If you are a car lover, you must know how important the appearance of your vehicle is. No matter how well you care for your car, time and wear and tear can take a toll on its exterior. Paint correction is a multi-step process that involves extracting minor scratches and imperfections from the vehicle’s clear coat and restoring it to its original condition. Waxman of Tristate Car Detailing Center has been providing car owners with top-notch detailing services. The professionals use modern equipment and products to bring your vehicle to its initial condition and offer restoration and maintenance help for your vehicle exterior.
Paint correction is a worthy investment over time as it is an effective way to enhance your car’s condition compared to other options. It can last over three years if you get it done from a professional car detailing company. By maintaining your car’s paint job with paint correction, you can save money over time and keep your vehicle in top shape.
Read on to learn more about paint correction, how much it costs, and how the price breaks down.
What Is Paint Correction?
Paint correction has become one of the most popular detailing services these days. It is a more complex process than a simple polish that only fills or hides imperfections. Paint correction actually removes swirls, blemishes, or scratches on the paintwork to create a mirror-like shine and gives your car a new look and finish.
The detailer delicately buffs away the fine topmost layer of clear coat on a vehicle’s paintwork, leaving it flawless. Sometimes, paint correction is also referred to as paint refinement, as the vehicle paintwork can end up looking even better than it came from the factory. Paint correction requires skill and knowledge, and a highly trained detailer can ensure stunning results.
Related: 11 Things Car Detailing Services Should Include
How Is the Paint Correction Cost Estimated?
Detailing is not cheap. Depending on your vehicle’s condition, size, the skills of the detailer, and the type of paint correction job you are looking for, it can cost anywhere from $500 to $2500. The detailer will examine your vehicle thoroughly and inspect the extent of damage, the lighting conditions, and how much damage is visible.
If you seek superior results, hiring a reputable and skilled detailing service should be your first priority. A professional can fix scratches, swirls, and other imperfections that affect a car’s exterior without hassle. Paint correction holds various benefits for a vehicle’s look and condition, which will amaze you.
How Much Should Paint Correction Cost?
If you visit a professional detailer who offers quality work, you can expect to pay anywhere between $500 to $800 or more for stage 1 paint correction, and $1000 to $2000 or more for stage 2 paint correction.
Stage 1 paint can produce 50 to 80% improvement, while stage 2 can get 80 to 95% or even more depending on the detailer’s skill. Make sure the cost of paint correction also includes a full and proper prep and detail as well as some sort of wax or sealant protection. Ceramic coatings are usually applied after paint correction to preserve their hard work and maintain your car’s look. Some detailers include ceramic coating, while others can offer other services like interior work, wheel detailing, etc. It is up to you to decide what you want, keeping in mind the results you are expecting.
Consult a reputable detailer who can appropriately judge the amount of paint correction work in your vehicle and quote the accurate cost.
Paint Correction Process
When estimating the cost of paint correction, the detailer will also take into consideration how much correction is possible, to what extent, and the type of products used in this process. It is essential to know that paint correction can take place or is estimated when the detailer removes paint from the vehicle and levels the scratches. At this point, the actual amount of correction and how much it will cost can be analyzed.
Type and Amount of Correction
Leveling can be done up to a certain amount, and it is usually limited by paint thickness and budget. Slight damage like swirl marks from regular hand washing a few times per month is not tough to correct and can be removed easily with a decent polisher, pads, and polish. However, paint that has been through years of bad washing, particularly from automatic brush washes, needs correction.
Such damage needs a lot of work and someone who knows what they are doing. The paint may not be thick enough to be fully corrected, and the detailer may have to figure out the best way to improve the paint without risking clear coat failure. They also offer quick polish that buffs the exterior by removing minimum swirl and improving gloss. It is essential to know that the extent of correction can vary from detailer to detailer, depending on how they offer services. Most detailers offer packages and you can choose one that best suits your needs or budget.
Prep and Protection
The paint correction process also includes the prep and protection processes, which can take about 2.5 to 3 hours on a standard vehicle. It begins with washing, claying, decontamination, etc., and ends with ceramic and wax coating. These processes cannot be skipped, as regardless of the paint condition, the whole point is to go over the paint and improve it.
Stage 1 Correction
After prep comes stage 1 correction, where the detailer makes little adjustments based on paint correction. At this stage, swirl marks are removed using a single pad/polish combination and going around the vehicle once. A few hours of polishing are required for a standard vehicle to go around it once. However, if the marks are deeper or the process is slow due to any reason, it may take longer time to achieve better results.
Stage 2 Correction
It is the stage of paint correction that can make the vehicle paint look as good as possible. It usually takes about 8 to 12 hours and sometimes even more if the paint is in really bad condition or if you want to have every inch of your car exterior corrected, including door sills, engine bay, painted trim parts, etc.
The detailer will make decisions based on the paint thickness and results they get while working on your vehicle. If stage 2 correction produces nearly the same results as stage 3, they will preserve the paint and the client money and stick with just two stages. This is because even with good hand washing, some swirls pop up that make stage 3 a complete waste of time and money. Sedans and other standard vehicles usually get done in the initial 2 stages.
Type of Paint
If the detailer says there is enough paint and he can make it pretty perfect, it may take anywhere from 15 to 20 hours, or in some cases, even 30 to 40 hours to do it. You must know that different paints respond to polishing in different ways. Hard paints can be difficult to correct, while soft paints are difficult to leave in perfect condition.
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Vehicle Types, Sizes, and Location
These factors speak for themselves. Your location will determine the price of paint correction, based on the supply and demand ratio. Costs are less in rural areas, while in bigger cities, costs increase considerably. Also, the larger a vehicle is and the more complex the panels are, the higher the cost. Tiny cars with tons of paint trim can cost a lot, and paint correction in such a case can cost even more than an SUV.
Plastic panels are much harder to correct due to their flexibility. Both plastic panels and flex additives in the paint are flexible, so polishing them is more difficult than the metal ones.
The cost of paint correction is not fixed and varies based on various factors, including current paint condition and the skill level of the person doing it. The price can climb astronomically if you are seeking a more restorative job. Paint correction services can also be combined with ceramic coating or paint protection film to make your car shine like new.
Waxman of Tristate Car Detailing Center is the best car detailing company in the New Jersey area. The team of experts understands what car owners seek when they come to them for detailing services, including paint correction. With their paint correction services, they remove deep scratches, swirl marks, and dropping of bugs and birds from the surface of your vehicle at reasonable rates. Call now and schedule an appointment today to find out what the paint protection process involves and how much it costs.
