[Punisher2050]

I want to start off by saying I am not a paint expert or detail expert. I have painted a few cars in my days and I have detailed every one of my cars, family cars and friends. With that out of the way..

I recently bought 2018 Camaro 2ss Silver Ice Metallic and couldn't wait for Spring so I could get her cleaned up, washed, and waxed. I started investigating Ceramic Coating as an option because I felt the shine is far superior.

Since I have never clayed a car before I investigated options for several months. I also did quit bit of ceramic coating research. The one term that kept coming up and used indiscriminately, "Color Correction & Paint Correct". So I started reading more about this Term.

I then read somewhere maybe here in the forums, someone spent $4000+ to have "Color Correction & Paint Correction, plus Ceramic Coating done. I thought WTH ?? no way and no way ?

My first thought...why do they keep using the terms "Color Correction & Paint Correct" ?? I don't buy it, not true and how are they "Correcting the Paint".

The typical automotive paint system on the car surface has a total of 4 layers. The layers consist of e-coat, the primer, the basecoat, and finally, the clear coat. So, unless your clear coat is "gone" you are NOT changing or correcting Paint color. When they say this...the only coat that is getting "Corrected" is the Clear Coat. IF your paint needs "recolored or corrected, that means...Sanding, primer, repaint, clear coat.

These Buzz Words are false.

I know I'm going to catch crap about this post, but I dont buy the term and that is not what is happening...Change my mind ?

Please keep it civil and this is a discussion !

[ZED SLED]

Just to avoid confusion about paint, your Camaro is Silver Ice Metallic, or SIM, not Ice Silver.
You're welcome

[Punisher2050]

Originally Posted by ZED SLED

Just to avoid confusion about paint, your Camaro is Silver Ice Metallic, or SIM, not Ice Silver.
You're welcome

Thanks for the correction, seems I kept calling it wrong since first day

[DallasCub]

Originally Posted by ZED SLED

Just to avoid confusion about paint, your Camaro is Silver Ice Metallic, or SIM, not Ice Silver.
You're welcome

:laughab ove:

[CamaroDreams76]

I typically call it polishing.

I have never heard color correction. I have used and heard paint correction. I do agree with paint correction because you are technically correcting the paint. You are removing a small amount of clear coat, taking out scratches and imperfections in the clear, which in my book would be correcting the paint......since clear is a layer of paint.

Since this is a civil debate, when you have an issue with something, typically, you are supposed to come up with an alternative or solution to the problem. Whats your solution/alternative?

As for the 4000 dollars, I've heard figures around that price. As an example, dealerships charge about 100 dollars an hour for work. Speciality shops charge about the same and can go to 200 an hour depending. So with that in mind, spending 20+ hours detailing a car to get it perfect isn't out of the realm of possibilities and ceramic coating is usually a ridiculously high figure.

Also to add, when you polish a car and do actual "paint correction", the car shines so much more. Since you added ceramic coating not too long ago to yours, its like that. Before coating vs after.....the depth, gloss, clarity you gain.

[Punisher2050]

Originally Posted by CamaroDreams76

I typically call it polishing.

I have never heard color correction. I have used and heard paint correction. I do agree with paint correction because you are technically correcting the paint. You are removing a small amount of clear coat, taking out scratches and imperfections in the clear, which in my book would be correcting the paint......since clear is a layer of paint.

Since this is a civil debate, when you have an issue with something, typically, you are supposed to come up with an alternative or solution to the problem. Whats your solution/alternative?

As for the 4000 dollars, I've heard figures around that price. As an example, dealerships charge about 100 dollars an hour for work. Specialty shops charge about the same and can go to 200 an hour depending. So with that in mind, spending 20+ hours detailing a car to get it perfect isn't out of the realm of possibilities and ceramic coating is usually a ridiculously high figure.

Thanks for the response !

In my mind, Clear Coat is a "paint sealant" not paint, but I can now see where the terms I described are being used now. My understanding, basically is correcting the sealant which is clear and has the capability to be polished to a shine or smoothed down layers to remove scratches.

Way I see it is your not changing the color or correcting Red, Silver or Black and just correcting the defects in the clear coat

[WhiteMale]

Ive heard it as removal of overspray and/or orange peel in a wet sand process but I totally agree with most of your sentiments.

[Punisher2050]

Originally Posted by WhiteMale

Ive heard it as removal of overspray and/or orange peel in a wet sand process but I totally agree with most of your sentiments.

Only way to correct orange peal is remove the clear coat, respray or like you said wet sand,


I just cant get over the cost though and yes, it is extremely labor intensive...man I'm in the wrong business for sure

[musclesbmf]

Paint correction is a real thing and it is a slow and tedious process. As mentioned, it removes imperfections in the surface including swirl marks and orange peel and can include some wet sanding if a hard cutting polishing compound and pad don't get desired results. Without trying to treat people stupid, swirl marks are scratches in the paints clear usually from towels and these scratches change the way light reflects off the paint thus causing the color to look different (and orange peel does the same thing). I'm sure that is where the term color correction comes from.
If you've ever seen a finish after a real paint correction, it is amazing and better than any factory paint jobs regardless of manufacturer. A real paint correction usually takes a couple days by a professional.
Anyways, take the information for what it is worth.
As for ceramic coating, I ceramic coat all my cars. Not so much for the shine, but for the ease of cleaning and maintaining the surface. It is "easy" to do yourself if you take your time and follow the directions.

[NashZL1]

I tried paint correction on the trunk of my at the time on year old Mercedes SL450. After several attempts, I had it professionally done and ceramic coated. Results way beyond anything I could have accomplished. Cost about $1k and they had the car 4 days.

[Punisher2050]

Originally Posted by musclesbmf

Paint correction is a real thing and it is a slow and tedious process. As mentioned, it removes imperfections in the surface including swirl marks and orange peel and can include some wet sanding if a hard cutting polishing compound and pad don't get desired results. Without trying to treat people stupid, swirl marks are scratches in the paints clear usually from towels and these scratches change the way light reflects off the paint thus causing the color to look different (and orange peel does the same thing). I'm sure that is where the term color correction comes from.
If you've ever seen a finish after a real paint correction, it is amazing and better than any factory paint jobs regardless of manufacturer. A real paint correction usually takes a couple days by a professional.
Anyways, take the information for what it is worth.
As for ceramic coating, I ceramic coat all my cars. Not so much for the shine, but for the ease of cleaning and maintaining the surface. It is "easy" to do yourself if you take your time and follow the directions.

When you say "swirls" you're talking about the clear coat, not the paint and that is reasonably easy to correct. I agree, paint correction requires quit bit of work better left to the professionals

[CamaroDreams76]

Originally Posted by Punisher2050

Thanks for the response !

In my mind, Clear Coat is a "paint sealant" not paint, but I can now see where the terms I described are being used now. My understanding, basically is correcting the sealant which is clear and has the capability to be polished to a shine or smoothed down layers to remove scratches.

Way I see it is your not changing the color or correcting Red, Silver or Black and just correcting the defects in the clear coat

Makes sense and that's where our difference will come. If you think about this "paint system" as a whole rather than one individual process of a piece, you'd agree. Breaking it down i see what you are saying. Individually the clear is a protectant and a sealant for the actual paint. Nothing you do actually corrects the paint because its protected by clear. But as a whole, clear is part of the paint system and correcting the clear would inturn be correcting the paint. Correcting the clear can give more gloss and clarity to the actual paint.

I think the "paint correction" saying was made for the common person. Most people think that running it through a car wash and spraying it with detail spray is detailing. Meanwhile their car looks like spiders have a cozy home on their paint.

[Ultimateone]

It's just marketing buzzwords for detailing a car previous to ceramic coating, it's not that much of a big deal.

[GXP08jrf]

The clear coat is a paint layer, not a sealant.

You've stated in a later post that "in your mind" the clear is a paint sealer (would've been helpful if you defined that in your initial post). I don't think there's any industry norm that defines the clear coat as anything other than a paint without the color pigment.

Therefore if you're removing defects from the clear, you're "correcting" the clear, and if Clear = Paint, you're performing a paint correction.

I'm not sure as a self described "non-expert" you should really have the luxury of defining terms as you see fit to make your argument. I won't get into a diatribe on how I define "sealant" for the sake of brevity except to say on any surface I've used a sealant (counter tops, natural stone, grout, wood, etc..) I expect the sealant to be perishable and need to be replenished at intervals. This is not true for the clear on my car, I expect it to be permanent. It's a "clear coat" of paint (vs a color coat or primer coat)

BTW, I've also never heard a reputable source use the term "color correction" I've only heard the term regularly related to hair salons, but I'm bald, so what would I know about that?