Polishing a car is an important part of detailing it so that it looks as good as possible. However, it's easy to make some unfortunate mistakes during polishing that could actually detract from the vehicle's appearance. 

The following are four commonly-made polishing mistakes that could compromise the quality of your paint job. 

Not washing beforehand

If you don't wash your vehicle carefully with soap and water before polishing, dirt and debris could be pushed into your paint job and create small scratches when you begin buffing your car. You can also buy automotive cleaning chemicals that are designed specifically to prepare your car to be buffed. 

You should not only wash your vehicle before buffing, but you should also carefully dry it off. Don't forget to wash the trunk area and hood jambs in addition to the rest of your vehicle's exterior. 

Trying to polish too large of an area at once

The best technique for buffing and waxing your car is to focus on one confined area for a brief period of time before moving on.

If you try to buff too large of an area, you might end up missing spots and unevenly buffing the surface. 

Picking up the buffer off the car's surface before turning it off

Good buffing technique includes making sure that the buffer is turned on only after you've already put it in contact with the vehicle's surface. Likewise, you should leave the buffer on the surface until you've turned it off before removing it from the surface.

This way, you'll minimize the chances that you will accidentally put dents in your paint job when you put the buffer on or take the buffer off of your vehicle's surface. 

Letting debris get on the buffing pad

It's easy to accidentally let debris like small stones or dirt get on the buffer when you're working on polishing your car. If you put the buffer down on the ground for even a moment, it is likely to pick up some debris that could scratch into your paint job.

Be vigilant while your buffing and periodically check your buffer as you go to make sure that there is no debris building up on the pad. 

Not washing between buffing and waxing

You should not only wash your vehicle's surface once at the beginning of the polishing process, but you should also wash it a second time after you do your buffing to make sure that you get the buffing compound off of the vehicle's surface before waxing. 

You don't have to wash the car a third time after waxing, but you do need to carefully remove wax with a microfiber towel before the polishing job is complete.