Buffing or Paint Correction a New Car
Detail Artist is a dedicated car detailing and automotive customisation studio located in Rydalmere, Sydney. Our sole focus is on the best quality for our clients vehicles. One of the most common questions we receive when it comes to new cars is ‘Paint Correction for a new car? Really?’ or ‘why do you need to buff a new car?’ We’ve put together this article in order to help provide as much information as possible to assist prospective and current new car owners make the right choice.
While not the most extreme example, this is still a brand new and freshly delivered Mercedes E250. The owner was very insistent that the car did not need polishing. Our inspection after washing proved otherwise unfortunately.
PD or the Pre-delivery Process
Painful swirl marks installed on soft and black paint will require paint correction. This could happen over time or worst case dealer service washes can make this happen.
Unknown to most car buyers from dealerships, the vehicle you are purchasing rarely is bought off the floor. So the shiny vehicle you are seeing is not the same as the one you are getting. The vehicle the majority of buyers receive from $10,000 hatchbacks to $500,000 super cars is brought into the country on a ship.
By understanding the entire logistical journey of a new car, a new owner can being to see why professional detailers recommend polishing or paint correction their new vehicle. The car itself when finished at the original factory would be close to if not perfect. However, from the factory and onto the ship many things can occur to damage the paintwork such as chemical overspray in the hull of the ship or scratches in transit.
Secondly, some damage may actually occur from during the transport on the train or truck. Recently, quite a few of the Ford Mustangs that were transported by train were delivered into Sydney with heavy iron fallout as a result of choosing train over truck. However, more commonly are stone chips which can occur. Most often they are professionally repaired and the only people to notice would be a detailer who spends hours inspecting and looking at each panel under bright lights.
Thirdly and most likely cause of swirls and paint defects is actually during the pre-delivery process. Ironically, the service which is designed to prepare and ‘detail’ the car (we use that word very reservedly in this context) actually damages your car the most. Worst case scenario, when dealerships decide they need to ‘buff’ cars they are almost always using the wrong materials and equipment which can often lead to holograms and buffer marks.
To find out more about swirls marks, check out our article ‘What are Swirl Marks?’
To find out more about holograms aka buffer marks, check out our article here.
This is simply a case of economics, the business model of dealerships makes profit from selling vehicles firstly and then aftermarket products second. Therefore, the detailing or washing they provide is almost on a complimentary basis but still costs them wages so it would be in the dealerships interest to save as much money in that as possible. This means, usage of cheaper equipment and chemicals, lack of clean towels, lack of supervision and quality controls. If a towel is dropped on the ground its dusted off and goes back onto your car. Dirty chamois and cloths are used and these result in scratches and swirl marks on your ‘new’ car.
Because of the cheaper products used, customers are often unaware of the real condition of their car and while a customer deserves a perfect car upon collecting, the experience is often otherwise.
The Paint Correction Process.
The Mercedes Benz E250 looking pristine after Paint Correction & Quartz Coating is finished.
When Project Detail receives a new car, we begin with our 21-stage wash and decontamination process. Many dealerships will leave nasty glue residue on the vehicles as the cars are originally covered in plastic sheeting that is removed during the pre-delivery process.
Most often, customers will come to us for paint protection application of our ceramic quartz glass coating. After the paintwork is inspected, we confirm our original quote and inform the customer of the condition of the paintwork and how much paint correction it would need. Thankfully, 90% of new vehicles only require a stage 1 correction. However, a minority of vehicles will need much more extensive polishing either due to extensive damage from the dealership or difficult paintwork thats too soft or too hard for example.
To find out more about our paint correction services click here.
Once the process has been finished, and the paintwork is now swirl and scratch free, the glass coating is then applied in order to give the car genuine long term protection. This ensures the car looking stunning and we often tell our clients, this is how your car should have looked upon delivery, it will be better and noticeably different.
We hope that this article has helped go through the process for you in terms of the preparation and delivery of your vehicle. If there is any questions or further information, please feel free to leave a comment below or click here to contact us.
