PPF, Ceramic Coating, and Window Tint

[Caballus]

An advantage to paint correction, beyond cosmetics, is paint preservation. If, for example, you have a blemish that happens to be a bird dropping stain or some other chemical scar, you will not necessarily know the source or may not see the blemish at all with the naked eye. Still, it may damage your paint over time if left in place and covered with PPF. A good polish/paint correction before PPF will remove it before it seeps in.

That was quite a ramble. Hope it made sense.

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[Skwibbs]

An advantage to paint correction, beyond cosmetics, is paint preservation. If, for example, you have a blemish that happens to be a bird dropping stain or some other chemical scar, you will not necessarily know the source or may not see the blemish at all with the naked eye. Still, it may damage your paint over time if left in place and covered with PPF. A good polish/paint correction before PPF will remove it before it seeps in.

That was quite a ramble. Hope it made sense.

Yep, that makes total sense. Luckily I'm not in that situation, only have 180 miles on the car. Good thing to keep in mind for others with older cars or the issues you mentioned.

If I keep my car for at least 14 years, that's 7 for film #1, then paint correction if needed, then another 7 with film #2 and so on so forth.

I think my plan is sound. We shall see.

 

[Tomster]

Define paint correction......

Some would say polish down to a point that it is a mirror image.... flat, no variations....perfection.

And then there is a wash and attention to matters that need fixing.... bird droppings, sap, water spots, etc.

If you are going to apply PPF, you dont need to get crazy and obsess with perfect paint.

At least from my perspective and experience.

 

[Caballus]

Define paint correction......

Some would say polish down to a point that it is a mirror image.... flat, no variations....perfection.

And then there is a wash and attention to matters that need fixing.... bird droppings, sap, water spots, etc.

If you are going to apply PPF, you dont need to get crazy and obsess with perfect paint.

At least from my perspective and experience.

Talking about paint protection to fix any and all blemishes, to include possibly penetrating the clear coat slightly, but not removing any of it. Bird droppings and sap can penetrate clear coat to the point that they cannot be removed by simple washing or hand polishing. If left, they can get into the paint itself. Had the problem with my 2019. Easy to polish out during correction. Impossible to fix if they penetrate paint.

Edit: good polish short of "full" paint correction would likely work as well.

 

[kilobravo]

If the paint is not that bad, Xpel will cover up the minor imperfections and you will not notice it.

That's what it boils down to Tom..."what does the owner see and what is he/she happy with."

Bottom line, filming without paint correction first is downright foolish, even on a brand new vehicle, IMHO. There is SO much more shine, luster, and depth in the factory paint that to skip it for just "OK," is sinful in my book but again, it's what YOU want to see.

 

[kilobravo]

Talking about paint protection to fix any and all blemishes, to include possibly penetrating the clear coat slightly, but not removing any of it.

Cab: Partially correct but believe me, as soon as you touch the clear coat with a polisher and compound, you ARE "removing" clear coat. And yes, there IS the danger of penetrating to the color coat but even as cheap as the Big Three are these days, there's still quite a bit of clear on any new vehicle.

But what you need to have to avoid this is a paint depth gauge. You can't separate primer, color, and clear thicknesses individually, (at least mine can't,) but you can tell how thick the paint is. Then, if you measure again after polishing a section, you'll know how much you removed. You can find average thickness numbers for each of the paint coats on the Web and if you're conservative and careful, you can take down the clear pretty well without getting near the base coat. In doing so you not only polish the clear further but, you begin to remove the "high spot" aka "orange peel" and, any and all clear coat scratches. 90 percent of clear coat scratches come right out but orange peel is a whole different animal. It can be very tricky and often needs to be left as is because the danger of going tos far is much greater.

 

[Tomster]

That's what it boils down to Tom..."what does the owner see and what is he/she happy with."

Bottom line, filming without paint correction first is downright foolish, even on a brand new vehicle, IMHO. There is SO much more shine, luster, and depth in the factory paint that to skip it for just "OK," is sinful in my book but again, it's what YOU want to see.

I dont agree, but....

He's alive!

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