car pAINT cORRECTION
Western new york paint Correction and detailing
Experience the Immaculate difference with our high-end paint correction services
Learn why Immaculate Detailing is entrusted throughout Western New York for automotive paint correction on everything from high-end exotic cars to your daily driver. Automotive paint correction requires professional experience in order to not further damage your vehicle’s paint. Our experts will treat your vehicle with precision and care, leading to a scratch-free and swirl-free vehicle that looks as if it just came out of the factory.
Step 1: Paint Decontamination
Over time, there are some contaminants that embed themselves in your vehicle’s clear coat that cannot be removed through a basic car wash process. Paint contamination consists of any airborne chemical compounds, iron containing particles (brake dust), rail dust, bird droppings, road tar, tree sap, bugs, adhesives, oil, etc.
During our paint decontamination process, we use a chemical that breaks down any iron containing particles along with a detailing clay. The chemical compound is safe and tested by our expert technicians, and will remove most paint contaminants. Any contaminants left behind after the chemical treatment are removed from the vehicle’s clear coat by hand with detailing clay.
We recommend our customers to complete this paint decontamination process once a year to ensure proper protection of the vehicle’s paint. This process is also completed before any wax or sealant is applied to a customers’ vehicle.
*PAINT DECONTAMINATION IS ESSENTIAL AND REQUIRED BEFORE WE COMPLETE ANY LEVEL OF PAINT CORRECTION OR BEFORE ANY CERAMIC COATING APPLICATION TO ENSURE A PROPER BOND TO THE VEHICLE.
Our Paint Decontamination Process
We begin with an alkaline hand-wash of the vehicle with the proper pH level to remove any old wax on the vehicle.
Then, we use an iron fallout remover to chemically remove any iron particles that are corrosive and extremely harmful to a vehicle’s paint.
An iron fallout remover will mostly finish this decontamination process, but we include another level of detailing with a physical clay bar. This process is carefully completed to not leave any micro scratches, and removes any excess iron, tar, and debris on the vehicle.
After removing these particles, we then perform a high-pressure spot-free rinse and a high-pressure air-dry. This will leave your vehicle with a clean shine without any leftover drip marks on the paint.
We take special care to clean the rim face and barrel, tires, and wheel wells that collect brake dust and other contaminants from the road.
To leave the rear of your vehicle looking sharp, we then clean and shine exhaust tips.
We detail in every crack and crevice to ensure that your vehicle is looking its best. Door and trunk jambs are cleaned and degreased, these are common places for dirt and oils to collect.
All surfaces are panel wiped to further remove any excess compounds. Panel wiping the paint ensures the cleanest surface possible for ceramic coating application.
Finally, all glass surfaces are cleaned and left streak-free.
Step 2: Paint Correction
There are many ways scratches or swirls appear in your clear coat. Most of the time, improper washing and drying methods (like a typical tunnel car wash) lead to micro scratches in your vehicle’s clear coat. We always recommend hand washing a vehicle with pH-neutral soap/Rinseless wash and drying it with a plush twist loop microfiber towel.
Your vehicle’s paintwork consists of three very thin layers. The first layer applied to a panel is the primer and zinc coat to protect the metal substrate from oxidation and rust. The second layer is the basecoat, which is the paint color of your car. The final and outermost layer is a UV-protective clear coat that protects the layers underneath.
When it comes to scratch removal and paint correction, some scratches are deeper than others. Most paint scratches and swirls could be removed with paint correction, however, if a scratch is deeper than the clear coat, the only way to fix it completely is to repaint the panel. If a scratch is too deep into the paintwork, touch-up paint could be applied only to prevent the metal from rusting.
Paint correction is the process of using a combination of polish and pads on a machine polisher to level down the clear coat past the scratches and swirls. The modern 3-layer factory paint system is only 100-150 micrometers thick. The clear coat makes up about 50-75 micrometers of that whole paint system.
*Paint decontamination is required before performing any paint correction options.
We offer levels of paint correction to suit different needs and budgets:
“The Old School”
Rims, Tires, Wheel Wells, and Exhaust tips
Deep cleaned with degreaser to remove oil and brake dust
Staining and caked-on brake dust were removed using Iron Remover
tires stripped of old tire shine and browning
wheel wells cleared of organic materials
Paintwork
Paint is thoroughly cleaned, clay barred, and iron contaminants are removed
Glass is thoroughly cleaned inside and out
Door jambs are cleaned
seals are scrubbed of organic materials
windshield wiper blades are cleaned to prevent squeaking and skipping
Paintwork is polished with an All-in-One polish and protectant
Removes light-moderate swirls
Adds depth and gloss
Leaves behind 3-6 month durability sealant
Level 1 -
“Paint ENHANCEMENT”
A single-stage polish step using a mild polish and light foam polishing pad meant to restore gloss, clarity, and remove light swirl marks. An affordable entry-level service that yields great improvement.
You could expect to resolve 40-60% of defects with this paint correction option.
2020 Jaguar F-Type
This vehicle was brought to us with paint swirls that were caused by a rough car cover. Even something as soft as a car cover has the capability of damaging your vehicle’s paint. Luckily, these swirls were not deep enough to penetrate through the factory clear coat.
Our entry-level “Paint Enhancement” option was enough to remove most of the swirls on the Jaguar’s paint.
Level 2 -
“The DIFFERENCE maker”
This is the difference-maker when trying to restore your paint and make it more visually appealing.
With this correction, we are aiming to remove 60-80% of the defects from your paint and leave a dramatically improved surface. We use a compound to remove swirls, scratches, and randomized defects from the clear coat.
Polish is used to remove any remaining light swirls or scratches to add optical clarity and depth to the paint.
2020 Porsche Panamera Turbo-S Hybrid Executive
This beautiful metallic red Porsche Panamera had many Imperfections that needed to be targeted with compound and then finished out with a fine polish.
Having the tools to make sure that there is a safe amount of clear coat to work with is what gives us an edge in our work.
Our “Difference Maker” option was the correct choice for this level of paintwork damage. When in doubt, our technicians are here to guide you and recommend the best option for your vehicle.
Level 3
“the showroom”
This process starts with a heavy compounding machine-polishing stage to remove major defects in your vehicle’s clear coat. This stage is followed by a secondary detail-polishing stage to refine the finish and increase the gloss and clarity of your paint.
We consider this our “Showroom Correction” as it removes 80-95% of defects in your vehicle’s paint. At this level of correction, you’re getting as close as possible to that of a brand-new vehicle.
2017 Audi R8 V10 Plus
This Audi came into our shop with buffer trails, paint swirls, and ceramic coating high spots after a poor job from a previous detail shop. The paint had no depth and looked dull and filled with holograms.
After such a bad experience with a different shop, we assured our customers that we are the best paint correction shop in Western New York and could be trusted with a job like this.
After three days of carefully and precisely working on our customer’s vehicle, we consider it an honor to put our name behind this work. The paint is now free of any swirls and scratches, and shines like it just came from the factory.
The customer was ecstatic with the outcome and happy we were able to clean up after such a poor job by another shop.
What’s Next?
Keep your newly corrected paint safe from damage and explore our options for paint protection.