For those machine polishing their cars, a suitable light source for highlighting swirls and marring is key, especially for evaluating the removal and also the quality of the finish achieved.
A great many light sources exist on the market, and one of these is the 500W Halogens which are readily available from the likes of Screwfix and (where I bought mine) Lidl! They are undoubtedly very effective at highlighting swirls and marring, as this picture clearly shows:
And also, severe marring as this pic shows (
)
However, I would urge caution in relying on these halogen lights when it comes to evaluating the quality of the finish achieved... The large light area, with little spread of light leaves these open to hiding light to medium holograms, as this example shows:
Finish evaluated under 500W halogen:
Looks very good. Swirl free, would pass as
LSP ready... But is it? Not a chance, look at the holograms...
Another example, the deep scratches are clear to see here and there's evidence of a hazing around the light source with the Halogen:
The true quality of the finish achieved though is rather shocking...
Now, I am not saying that the halogens are a bad tool - far from it. They are great for general swirl spotting and assessing you correction level (and for keeping your polish warm in the winter), but I would certainly urge caution when using them to assess the full quality of the finish achieved.
The best light sources I have found for spotting holograms are the sun (not exactly reliable!
), and the 3M Sun Gun, using the dimmer areas away from the main spot of light. Bright light can mask hologramming, its the spread of light that picks it up most clearly IMHO... And, strangely enough, the best source of light for highlighting the true quality of a finish I have found thus far is actually a camera flash - a very bright flash of light that will pick up even the faintest hologram. Not practical for using on the job, but great for showing off the quality of your machine finish.
