Does cold reduce the effectiveness of a polish?

[Adrena1in]

Probably a noob question, so apologies...

A few weeks ago, out driving in the country, I didn't spot the nasty tree branch reaching out from the verge to stroke my Golf as I drove by, and ended up with a not so nice nose-to-tail scrape along the nearside of the car. 

Just a surface scrape I think, (though in one or two places I can just about feel it if I run my nail back and forth across the line).  Anyway, wasn't sure what to buy, so I went and got some black Scratch Removal Polish paste stuff from Halfords.  Seemed okay as I manually worked over the front wing to start with.  I know the reflections in the pictures hide the "After" shot a bit, but the scrape's mostly gone.

Before


After


But the other day I set about the passenger door, at first using a two-hand, 12", polisher, lent to me by a friend.  Spent just as much time with the electric polisher as I did on the front wing, and I don't see it made one iota of difference to the scrape.  So I went about it by hand for a while and again, not that noticable difference.

It was a lot, LOT colder the second day when I was doing it though, and the Scratch Removal paste did seem more "sticky" and not as workable.  Just clogged up on the cloth.  I wondered if perhaps I should just wait until it's a bit warmer out?

[Ginge 35Edition]

I'm no expert but the temperature must have an effect, just the same as if your panel is too hot in the summer?

[Callum_K]

Warm the panel up with a heat gun!

[Dan J]

Yes the low temps will effect the efficiency of the polish to a point but once you start working it it should work as normal due to the action of friction=heat being built up by you moving it about.

Did you spritz the pad before applying the paste? That scratch remover paste polish is quite aggressive and needs water to be used with it which helps it to A be spreadable/usable and B keeps the cutting particles moving so they break down more evenly.

If its the 12" polishers you get from halfrauds etc they are pants and are a complete waste of money,

Back to your scratch, do you have any clear shots of it.

Lastly, go easy with the paste because its very easy to remove more paint/clearcoat off than intended with it.

[Adrena1in]

Yes, I think I agree re. the comment on the 12" Halfords Polisher.  Mate spent £4 on his...I bought one secondhand for £7.50.  Won't ever use it again, unless it's just for a final buffing after a good clean.

Here are a couple of shots of the passenger doors;




As well as the continuous scrape, you can see where another branch tip sort of bounced along the door, leaving a striped mark.   

[Dan J]

Looks like a similar problem I had a few years back on my mk3 gti, check along the scratches and the really deep parts proberly won't be fully removed(depth dependant) but the rest should either fully come out or at worst wont be as visible, it needs a rotory running over it or a da but a da will take longer to get results.
Also after you've used the paste (assuming its farrecla g3 range your refuring to) go over it all again with the renovator polish which finishes it down nicely and gives you some gloss back.