After the meticulous restoration process, achieving a show car caliber finish, it is crucial to consider the long-term protection of your vehicle's paint. Leaving the raw clear coat exposed to the elements poses a risk, as it can lead to premature wear and deterioration, undoing the hard work invested in the restoration.
To safeguard your investment and maintain the pristine condition of your paint, I highly recommend opting for professional paint protection without delay. This proactive measure not only extends the value of my detailing service but also acts as a proactive defense against future damage, such as clear coat failure and potential rust issues.
What is Paint Correction?
Paint correction is the process of removing minor scratches and imperfections found in the vehicles clear coat. Using an electric polisher, a microfiber buffing pad, and a special cutting compound, the detailer or you will cut into the clear coat of a vehicle’s paint till the scratches are leveled or removed.
When is Paint Correction needed?
At the source, correction is intended to remove imperfections on the vehicle’s painted surface. It’s a service that is completed typically to prep a vehicle for a Clear Bra and/or Coating. The process is always customized based on the type of paint, surface imperfections, and the request of the customer. I will polish a vehicle to remove most paint imperfections.
Does Paint Correction Remove the Clear Coat?
Essentially – YES. The process of polishing involves using a gritty substance called a cutting compound. When you activate the polisher, the polish liquid or paste is spread evenly on the vehicle’s painted surface, creating friction to cut through the clear coat of your paintwork. The polish compounds are made in multiple grit levels, some of them are intended to lightly remove material around a scratch – while others are designed to aggressively remove clear coat.
What is a surface imperfection?
The extremely high majority of the imperfections that I am asked to remove are small scratches called "micro marring", simply put, these scratches are extremely small valleys in the paint that reflect light, showing up as a scratch to us.
Why wet-sand a new car
Wet sanding is the difference between a good paint finish and a literally perfect, show car, mirror-like paint finish. The process removes orange peel, a side effect of painting, by leveling the clear coat to a universally smooth surface, giving off the look of a mirror. Pictured to the right is a Before, During & After example of the wet sanding process.
How to diagnose the depth of a scratch
A scratch is essentially just a valley in the paint, they usually appear white because of the light that is being reflected out of the valley. To quickly find out how deep this "valley" is, take some water up to the scratch, this water will fill the valley and stop it from reflecting the light. You can then look at the color of the scratch (while wet), if the color is not the same as your paint, it is unfortunately deeper than the paint and will require either touch up paint or a repaint.
