Can Someone Explain what High Spots Are with Coatings and How to Recognize Them??

Lonnie

Active member
I know NOTHING about how to properly apply coatings and some of the problems many of you who do use coatings regularly see. What does a coating high spot look like and how do you deal with it? Does it happen because of user-applicator error (methodology) or is it the manufacturer`s type of coating (drying too fast or ambient weather/environment conditions) or is it a the actual applicator-pad type (foam vs microfiber) that may induce high spots, or some combination of all three? Just curious to learn.
 
A high spot is essentially areas of the coating that was not leveled during the wipe off process. It will be noticeable if you have a high spot as it will look like a darker patch compared to the other areas that were leveled correctly. Of course harder to see on lighter colored paints.

The way to remove it is to polish the area and re-coat.

Mike mentions this and has a good photo in this write up.

https://www.autogeekonline.net/foru...ceramic-coating-mike-phillips.html?highlight=
 
Heh heh, a "high spot in the coating", or rather the potential for one, is one big reason why I only use coatings on wheels ;)
 
A high spot is simply coating that was not wiped off, basically user error. Some coatings need to be removed quickly, and others can remain for several minutes. To remove you need a finishing polish if you catch it before it completely cures. And you’ll need to do the whole panel as you will see a difference.
 
I can`t remember if Mike mentions it in his post, but the best way I`ve found to spot them is by pulling the car out into natural sunlight.

My garage is really well lit with LED overhead fixtures and despite using that lighting and also going around my vehicles in a dark garage with a flashlight, I *still* found a few small high spots once the car was in broad daylight.

Fortunatly, McKee`s 37 coating V1 had a really long working time and I was able to still easily buff them out even after coating the entire car.
 
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