We put Sealey’s Fine Cutting Compound to the test against a troublesome hand print on the bonnet of our MINI

How many of us have spent hours carefully cleaning and polishing a car only to find that half an hour after finishing the job the same stubborn marks have reappeared?

More often than not they’re hand prints, their size telling you at a glance whether it’s a sticky child slathered in factor 50 or a workshop hand dirty with brake fluid. Sometimes you can get them off with elbow grease and regular wax polish but sometimes they keep reappearing and it needs something more.

And for those occasions where regular wax won’t do the job but a full-on cutting compound is a bit over the top, Sealey’s fine cutting compound (ref SCS700) is ideal.

Formulated with ‘diminishing’ abrasives, it essentially breaks down as you use it, meaning its initial cutting action gradually turns to a finer, more gentle polishing action, the result being less need to polish it to a gloss afterwards.

We tried the compound on a MINI Cooper S bonnet proudly bearing a big hand print which just wouldn’t disappear. Regular wax polish wouldn’t touch it, but with it being a black car we were reluctant to try anything more aggressive for fear of leaving visible swirl marks in the surface.

Initially we used the fine cutting compound by hand, but although we could see it was having more effect than the hand polishing it seemed as if more power was needed. So we broke out the orbital polisher and within just a few seconds the offending hand print had gone.

Sealey Whiteout Detailing Snow Foam: our verdict

We were also impressed that the Sealey compound left a nice finish, so we gave the entire bonnet the treatment for a proper job. In truth, that wasn’t necessary though and our experience suggests that the Sealey fine cutting compound can be used to remove individual marks and blemishes without needing to go over the entire panel.

For the cost, it’s an ideal DIY way to revive the appearance of an older car.

Sealey Whiteout Detailing Snow Foam SCS700 specifications

RRP
£23.94

Manufacturer
Sealey

Size
500ml

Weight
600g