Inspecting for imperfections and paint damage is vital before you start your polishing process. When the sun is out and beaming on the car, this is a great way to reveal the true condition of any paint surface, which helps point you in the right direction on what polishing steps will be needed. But let’s say today is not very sunny instead cool and cloudy.

Working outside will always be a challenge, you are fighting sun, dust, debris, etc. Even with an inspection light, it is very challenging to reveal all the defects on the car with it being so bright outside.

So let’s go ahead and inspect our polishing subject on this cool cloudy day.

What you see is a deep rich reflective surface. You think to yourself, “this paint looks pretty, good maybe just a light polish”. However this is actually the worst time to inspect your paint.

A cloudy cool day is an excellent time to detail outside if you do not have a garage, or you are a mobile detailer, but this is a one way ticket to guaranteed disappointment to your cars finished result.

This is the real condition of the paint once it is under proper lighting.

A cloudy day can cause a lot of mayhem for a detailer. It can cause a hobbyist or even a mobile detailer to use the wrong product, method, pad etc.  Which results in a disappointing result for your own car, or giving a customer a price for what you thought was going to be a 2 hour job but in actuality it needs 10 hours.

Do not trust a cloudy day! Always make sure to fully inspect the paint condition in the right lighting to determine how bad the car really is. If you cannot see the damage you cannot fix the damage! When polishing, make sure you have a proper inspection light to view the paint condition after you wipe off the polish on a panel. This ensures that the paint is at satisfactory level for you or your customer.

The lesson of the day is never let the sky “Cloud” your judgement!