Understanding the Limitations and Benefits of Paint Correction for Your Vehicle

Understanding the limitations and advantages of paint correction is often one of the most misunderstood processes for your vehicle. When performed correctly and under the right conditions, it can achieve remarkable results on a car's paint. However, there is a great deal of confusion about what issues can be resolved and what cannot.

Hammering Paint

To understand what can and can't be done, you have to know a little about how cars are painted. Most newer vehicles have 3-stage paint - the metal is first coated with primer, then the color coat (usually multiple coats) then the clear coat. Some vehicles (like my candy apple red CX90) have 4-stage. This is where a pearl is usually put on in between the color and clear coat.

Automakers started putting clear coat on vehicles in the late 70s, and it become widespread in the late 80s. If you have a vehicle made before 1990, you should check to see if clear coat was used or not.

The photo below shows different types things that happen to our vehicles over time. Swirl marks, oxidation and light scratches are mostly contained in the clear coat - which means they can usually be buffed out. Anything in the color coat can be made to look better but not totally eliminated. Once you get to the primer and bare metal, there is not much that can be done with paint correction.

Imperfections of paint layers

I recently worked on this '87 Mazda RX7 with original paint. It had been mostly garage kept, but the paint had not been waxed for a very long time. It was dull and had a lot of oxidation. After removing the oxidation with a compound, I followed up with a Ceramic polish and Graphene coating. As you can see, the paint came back to a mirror-like finish. The Graphene coating will also keep the oxidation from returning.

On the trunk, there were a few spots where bird droppings had been left on over a period of several years. The acid from the droppings ate into the paint all the way to the bare metal. I couldn't do much with it because it had gotten too deep.

'87 Mazda RX7

I recently saw a post on Reddit asking what could be done with this vehicle with paint correction. The answer is nothing - the clear coat and paint layer are gone.

Faded Paint

In summary, surface scratches from automatic car washes, etc can be removed. However, if the damage penetrates into the paint layer or deeper, there is little that can be done.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss your vehicle, please give me a call.

jeff