do you strive for 100% correction?

[jshaf]

or do you preserve your clear coat and just stop at near perfection say 75-85 percent?

my car stays outside 360 ish days a year, keeping it 100% scratch free is just not realistic. try to correct the most obvious scratches to the highest level possible polish it out everywhere else. Most people can't tell the difference in most cases anyway. I examine with a 400 Luman flash light as I go but try to not go over 4-6 passes per step.

[Mattchew]

try to keep it at least at 90% as it is a daily driver and a Havasu driver and gets lots of TLC after every drive. Its a 2011 and most people ask if its brand new which always makes me grin. I guess its just personal preference

[DonM]

A 90% corrected finish on some street cars is often better than the finish on some garage/show queens (take a close look next car show you go to).

I plan on keeping my car a long time, so there's no point in rubbing off all the clear just to get a temporary "perfect" finish

[BRZN]

75-85% correction is better than most any daily driven car on the road, and as stated above, better than most garage queen/show cars.

You'll drive yourself nuts trying to maintain a flawless, or near flawless paint condition year round. On our daily's, like yours, they sit outside, I keep them as good ten footers. That means no holograms or swirls and no deeper paint defects.

Michelle's Camaro is Ashen Grey, being that dark takes a bit more work, but again it's a good ten footer.

[scandata]

Well, I always start out striving for 100%!
My car's a DD - if I kept it at 100% I'd be through the clear coat in a few years. I'm pretty much in the same group as the OP. I get it looking very good and let wax and glaze make up the difference. Even when it's dirty, people tell me it looks just washed, so I guess I'm doing something right.

It would be fun to own a garage queen that I can just polish the hell out of until it's perfect, then throw a tarp over it until an occasion comes up that I can show it off. I'd also like to have a junker that I can experiment on, but with only a 1-car carport (and no garage), my options are limited.

[Joe M 2012 2SS]

How far can you correct a car?

It depends on the car, and what initial damage has been done before compounding. Most every car will have random isolated deeper scratches, after compounding my car had 4.

I made light passes with 2000, and per my gauge removed 10-12 microns of paint.

Two were completely removed, the other two can only be seen from certain angles in direct sunlight.

My car is a daily driver so going further just didn't make sense, since it's not a garage queen or show car.

I do go over it with finishing polish every 6-9 months for removal of any light marring, this removes so little paint my gauge doesn't even pick it up after polishing, maybe 1 micron if any change at all.

Washing and drying the car properly will eliminate the need for compounding again. The goal is to remove the defects once, and never have to compound again.

But here again every situation is different. I only drive 0.8 miles to get to my job. I don't track, or race my car, it's never parked under trees, nothing is ever placed on the paint, and I don't have any wild cats or animals jumping on my car damaging the paint.

So keeping it as pristine as possible is mostly about good washing/drying technique for me, because this is where most damage occurs on most cars.

I also like to use the apply during wash/drying type sealants. I don't use protection products that need buffing after application anymore, except right after polishing.

How far should you correct a car?

If it's a garage queen or show car, and the defects are not too deep, take them all out.

If it's a daily, get as many as you can, within reason.

[Adam's Polishes]

Originally Posted by jshaf

or do you preserve your clear coat and just stop at near perfection say 75-85 percent?

my car stays outside 360 ish days a year, keeping it 100% scratch free is just not realistic. try to correct the most obvious scratches to the highest level possible polish it out everywhere else. Most people can't tell the difference in most cases anyway. I examine with a 400 Luman flash light as I go but try to not go over 4-6 passes per step.

If you can maintain 75-85 percent on a black dd that lives outside you are doing great!


































Adam's Polishes is the Officially Licensed Car Care Product of Corvette & Camaro.

[jshaf]

Originally Posted by Adam's Polishes

If you can maintain 75-85 percent on a black dd that lives outside you are doing great!


































Adam's Polishes is the Officially Licensed Car Care Product of Corvette &
Camaro.

then I feel pretty good because everyone thinks I keep it in a garage and it rarely sees the inside of a garage. people always compliment me on how clean it stays. I see the imperfections like a lot of us but the general public wishes there cars looked half as good it is a Curse, but a good Curse LOL

[Knockoutpie]

I keep around 90-95% DD V8, Garage kept at work and at home.

I'll tell you though, I'll probably never buy another black car again. I'm already OCD, it's tough having a black car and trying to make it look pristine like a show car, especially for a daily..

Funny thing is, I do a lot of custom wiring work for peoples houses, servers, home theater systems, access points and wireless network stuff, all multi million dollar homes, all our customers have porches and higher class cars. They always want me to detail their Porches lmao. I've so far had someone wanting me to detail their Lamborghini (too much responsibilty) and countless people wanting me to clean up their Porches paint. {: Do good work on your car and people will want to pay you to do theirs.

[CamaroIOM12]

Originally Posted by Knockoutpie

I keep around 90-95% DD V8, Garage kept at work and at home.

I'll tell you though, I'll probably never buy another black car again. I'm already OCD, it's tough having a black car and trying to make it look pristine like a show car, especially for a daily..

Funny thing is, I do a lot of custom wiring work for peoples houses, servers, home theater systems, access points and wireless network stuff, all multi million dollar homes, all our customers have porches and higher class cars. They always want me to detail their Porches lmao. I've so far had someone wanting me to detail their Lamborghini (too much responsibilty) and countless people wanting me to clean up their Porches paint. {: Do good work on your car and people will want to pay you to do theirs.

Have you detailed any of their "porches"??? LOL sorry I thought it was funny. Its Porsche.

[Ace0751]

Having a black car, it is not easy keeping it 100% perfect and I don't strive for it because I would have to keep it in a special area where it would be dust free. But I try to keep it at least 90% clean which is enough for me and it is kept in the garage during the work week. After removing most of the swirl marks it looks like a brand new car, took a lot of hours to get it to where I want it to be but it was well worth it. As long as it has a nice shine and people love the work, then I know I am doing a job well done.

[JD_Alaska]

+100!!!!! Black cars are a special breed to say the least. I'd love to be able to keep my car at 100% but it's just not going to happen. I do try to achieve 100% on ever single car/truck I do but, I can honestly say I've never actually gotten every single flaw/defect out of any that I've done. With that being said I've also never had an owner disappointed in the results that were achieved on their car. I'm also not the fastest person in the world and don't do this for money or a living so if I want to take 2-3 days on a car/truck I do. For me this is my escape from my work and find it relaxing with zero pressures to hurry a project out the door to get the cash flow going.
My hats off to those of you that do depend on this as your job, for me, that would remove my enjoyment of correcting.

[nUcLeArEnVoY]

If your car is a 2011 and is outside most of the time, there's no way you can achieve genuine, 100% corrected paint, anyhow at this point. You may be able to remove all the scratches/swirls, but the contaminants that you always remove with clay or Iron X dig their way in and cause tiny pits that are usually too deep to remove unless you wetsand. Take a look at your paint in certain lighting and you'll be able to see the tiny pits/specks. That's not counting stone chips, deep scratches, etc.

[jshaf]

think this week end will be the time I finally get it done, weather looks like it is going to cooperate for once, have to work Saturday morning but can start on it late in the after noon and get down to the nitty gritty. then finish Sunday morning.