Polishing and Paint Correction

removing paint defects permanently

By the time we receive an inquiry from a client, they have noticed that their paint doesn’t look as good as it once did. The main reason paint looks dull is because the surface has become contaminated with debris and marred up from improper washing. With the surface in this condition, the gloss and luster is affected dramatically because light isn’t able to travel through the clear coat to the base coat and then back out again without being interrupted or diffused.  When the surface has contaminants such as dirt, fall out, water spotting,etc... light is physically blocked from moving through the clear coat.  When the surface has marring or micro-marring, also commonly referred to as spiderwebbing, the light diffuses as it leaves the clear coat so you never get to see the true depth of color that the vehicle originally was intended.  Proper decontamination detailing will take care of the blockages in the paint, and paint correction will take care of the light diffusion!

Introduction to Paint Types

Hard paint, Soft paint and pure black paint

This Introduction to paint types is a very broad stroke to understand some of the differences in how different paint types are affected by improper care and also how we fix them. The softness or hardness of a paint can is generally determined in the chemical composition of the paint. Auto manufacturers select the paint type for many different reasons… cost, weight, government regulations etc..

There are some brands of cars that have extremely hard paint. The advantage to this is it is much more resistant to damage from improper washing or even actual damage. It generally found on higher end German and English vehicles such as Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and Rolls Royce to name a few. The downside to this paint is generally cost, but for the higher-end cars it generally makes sense. Once a Black Mercedes has gotten marred up and dull, we can correct the paint aggressively to really help remove a lot of the damage and restore it to its original glory and beyond.

Some manufactures choose to use a paint that is softer for various reason such as it being cheeper, fulfilling water-based paint regulations or in some cases because it offers a deeper gloss. Whatever the reasoning, you are now tasked with caring for it.  Softer paint is much more susceptible to marring and some paints are so soft that they will leave surface scratches just from touching them.  It is impossible to keep these paints perfect without some sort of protection. It seems the manufacturers just expect you to look at your car after a few years and think that it’s old and done. We will be happy to show you how you can avoid that or at least repair it and avoid it happening again! Most Japanese paints, some American paints and nearly all pure black paints are very soft.

Pure black paint is the reason we’re in business!!  Not only is it usually extremely soft, but it will also show everything! Of course on the other hand, when black paint is properly corrected, it looks amazing.. which is probably why we keep buying black cars! In order to restore (or perfect) the black paint on a car, we use special techniques, pads, polishes and even the towels we wipe with to keep from adding our own damage as we restore it. Even things as small as the surface temperature can affect the outcome dramatically. There are no shortcuts to fixing soft pure black paints, but once we complete our work you will see just how amazing your car was supposed to look!

How we fix and/or enhance the paint

Restoring paint to better then brand new

To bring the paint back to its former glory and beyond, we need to remove the damaged clear coat.  We do this in the most responsible manner possible to retain as much clear coat as possible.  This is for the longevity of the vehicles paint. There are faster methods, but we chose to utilize long term safety over quick fixes. Here is breakdown of the various techniques and their unique benefits and disadvantages

Of course not every car or every budget will allow for 4 stage correction, but there are an infinite number of combinations and compromises that we use to achieve the necessary results and keep the project on budget.  Our expert consultation will help you decide what level of correction is necessary to achieve your goals with the vehicle.  We approach each car as an individual project and it isn’t finished until we have achieved the results that we’ve agreed upon.