Restoring your car to "like new".
Paint Correction
by Ricardo's Detail Garage
Paint Correction is a long haul process and results in a complete transformation of your car’s paintwork. It requires a lot of time and expertise, and it is for customers who are looking for the best possible finish for their car paint.
In Ricardo’s Detail Garage we continuously research and develop with other professional detailers all over the world to continuously improve, and keep us updated with paint technology. We use only the latest techniques, chemicals and equipment from Italy, Germany, USA and South Korea. We also endorse using the best global brands such as Rupes, Starke, Flex and Fireball. These are highly effective on nearly all paint finishes including single stage, clear coat and even the latest ceramic-clear paint systems such as BMW is currently using. We also use specialist lighting to be able to see all of the paint imperfections, and ensure we focus on every area of your car, this lighting imitates sunlight which as any enthusiast knows shows off paintwork to its very best or very worst!
Prepare
Clean the surface
Proper preparation is the key to good results. Your car will be snow foamed to dissolve all the dirt and grime, de-waxed to remove any old polishes or waxes that maybe hiding more defects, decontaminated to remove road tar, tram dust, tree and more – and then taped up with automotive tape to protect the trim, rubbers and other areas that are sensitive. This preparation takes time but ensures the very best results – most other “detailers” do not bother.
At Ricardo’s Detail Garage we inspect your car to evaluate the paint condition and the thickness of the paint before we offer a recommendation and quotation. Our years of experience and knowledge enable us to fully assess your car, to provide you with an informative and accurate time and cost for correcting your paintwork.
Correct
Restore the surface to the correct finish
Everyday wear and paint imperfections such as swirl marks, water spots, minor scratches and even bird etching marks can leave your paint looking tired and dull, and over time your car lose its lustre.
Paint Correction can usually fix all of these without the high cost and inconvenience of a respray and bring back the feeling of a brand new car again.
Protect
Coat the surface
Once paint correction is completed professionally, it can last for many years, and it is not something that needs to be repeated frequently – proper washing, protection and maintenance are the key to keeping your paint in excellent condition.
After permanently renewing your paint, Ricardo’s Detail Garage will then detail the rest of the exterior of your car, and protect your paint with the wax, paint sealant, premium wax or paint protection coatings of your choice. This will finish and protect in that deep, clear gloss ensuring it remains longer and makes it easier for you to wash and keep your car immaculate.
The Benefits of Paint Correction
- It adds years to the paint. Scratches and oxidation leave the clear coat exposed. Over time, water, chemicals, dirt and pollutants collect in these cuts and scrapes, further eating away at the paint. Ultimately, this can cause corrosion and rusting, a costly problem to reverse. Paint correction removes these small scratches and protects them.
- It makes your car shine. Paint correction restores the clear coat. When buffed, the shiny, wet appearance will return to the paint. Your car will look years younger and the paint will look newer, brighter and more vibrant.
- It restores exterior vinyl and accents. The key benefit is the new shine of the paint. Yet, a secondary benefit is the rejuvenation of exterior accents and parts. Vinyl and rubber bumpers are rejuvenated with specialised products, as are the tyres and rubber accents.
The Ricardo's Detail Garage Paint Correction Process
Here is how the Ricardo’s Detail Garage paint correction process generally goes:
- Snow foam as pre-wash to loosen up contaminants
- 2-bucket system hand wash with Grit guard to ensure the wash mitt is always dirt free.
- High-pressure rinse
- Car will be dried by using a microfibre weave drying towel. (We don’t recommend using chamois “shammy” to dry the car because that’s one of the major causes of swirl marks.
- Application of iron removing agent such as Iron Burn from Fireball to remove any bonded iron (ferrous).
- Application of fine/medium grade clay bar treatment to remove any above contaminants.
- Measure the paint thickness with Paint Thickness Gauge to ensure we have enough paint to work with.
- Inspection of paintwork and doing a test spot before carrying any work, this is crucial. A lot of “detailers” skip this step and use the heaviest step to save time
- We professionally wet sand the car if it is necessary
- Stages of machine polish with rotary/DA to remove paint defects as shown on the diagram
- Protecting (Last Step Product/LSP) the perfect paintwork to protect it. This is done after the machine polishing step.
Choices of LSP on top of paint correction
- Wax
- Sealant
- Premium wax
- Paint Protection Ceramic Coatings
Prices
$POA (Based on inspection)
Paint correction may or may not be a one-day process, it depends on the paint’s condition. Bad condition paint can take up to a few days to get a perfect finish, and also sometimes, better than what it came out from the factory.
FAQ
Most frequent questions and answers
Firstly we use a ‘Paint Thickness Gauge’ that tells us the overall thickness of your paint in microns, these professional gauges are worth hundreds or thousands of dollars and can provide valuable information to the history of the paint. We also include our years of detailing experience to investigate the paint using xenon light, to also find if the car has been resprayed or repaired, as these are also important factors.
It depends entirely on the current condition of your paint. Some minor paint corrections can take 1-2 days, while some serious corrections for badly weathered and worn paint can take 6-7 days – yes that is up to 50 hours of polishing, refinement and finishing for one car.
Time and quality equal cost, so it depends on how long a Paint Correction is going to take. Be sure to speak to us in regards to getting your car paint corrected. All the cars are different, we can’t use the exact same process on a Toyota paint for a BMW paint.
If done by a real professional like us at Ricardo’s Detail Garage, that knows about paint types, hardness, depth and uses the best car care products and modern techniques – No. The majority of imperfections are within the first 5-10 microns of paint/clear coat, a modern car should come with 150-220 microns of paint. If the correct techniques are used then the removal of paint is minimal and consistent, a lot of cars have more paint ‘hacked off and unevenly’ by some unqualified detailers and car washes that offer a cheap ‘cut and polish’
Incorrect. When car paint is polished badly using poor technique, cheap products, dirty pads or insufficient preparation then yes, holograms / buffer trails or swirl marks are left in the paint and these can be seen in the sunlight.
At Ricardo’s Detail Garage we prepare the paint surface properly, use only the best products and years of experience – we guarantee and we deliver results.
Some detailers offer stage 1, 2 or 3 details / corrections / enhancements. We do not believe in this kind of ‘detail’ – let alone for a ‘paint correction’. The reality is that the paint on your car is in varying conditions on different areas/panels. For example; the paint on your bonnet or boot is probably in worse condition due to harsher circumstances than the paint on your doors, perhaps. Therefore it will take more time, more ‘stages’ with the polisher and a range of polishes and pads – so while 1 stage might give good results for some areas, it will not for all. We analysis and treat every area of your car with focused techniques to deliver real results and bring all panels up to the same standard, some panels need 1 or 2 stages while others may need 4 or 5 to achieve the same finish. We only use Stage 1/2/3/4 details on our portfolio as a reference of how bad the paintwork is and how much is being corrected.
Many companies, small businesses and individuals will say that they can polish a car. But sadly, the results are often very poor – paint levels can be left dangerously low, there may be visible marks left from the buffing itself, the original marks may still be present but just temporarily filled, etc. When it comes to paint correction/polishing, you really need a specialist.
Click here or fill out the enquiry form on this page to organise a free paint assessment and discuss upon your next paint correction!
Get A Quote
Our packages start from as little as $300 to restore your paintwork, just let us know what result you’re chasing and we will be in contact shortly.
All details are kept confidential and we respect your privacy as per our privacy policy.
What Paint Correction Can Remove
Swirls
Stains
Etching
Oxidation
Scratches
Watermarks
Orange Peel Removal
What Our Clients Say
Cannot recommend enough! The professionalism and passion Dan brings is incredible!
After using Ricardo's Detail Garage for cars undergoing insurance repairs at work, there was no question who I would call when it came to needing someone to do my personal car.
Car covered in primer overspray from another shop and Dan made quick work of getting it back to looking better than before. Seriously wouldn't get anyone else to touch my car. Thanks again for the fantastic job!!!