"Paint Enhancement" What is it and how is it different than a "Paint Correction"?

Does your vehicle look scratched and swirled and not as glossy as it use to be?

Well... Maybe it is time to see what options you have to revive your ride!

When it comes to "Buffing" your vehicles paint, you have two options and that is either a "Paint Enhancement" or a "Paint Correction" But what's the difference?

Paint Enhancement

Is a method that is used to "Enhance" a vehicle's paint by polishing to "improve" not remove defects and imperfections that may be present on a vehicle's paint while also providing a deep gloss and protectant to the vehicle's paint.

To perform a Paint Enhancement, we use a different set of polishes than we would use for a Paint Correction.

The polishes that we use contain Protectants such as Carnauba or SIO2 which contain a minimal amount of abrasives.

A Paint Enhancement is only a temporary solution for a vehicle and does need to be repeated based on the vehicle's aftercare but is not a permanent solution like a Paint

Correction is.

Paint Correction

Is a method that removes defects permanently from a vehicle's paint such as Minor Scratching, Swirls, Marring, Hazing, and Etchings from the vehicle's Single Stage or Basecoat Clearcoat Paint.

We achieve a Paint Correction by using a variety of Pads that have different density and materials which help our variety of Compounds and Polishes work effortlessly.

The Compounds and Polishes that we use contain different abrasives than one another for various different defects and paint types.

Of course our Pads, Compounds and Polishes aren't used to their full potential without the use of either a Rotary or Dual Action Polisher, which each has it's own purpose but that is for another time.

When doing a Paint Correction, we are leveling the paint to the same depth as the defect that we are trying to correction, basically working the Compound/Polish slowly over the vehicle's paint to remove micro amounts of paint or clearcoat depending on which finish your vehicle has until the defect is either gone or improved to an acceptable level.

The Difference

The primary difference aside from the amount of time it takes to achieve positive results is the Pads and Polishes that are used.

For Paint Enhancements, we are "Filling" these imperfections so that they do not appear so boldly while also adding a Protectant to the Paint.

This Service is awesome for clients on a budget or who are preparing to sell a vehicle, who aren't expecting "Perfection" and also want a shiny ride that has a protective layer left behind to ensure their vehicle's paint won't fail due to the sun's harmful UV Rays and lastly this is a good service for Paint Preservation since there is little to no abrasives being used.

For Paint Corrections, We may be doing a "One Step", "Two Step", or even "Three Step" Process using Pads, Compounds and Polishes that do not contain any "fillers" but high quality abrasives that permanently remove the defects from your vehicle's paint/clearcoat and leaves behind a true finish that only needs to be reperformed if the vehicle is not properly taken care of by it's owner.

Since Paint Corrections remove paint/clearcoat, it is best to only perform if a client is going to Ceramic Coat their vehicle afterwards.

Reason being is that we are removing paint/clearcoat and there is only so much paint/clearcoat on a vehicle that can safely be removed without causing damage to a vehicle's paint long term.

What I mean by this is that most modern vehicles from the factory only have about 3-4 Microns of Clearcoat on them.

Modern Clearcoat from the factory has UV Inhibitors in it to prevent the sun from causing paint failure and those UV Inhibitors sit at the very top of your vehicle's clearcoat and if you remove the top layer of clearcoat that houses the UV Inhibitors and don't protect your paint with a High Quality Paint Protectant such as a Professional Ceramic Coating then there isn't anything stopping the sun from wreaking havoc on your vehicle's paint and in time your clearcoat will begin to breakdown and lead to the need of a new paint job.

So what this leads to is a decision that has to be made from the following questions

1. How long will I keep this vehicle for?

2. What are my expectations for this vehicle if I select a service?

3. What is my budget?

4. Will I take proper care of my vehicle after any services are performed?

Of course, if you are still uncertain about what you should do or what the best solution is for your problem, We are always happy to help and suggest recommendations for the correct service.

Is There A Price Difference?

Since a Paint Enhancement is different than that of a Paint Correction, the pricing is different also.

The process for preparing a vehicle for any type of Paint Enhancement or Paint Correction is going to be the same regardless, it is the time it takes to achieve desired results that dictate the price.

A Paint Correction can require multiple steps to perform based on the vehicle's paint condition and severity of the defects that need to be removed as well as the clients expectations for the vehicle.

A good example of a challenging paint to corrected would be GM Black, it is notorious in the detailing community as one of the hardest paints to work on because the nature of GM Black is that of a soft clearcoat that if you look at it the wrong way, it will scratch.

Using the wrong Compound/Polish or Pad can leave hazing or holograms behind and can quickly become a nightmare.

Depending on the condition of a GM Black vehicle, and the expectations of the client for this particular vehicle can dictate how you are going to finish this vehicle's paint.

Too hard of a Pad and too aggressive of a Compound/Polish and you can do more damage to the paint then you are trying to fix.

Too Soft of a Pad and improperly paired Compound/Polish and you will leave all sorts of hazing behind that robs gloss from the vehicle.

Some vehicle's you can get away with doing a One Step Paint Correction on, meaning one Pad and one Polish that utilizes diminishing abrasives that start off acting as a Compound but begins to breakdown into a Polish that allows you to finish the vehicle using no more than One simple Step.

Other vehicles however may need the use of a Two Step Paint Correction, which may be used with a stiff "Cutting" Pad to remove defects quickly and paired with either a Compound or Aggressive Polish and then followed up with either a light, medium or heavy polishing pad and a fine Polish.

If you have a vehicle that you want to achieve maximum gloss, you can even do a Three Step Paint Correction, unlocking as much gloss as possible by ending your set with a finishing Pad and Polish typically made up of very light abrasives that level the paint to a beautiful high gloss uniformed finish.

Always before just jumping into performing a Paint Correction, we need to Measure the Vehicles Paint Depth so we know how much Paint we have to work with and then we will perform a "Test Spot", this is where we will find the absolutely best Pad/Compound/Polish combo to achieve whatever our desired results are that we want to achieve.

There is a lot that goes into performing professional high quality Paint Enhancements and Paint Corrections that our clients don't get to see, which is why we decided to start a blog that allows us to breakdown the reality of what we really do, how we do it and why we do it.

If you found this information to be helpful and educational, please leave us a comment or click the heart icon so that we know we are making a difference.

Of course if you are reading this on any of our social media platforms, please like and share so we can get new followers and help educate people so that they can take the best care of their vehicles as possible.