Paint Correction?

[starfish]

Hello everyone!

I have a 2018 Machine Gray Metalic GT that I have taken very good care of over the last three years with dutiful regular car washes and waxes etc, looked brand new.

During the pandemic I left my car in a small public parking garage and now it has clear coat scuffs/scratches on the front of the car (fenders, hood) from people squeezing by to get to other cars. Kind of bummed but I could live with it, I plan to keep this car until the wheels fall off. I was quoted $300 for a paint correction that they said would get rid of the scuffs, but I'm worried about removing any clear coat or paint from the already very thin fancy 3 layer OEM paint job.

Anyone have any advice on whether to get a paint correction? or could I do something else to remove the scuffs?

Thanks for any info...

 

[EchoAlpha519]

I would try removing them by hand with a microfiber cloth and Meguiar's Scratch X first

 

[Silly Wabbit]

They look to be superficial surface marks. While my detailing knowledge is very limited but I would guess it will not take too much off to correct the paint. Is the $300 to correct that panel only or the entire front end or the entire car?

 

[starfish]

$300 for a whole car paint correction was my impression, the marks are just in the clear coat (no white) but completely cover both front panels, some of the hood and the front of the vehicle.

 

[theblooms]

$300 for the whole car is about right. It's a pretty labor intensive process

 

[Direkiba]

I would get an actual measurement on paint thickness before attempting. A good shop should do that before quoting a correction. You could also try just a polish first though.

 

[jal142]

Have you tried washing and then using a clay bar followed by wax? I hesitate to jump straight to paint correction because you are removing clear coat. If you want to keep the car forever, sanding off paint at year 2 or 3 of ownership is a tough call.

 

[sm1ke]

I have the same paint on my 2018 CX-9. I use an all-in-one polish and wax product annually (Blackfire One Step, 32oz for $30 on sale) applied using a dual action machine polisher (PC 7424 XP $120 on sale, six pads for $40). It gets scratches like that out no problem.

With that said, if buying that stuff or DIY correction isn't an option, I would try correcting it yourself with Scratch X as @EchoAlpha519 mentioned, or just bite the $300 bullet to get it corrected professionally.

 

[Odrapnew]

$300 for full vehicle isn't terrible.
And, what you could do is have the shop correct the paint and then follow up with a DIY ceramic coat. Will help a little bit with future scratches and add another layer of protection to the paint.
As others have said, you could try to do it by hand first.

It's hard to see the extent of the scratches, but from what I see, I also say those are superficial and should not be difficult to remove at least most of them.

This post shows what my Golf R looked like all over the paint as well as a few after shots.

https://www.mazdas247.com/forum/ind...ramic-coating-question.123871690/post-6700971


It's always recommended that you start with the least aggressive process (polish and foam pad) and then step up to more aggressive if it doesn't work. With my Golf, I started with a polish pad and polish, but it hardly touched the paint. Had to go down to microfiber pad and compound, and even then, I had to repeat the compounding 2x (I really needed an even more aggressive combo).

 

[MartyH]

Those amount of scratched & swirls won't come out by a hand correction. You'll have to invest in DA electric polisher, its what I use and does a fantastic job. Go on Youtube and watch videos from Chemical Guys, Adams & Meguiar's.

 

[Jman136]

Yep, get a DA polisher. Honestly, $300 isn't a bad price if it's a professional detailer.

 

[MartyH]

Yep, get a DA polisher. Honestly, $300 isn't a bad price if it's a professional detailer.

$300 is not bad. If I know the detailer has a good reputation and is known to do good detail jobs I would trust him to do a detail job on my vehicle.