Polish
Paint correction in San Jose
Swirl marks, scratches and oxidation polished out of the clear coat at Rogers Detailing Studio in San Jose, so the shine comes back.
What swirls, scratches and oxidation really are
Paint on a modern car is a color layer under a clear coat, and the clear coat is what you see shine. Swirl marks are thousands of fine scratches in that clear coat, usually from washing with a dirty mitt or going through an automatic wash. Under sun or a hard light they show up as spider webs and halos around the highlights.
Oxidation is the clear coat breaking down from sun and weather until it goes dull and chalky. Deeper scratches are cuts that run further into the clear. All of it scatters light instead of reflecting it, which is why paint can look flat even when the car is clean.
Paint correction removes a very small amount of clear coat to level the surface down to the bottom of those defects. Nothing is filled or hidden, so when it is done right the shine you see is the paint itself.
Dual-action polisher with an orange foam pad on a black hood, swirled paint on one side and corrected paint on the other
How the polish is done
The car is washed and decontaminated first, then inspected under a bright light, panel by panel, to see what is really in the paint and how deep it goes. That inspection decides how aggressive the work needs to be.
Machine polishing is done in stages: a cutting compound and pad to take out the deeper defects, then a finer polish and softer pad to bring back clarity and gloss. Each stage is checked under the light before moving on. After the last pass the panel is wiped down to strip the polishing oils, so what you see is the true finish.
Not every scratch comes out. One you can catch with a fingernail may be through the clear coat, and the honest answer is to say so and take it as far as is safe. Rogers Detailing Studio looks at the paint and tells you what is realistic before anything is polished.
Correct first, then protect it
Correction comes before ceramic coating or paint protection film, never after, because both of those seal in whatever is on the paint. A coating over swirls keeps the swirls, and film over scratches keeps the scratches. That is why a correction usually comes first when a car is going to be coated or filmed.
Keeping the finish is mostly washing habits. Use two buckets, one for soap and one to rinse the mitt, with a clean microfiber mitt and a soft drying towel. Skip automatic brushes, and never dry-wipe dust off a dirty panel. A coating over corrected paint makes those habits easier to keep.
If your paint looks tired, call (408) 813-7183 for a free quote. The studio is at 1757 Lavonne Avenue in San Jose and works within about 30 miles, further for a small fee.
Rogers Detailing Studio · 1757 Lavonne Avenue, San Jose · free quotes Monday to Friday