Nieto Number 7 Polishing Compound
A good lazy summer’s day to me is some good music on my Bluetooth speaker, a cold beverage, and my favorite detailing products all lined up and ready to make one of our cars look like new again. I like giving our vehicles a quick hand wash and dry, but the real satisfaction comes when I have time to buff out every last little scratch and swirl mark and then run a clay bar over all the painted surfaces before applying a couple coats of my favorite wax.
You will inevitably find fine – and sometimes, not so fine – scratches in your paint when it’s time to wax. Before you wax or clay bar, it’s important to buff out scratches and swirls in the paint so that they don’t show through all your hard work.
Number 7 Polishing Compound is a “Goldilocks” formula. Every other compound on the market that I have tried either has grit that is too aggressive (and should probably be labeled as rubbing compound; a different product entirely) or is too smooth and isn’t capable of taking out more than the very lightest of scratches and swirl marks. The Number 7 compound is gentle enough to use to brighten up headlight assemblies that are starting to yellow without damaging them (always spot test it first), yet aggressive enough to level out scratches that are pretty deep down in the clear coat.
While it has nothing to do with its performance, the smell of Number 7 takes me back to when I was 16 and would spend Thursday afternoon washing and detailing my Camaro for the coming weekend. I don’t know how long this product has been around, but I know it’s been awhile, as I remember my father seeing this on a shelf in my barn on a recent visit and telling me that he used it on his Corvette when he was my age. Similar products with flashier packaging have come and gone, but the basic compound in the green and white container has never let me down.