What is paint correction

Paint correction and its many benefits towards having a fresh look

Paint correction is the process of using liquid abrasive and/or sandpaper to level down the clear coat of a vehicle, boat, or RV in order to remove oxidation, swirls, or heavy scratches. Depending on the severity of these issues, paint correction can often fix the damage and reveal a better-looking surface than before. At Immaculate Detailing, we have developed our process through a long journey of trial and error. It is a very meticulous task that may be challenging for those who are not accustomed to examining paint in this way, but we have gained a mastery of understanding paint systems and how to achieve a superior finish.

Detailers are only as good as the products they use

Just like many things in life, you get what you pay for. If you go to a cheap and fast food restaurant, you get pickles sticking to the box instead of your bun. When it comes to detailing of the higher magnitude, this same concept applies: using degreasers instead of all-purpose cleaners, using cheap spray ceramics instead of professional grade, using sandpaper and a rotary instead of a dual-action and paint depth meter. All of these things may not make sense to the average person, but in detailing, it is the difference between speed and quality. It may be faster to wash a vehicle with a degreaser, but the plastics and seals may not make it past 2 years before degrading.

Using dual-action polishers is what makes our process and end result that much better. Compared to a rotary polisher, DA's do not leave a haze on the paint, resulting in a clear finish. Foam polishing pads are another advancement that allows us to be more efficient in our end result. Foam is much softer and more capable of manipulating across the paint. Finally, we come to abrasives. Liquid abrasive or polish is mainly made up of a few chemicals across the board. The main component in polish is aluminum oxide, which is known as a diminishing abrasive. This means that the longer you work the polish, the smoother it gets. The old technology of polish abrasives was called "rocks in a bottle" because of how gritty they were on your hand. Rose quartz is one of these components and, as you can imagine, on a microscopic level, it is very jagged. Rose quartz made quick work of old lacquer paint, which is insanely hard, but with this came inconsistencies in the finish. Aluminum oxide, on a microscopic scale, is very uniform and round. Think of synthetic vs conventional motor oil. The conventional is very crude and gets the job done but not very efficiently. Synthetic motor oil runs for 5x the lifespan in an engine and is very consistent. Using modern polishes and compounds allows you to work faster and achieve better results. Our company of choice is 3D. They are an American company that specializes in micro abrasives and sources all their raw materials themselves.

What happens to the paint during paint correction?

As said earlier, paint correction is the removal of the clear coat to level down past the impurities of the paint. With that being said, it involves removing paint on a very small scale. For example, the entire three-layer paint system of primer, base coat, and clear coat is only four sheets of printer paper stacked together or 4 mils. That is incredibly thin, so using sandpaper on a modern paint system is not ideal.
When applying polish onto a pad and working it into the paint with a polisher, the paint that is removed is deposited onto the pad, and the polish residue is left on the paint. Every time you polish paint, you remove about 1 Micrometer of the clear coat. So, on average, you can polish a car 20-25 times in its life before the clear coat is completely diminished.
When compounding heavier scratches, it removes about twice as much to work faster. If scratches are deeper than what compounding can remove, wet sanding is in order, and this can remove 3-5 micrometers per treatment. However, you really only get one shot at this as you have to follow up with compound and polish after the fact.

All of this being said a simple polish can yield upwards of 60% correction no problem. it will add gloss, and depth, and bring back a dramatic amount of color. when talking about wet sanding it is really only necessary if the topic is repaint the car or try something cheaper. not only is a polish going to yield a great result but it is the perfect prep for a ceramic coating! so if your paint is looking a little dull or you just want an improvement, look to paint correction before thinking about repainting or selling the vehicle.