As you shake off the dust from the winter season, you might notice defects and problem spots in your paint. As the weather gets nicer, the sun may reveal more scratches and dings. APC has the experts who understand how paint works, how to correct it, and most importantly - how to protect it from happening again. A major part of this process is machine polishing, which allows us to improve and/or remove some of these blemishes and imperfections.
In order to better understand what machine polishing is, let’s begin with the layers of paint on your vehicle, and how they work together. Your vehicle’s paint starts with a primer on top of the bare metal, then layers of the base coat are added until the desired color is reached.
The final layer is a clear top coat, which is meant to protect the base coat from scratching and fading. Since the majority of all paint defects are within the topcoat, machine polishing is the most affective way to remove those impurities and make your paint look glossy again. While hand waxing can be affective, it does not meet our service standards. Unlike hand waxing, machine polishing creates the ideal amount of heat and pressure needed to produce uniform, consistent results. By using a machine polisher we are able to improve the appearance of (and many times completely remove) swirls, etching, water spotting, oxidization, and scratches.
This step of machine polishing is called paint correction. We start by washing and using a clay bar on the vehicle to rinse off and pull out any contaminants, then we determine the least aggressive path to take in order to achieve the results we want. Depending on how marred the paint is, we will select a single or multi-step process, using different abrasive compounds and/or polishes. This is when the above-mentioned imperfections and defects are corrected. To finish this, we apply polish with a gloss pad which creates a high level of shine on top of your freshly manicured paint.
In order to PREVENT having paint correction service down the road, you can opt for paint preservation instead. In order to do this, we wash, clay, machine polish, then add a ceramic coating on top. This sacrificial layer will take the majority of the swirling, dings, and scratches that would ordinarily be found in the top coat.
What does your car need? That comes down to your individual preference.
If you feel great when your car looks great, and you’re looking for that extra wow factor, machine polishing is likely the best choice for you. Top it off with a ceramic coating and you’re car will look great for years to come!