What is paint correction? This is by far our most common question, and a very good question at that! Paint correction is an industry term that we as professional car detailers use to describe the labor intensive process of decontaminating, restoring, and rejuvenating the existing paintwork of a vehicle. Surface imperfections may also include bird dropping etching, acid rain etching, holograms and polishing machine buffer trails from unqualified and incorrect car wash operatives.
Paint Correction & Paint Leveling
Car wash operatives, especially those at vehicle dealerships, use filler-based products to polish the paint surface of a vehicle. These fillers only temporarily “mask” the surface imperfections within the paint of the vehicle. Paint correction is the process of removing small amounts of clear coat or paint with the use of abrasive polishes. This levels out the vehicle’s painted surface. This process usually takes about 30 to 90 minutes per body panel, depending on how severe the surface imperfections are.
Prior to beginning any proper paint correction procedure, a thorough decontaminating wash and clay bar treatment must be performed on the vehicle to remove any bonded surface contaminants such as tar spots and industrial fallout. It is essential that these contaminants be removed before the correction process. Not taking this step increases the risk that they will get caught in the polishing machine’s pad. This then may inflict additional damage onto the painted surface of the vehicle.
Our paint correction services begin at $1,500.00 for up to 10 hours of paint leveling and polishing. We seal the paint afterwards with either a polymer sealant, or for an additional fee, we can upgrade your vehicle to a professional ceramic coating! A polymer can give your vehicle up to 18 months of protection while a ceramic coating can go several years!
If you have additional questions or would like to schedule an inspection for your vehicle, please give us a call at 661-200-0710 and one of our IDA certified techs will be happy to go over your vehicle’s needs!