Lost your shine?

What is it?
Paint Correction is the modern version of cut and polishing utilising the latest technology. techniques and processes designed to be mostveffective when working with todays modern paint systems.
modern paint is a clear coat over base coat stsyem. a base colour layer with your beautiful sparkly metals flakes, pearls and vivid colours with a clear coat layer on  top to create depth, enhance and protect the sparkles. paint corrections is only ever dealing with this top clear coat layer.if we ever touch thebase colour its game over. Repainting is the  onlyoption
 some scractches will be through this clear coat and they cannot be removed, also some scratches may not be complwtely through but deep enough that removing them will leave only a tiny layer of clear left and will create problems in the future.its a dance between removal and preservation only experience can teach.
Defect types?
Next specific lighting is needed to assess the true condition of the paint including wash marring,  swirls,  holograms from previous buffing attempts, deeper scratches,  chips and dents.
Also different cars have different types of clearcoat, asian cars typically have softer clear,  holdens and ford generally medium hardness and European cars like Mercedes and BMW  have very hard ceramic clears that all require different approaches to correct defects and achieve insane mind blowing gloss  :)
Next a couple test spots are completed to find the best combination of cutting compound, polishing, pads and machines will achieve the desired result.  Heavy defects on hard paint would need strong cutting to budge any marks whereas soft Asian paints would be destroyed by harsh cutting yet once polished to a high level even wiping off of polish residue can scratch soft paint.  It's a delicate dance to find the correct balance of correction without removing to much clear coat which can lead to paint peeling and clear coat failure in the future  knowing when not to chase a deeper mark is just as important as removing them.
Once correction (cutting) is complete any residue,  oils, compound dust is removed then polishing begins.
This process aims to raise the gloss levels of the paint without cheating by using gloss enhancing fillers such as waxes or glazes.
It's possible to complete multiple stages of refinement polishing down to ultra fine jewelling  techniques to unleash higher amd higher levels of gloss until maximum gloss is achieved. Many hours and days can be spent jewelling polishing.The difference is another world and once seen and understood, the idea of not going the extra mile seems insanity.
If maximum gloss and clarity levels are reached then if say a wax was applied on top (Waxes being naturally opaque) the gloss levels would actually decrease. Taking the finish backwards.  This is why only the highest purity quartz ceramic coatings are used so as not to effect the clarity achieved. 

So your once beautiful car is looking dull and lifeless?

Lost Your Shine?

Get your gloss back and keep it!

Did you know every time you clean your car you're actually making it worse?

Sponges and chamois push dirt into your car's paint. Causing millions of fine scratches that build up over time until it's so dull it looks like it's ready for the wreckers. You think well it's due for a polish.
So you take it to a "Professional" detailer or worse the bucket wash for a cut and polish.

They mow into it with a heavy cut to get those scratches out, removing a large chunk of your limited clear coat in the process.
Next they polish it to a beautiful shine with their ancient looking filthy bottle of something that's been around for 20 years so must be good.

It's actually full of cheap wax or worse silicone and all it's really doing is filling and masking all the holograms and buffer trails their cut job put in and the cutting job didn't actually remove those scratches anyway they just got filled with oils from their cutting compound.

But your car looks great,  so shiny!

You pay and leave very happy and proud.
You make sure you wash it regularly from then on so it keeps looking good but after a few washes it doesn't look quite so good. You get a bottle of something your mate said was awesome.  Slather that on with a trowel and she's stunning again. You get tired of that after a couple goes and dont bother with a wash for a while. Reluctantly giving it a good wash a while later only to notice yet again a year or so later, she's dull and lifeless once more.

Oh well you reside yourself to the fact it needs a yearly buff or so and you love your baby so better look after it.

Soo back to the buffer bloke for more fillers, even less clear coat and a beautiful yet temporary shine.

Proud of yourself for taking such good care of your baby!

Don't feel too bad. It's what we all do. That's how dad washed it when we helped him on Saturday morning.  That's how it's done.

What if i told you that meanwhile here's a selection of glowing cars that have gone 5 years since their one and only paint correction and ceramic coating was completed by a highly skilled specialist and only semi regularly washed since.

If you look closely, yes they could maybe do with a light polish to bring em up that bit more but they still look brand new.

Why is that?

Number 1 is a high quality ceramic coating.
Number 2 is safe wash methods.

No sponges,  no chamois,  no brushes at the wash bay, no touch free laser washes either. The laser wash uses harsh chemicals to clean a car without touching it.

Strong Acid and alkaline cleaners that dull the finish over time anyway and also degrade all your rubber and plastic trims.
Only a ceramic coated car can handle strong acid and alkaline.

Acid washing is actually how we reset and deep clean a coating that is not performing as well as it should due to a build up of road film and other grime embedded into the surface.

I wouldn't recommend trying that yourself though.

Because the owners knew what not to do and what they should do. Seek an expert with real world experience to

Over time your once beautiful car starts to look old and neglected.

Once the damage starts it can only be slowed down not stopped!
It happens so slowly it's imperceptible until it seems to have happened overnight.
That's when the average joe comes to
see us asking if we can save it.

Don't wait till it's too far gone. Get it protected first, then relax and enjoy it!