abrasive and used to remove paint scratches and other problems and should only be used by experienced people. Polish cleans the paint with mild abrasives or with chemicals.It also might have fillers that hide imprefections and give it a more rich look(but will wear off over time).Polish has cleaning ability and wax does not. There are many products that are a mix of both, cleaning and protecting, but are not as good as doing it in 2-steps. Waxes can be broken down into natural(carnuaba, bees ect.) and sythetic(arcrylic, silicone ect.). Natural waxes generally give the best "jetting" shine but only last 4-6 weeks. Synthetic waxes generally have little "jetting" shine, but more of a sterile shine, but can last 6 months of more. Zaino and Klasse are two example of synthetic waxes that give great shine and last a long time. Zaino is labeled as a polish, but has no cleaning abilities. For any of these non-cleaning products, it is recommended that you use a polish to bring out the most from you paint. Also check out Autopia on the net and learn how to layer the 2 wax types for maximum shine and protection.Your paint will love you.