Hello and welcome back to the Bespoke Automotive Refinement podcast. This is your host, owner, and founder of Bespoke Automotive Refinement, Thomas Thill. We are the number one Kansas City auto detailing service in the Kansas City area.
We offer everything from basic detail work all the way up to a full three-stage paint correction. So today we’re going to be talking about paint correction in particular. We have a lot of different questions from potential clients in the Kansas City area.
They’re looking to have Kansas City auto detailing services performed. And one of the questions that I get time and time again is, Hey, I’ve had my car paint corrected once before. It has some scratches in it.
Can it be repaint corrected? Is it safe? Can it be done? Does it cost extra? Well, first things first, guys, before I ever even touch a car, whether it’s my first time correcting the car or my third time correcting the car, I inspect every panel, every inch of every panel, and I look for shadows. Shadows are going to be a telltale sign that says whether or not the clear coat is thin or whether it’s faded, right? You don’t want to work a panel that’s thin because you’re cutting into the clear coat. So imagine the clear coat as a cloud.
When you see a cloud, it’s got waves in it. It’s rough. It’s bumpy.
A Kansas City Auto Detailing paint correction is essentially shaving the top layer of that cloud off to make it smooth. Well, over time, as you’re using the car, as you’re bumping into it, as you’re touching it with your hands, you put little micro scratches in it. And that’s what a paint correction solves, is removing those little scratches, those little dings, those little things that you really only see in the sun that hide the true depth of the paint.
So the answer to the question of can you paint correct a car more than once? Yes, you can. Can you paint correct a car more than five times? Yes, you can. Can you do it more than 10 times? 100%.
But that all depends on one variable. How much clear coat does the paint have? I have a rule that I will not touch a car that has less than two mils of paint, or excuse me, two mils of clear coat. If it has two mils or less, I will not touch it.
I refuse to touch it, and I move on down the road. A lot of factory painted cars, I would say your Average, your Jeeps, your Dodges, your Fords, your Chevys, they’re going to have between four to six mils of paint, or excuse me, clear coat. And a lot of aftermarket painted vehicles, such as resto mods, fully restored cars, they’re going to have six to eight miles of clear coat.
They do that because they want to make sure that the car has enough clear coat on it, because they’re going to cut it a lot to make it as smooth as possible. So, first things first, I will test the clear coat before I touch any car when performing a Kansas City Auto Detailing service. Now, is it safe? Yes, it’s 100% safe to paint correct a car more than once if you have enough miles in the clear coat.
However, as you begin paint correcting a car, I say after the second or third time you do it, the clear coat begins to get softer and softer every time. I keep going back to the car that I worked on last week. It was a late 50s Mercury 8. Beautiful car.
This car has traveled all over the world. It’s won concourse shows all over the United States. And every time I paint correct this car, it gets softer and softer and softer.
In particular with this car, the paint is so soft that when I go to wipe the polish off of the car after compounding and correcting an area, it now scratches. So, this car was on its third paint correction, and this is the last paint correction this car has. I had a conversation with the owner today about the next time you, you know, want to get this car repaint corrected, you’re going to have to have the car re-cleared before I ever touch it.
So, yes, you can have a car paint corrected more than once, more than twice, depending on how many mils of clear coat are on the car. It is safe. However, over time, it does get your, make your clear coat softer and softer and softer, which makes it harder to keep the car perfected.
The best way to keep the car perfect, defect-free, whether it’s a new or used car, is having a hard ceramic coating, 9H or 10H ceramic coating installed on the entire clear coat after the car has been corrected. We offer this with our Kansas City Auto Detailing Services. We do this on every car that we paint correct because we want to ensure that the car keeps that deep gloss finish for years to come.
Now, the next question that people have about paint correction, does it void my warranty? Absolutely not. If you buy a brand new Ferrari and you want the car fully paint corrected because you have an eye for detail like I have, it’s the only eye I have, but it’s an eye for detail, and you see those little orange peel sections in the corner of the fenders, and you see all the little fine sanding scratches that Ferrari missed before it left Maranello, see all that, and you say, wow, I just paid four, five, six, eight, two million dollars on a car, and the paint looks bad, and I want to get it paint corrected. Well, paint correcting a car will not void the warranty at all.
But you want to make sure that you take it to someone who you trust, someone who has years of experience, and someone who offers warranties on their ceramic coating work, and also someone who’s properly insured. And at Bespoke Automotive Refinement, Kansas City Auto Detailing number one service, we offer an insurance policy that’s up to four million dollars. We have 12 years experience in the industry, and we thrive to make sure that your paint looks nothing but better than new. Guys, thank you so much for tuning into this podcast.
Hopefully, this has answered your questions. If you have any more questions about paint correction ceramic coating, please feel free to reach out to me. Give me a call at 620- 282-0402.
I would love to talk about cars with you. I would love to talk about perfecting the paint on your car. Whether it’s a 2001 Chevy Cavalier or a 2024 Ferrari 812 Superfast, I don’t care.
I just love talking about cars, and I want to make sure that every car on the road looks better than it did the way it left the dealership. Guys, thank you so much for tuning in.