Ceramic coating high spots?

ReaperHWK06 said:
Went to 2 shops. Both looked at it and said the paint that was not covered by the stripes was UV damaged and oxidized. They both said they feel very confident they can get it looking good with a good paint correction. They said they don’t want to guarantee anything but they have fixed worse. They didn’t mention anything about paint thickness concerns and didn’t seemed concerned. The bumper is plastic so I don’t think a gauge would work anyway? Looks like they will just give it a heavy cut and polish. If they get it done just means I am way to light with polishing and don’t know what the F I’m doing lol.

I booked the correction for next week; we’ll see how it goes.

Crazy that even a ceramic coated vehicle from brand new less than 4yrs old would have ghost stripes. That’s what they called the lines ghost striping in the clear.

I’m done with vinyl I’m getting the whole car paint corrected and then PPF and ceramic coat. Just leaving it naked black with no decals.

This car was stored in the winter but during the summer it was my daily and parked outside at work. That was enough I guess for the damage.
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Wow, I have a 2022 Black Ford Ranger, built and ordered new, and the paint is still beautiful and no UV or Oxidation anywhere.....
And I have done Nothing to it, except wash it with CarPro Reset....

Surprised the guys you went to did not have a paint thickness gauge either.... Yes, a new car will have a lot of clear coat on it to start, but once you start paint correcting it, etc., it goes away, as it should... We are talking microns and measuring it in microns, as I said in an earlier post...
Good luck with those guys.....
Stokdgs
 
Actually I went to three shops. They all said same thing, ghosting and oxidation. Now that I look at the car closely the paint under the stripes is very clear with almost zero orange peel and the exposed paint is very “grainy”. I wonder if the shop that did the ceramic coating sucked ass.
 
ReaperHWK06- Interesting that the paint under the decals has less OP than the exposed paint. It's not like there's some way to "mess up and create orangepeel where there wasn't any".

Getting significant oxidation despite the Coating is a little surprising, but I wouldn't be too quick to say whoever did that work botched it up. It sounds to me like the coating just didn't provide much UV protection on a car that apparently needs it.

I can't help but wonder about none of the shops discussing paint thickness. These days, even amateurs have, and use, PTG's and with today's clearcoats being so crazy-thin, I'd never let anybody correct a vehicle without taking the thickness into consideration.

I'd come right out and ask about it, while bending over backwards to assure them that *NO*, you're not being a smart aleck or trying to play "gotcha". I'd ask: how thick is the paint currently; how deep do you plan to go, how will you deal with the plastic bumpercovers? And I'm sure other stuff would come up in the course of the discussion. Those are perfectly reasonable concerns and the types of things that oughta be not only considered, but also discussed with any customers who have a degree of interest (not all do, but you're posting at Autopia, so I assume you care a lot).
 
ReaperHWK06 said:
Went to 2 shops. Both looked at it and said the paint that was not covered by the stripes was UV damaged and oxidized. They both said they feel very confident they can get it looking good with a good paint correction. They said they don’t want to guarantee anything but they have fixed worse. They didn’t mention anything about paint thickness concerns and didn’t seemed concerned. The bumper is plastic so I don’t think a gauge would work anyway? Looks like they will just give it a heavy cut and polish. If they get it done just means I am way to light with polishing and don’t know what the F I’m doing lol.

I booked the correction for next week; we’ll see how it goes.

Crazy that even a ceramic coated vehicle from brand new less than 4yrs old would have ghost stripes. That’s what they called the lines ghost striping in the clear.

I’m done with vinyl I’m getting the whole car paint corrected and then PPF and ceramic coat. Just leaving it naked black with no decals.

This car was stored in the winter but during the summer it was my daily and parked outside at work. That was enough I guess for the damage.
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This person is full of 💩 imo. I hope he doesn't go full retard and ruin what clear you have left.

I would spend that money on a repaint or just get rid of the car and find another
 
I actually bought my own thickness gauge just to see. But the shops I went to are all name brand high end shops that do lambos, porches, rolls Royce’s, etc. going to get all polished out, PPF, and new ceramic on whole car. Deleting these vinyl stripes due to these issues.

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All those guys are clowns????

The one shop even had a clean room with air purification system for PPF installs.

My car is def the shitiest one there. And it’s a hellcat widebody redeye.

Going to elbow grease Friday I’ll post up the results.
 
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Thanks for the recommendation. I got my paint thickness gauge my OEM paint is between 5 and 6 mils all over the panel being buffed. That looks safe?

I even touch up some chips and then wet sanded with 3000 grit it didn’t even make a dent in the mil reading.

I must have a light hand with this.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
Those thickness readings seem to be inline with the way things are today. Detailer's Domain is up near the NY border, very good reputation though.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I also found one of these “lines”
From the vinyl that was under a spoiler (took it off because changing it) so I wasn’t too concerned about screwing up the paint. Wet sanded it aggressive to me with 3000 grit and it came off. With the paint gauge it still registers the same as the paint around what I sanded so it’s not deep at all. I feel confident now it will all come out maybe only removing 0.1 mil of clear….
 
Just make sure your PTG is calibrated, I would think sanding a line off would show a tenth of a mil. Is this a cheapie gage? Eddy current measurement is not the most exact science, and the cheaper gages may lack resolution. I mean that's fine, I just don't want you to get lulled into a false sense of security and have something bad happen.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
Just make sure your PTG is calibrated, I would think sanding a line off would show a tenth of a mil. Is this a cheapie gage? Eddy current measurement is not the most exact science, and the cheaper gages may lack resolution. I mean that's fine, I just don't want you to get lulled into a false sense of security and have something bad happen.
Click to expand...


Yeah. It came with a piece of metal and sheets to test it. On a 1.97 mil test film is reads consistent 1.92. On a 3.94 mil film it reads consistent 3.85. So it’s reading low actually.

It seems to be most accurate on thicker films. On a 9.84 mil it reads right on.
 
That looks like a nice one. Just as a sanity check, measure a spot on the car, then put one of those test foils between the paint and the tester and see if it changes by the test thickness. Eddy current testers can behave differently based on the substrate thickness/geometry.
 
ReaperHWK06 said:
I actually bought my own thickness gauge just to see. But the shops I went to are all name brand high end shops that do lambos, porches, rolls Royce’s, etc. going to get all polished out, PPF, and new ceramic on whole car. Deleting these vinyl stripes due to these issues.

Detail Doctor | State of the Art Paint Correction and Paint Protection

New Jersey's leading Car Detailing shop. Experts in applying paint protection film by Xpel.
www.detaildoctornj.com
www.elbowgreasenj.com

#1 Vehicle Detailing Services in Tinton Falls, NJ

Discover expert Vehicle Detailing Services in Tinton Falls with Elbow Grease Detailing. Shield your car’s finish with professional-grade services. Call us!
www.elbowgreasenj.com www.elbowgreasenj.com
wrapstate.com

Paint Protection Film, Color PPF & Wrap Shop | WrapState™ NJ & FL

Protect, style & transform your car with WrapState™. Premium Paint Protection Film, Color PPF, Wraps & Ceramic Coating in NJ & FL.
wrapstate.com wrapstate.com


All those guys are clowns????

The one shop even had a clean room with air purification system for PPF installs.

My car is def the shitiest one there. And it’s a hellcat widebody redeye.

Going to elbow grease Friday I’ll post up the results.
Click to expand...
Don't know if they're clowns, but definitely misleading you
 
ReaperHWK06 said:
Thanks for the recommendation. I got my paint thickness gauge my OEM paint is between 5 and 6 mils all over the panel being buffed. That looks safe?

I even touch up some chips and then wet sanded with 3000 grit it didn’t even make a dent in the mil reading.

I must have a light hand with this.
Click to expand...
Ask yourself this:
Where does the clear coat end and the paint begin??
 
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ReaperHWK06 said:
I actually bought my own thickness gauge just to see. But the shops I went to are all name brand high end shops that do lambos, porches, rolls Royce’s, etc. going to get all polished out, PPF, and new ceramic on whole car. Deleting these vinyl stripes due to these issues.

Detail Doctor | State of the Art Paint Correction and Paint Protection

New Jersey's leading Car Detailing shop. Experts in applying paint protection film by Xpel.
www.detaildoctornj.com
www.elbowgreasenj.com

#1 Vehicle Detailing Services in Tinton Falls, NJ

Discover expert Vehicle Detailing Services in Tinton Falls with Elbow Grease Detailing. Shield your car’s finish with professional-grade services. Call us!
www.elbowgreasenj.com www.elbowgreasenj.com
wrapstate.com

Paint Protection Film, Color PPF & Wrap Shop | WrapState™ NJ & FL

Protect, style & transform your car with WrapState™. Premium Paint Protection Film, Color PPF, Wraps & Ceramic Coating in NJ & FL.
wrapstate.com wrapstate.com


All those guys are clowns????

The one shop even had a clean room with air purification system for PPF installs.

My car is def the shitiest one there. And it’s a hellcat widebody redeye.

Going to elbow grease Friday I’ll post up the results.
Click to expand...
Are you able to calibrate your PTG ?
It is spelled Porsche...... :)
Stokdgs
 
update on this. They cut it but it didn’t get rid of it, it did however make the color match from under the stripes to the rest of the panel(the texture and color is now all uniform on the panels). . I told them to cut more on the edges when I saw the car and they tried with a microfiber pad with heavy cut on a test area and it wasn’t working. Looks like the heat from the buffing was the issue and they didn’t want to cut more even after I told them to try. Felt like I was saying just so it and go reckless and they talked sense into me lol. Just the hard lines were visible on the stripe edges. Did a test of 3000 grit wet sand and was able to remove the marks on a test area with minimal clear removal (maybe 0.1 mil). Went to Local body shop and they took a look and said they can wet sand the panels with 3000 grit DA and it would look mint. I left the areas where I sanded cloudy so they could look and they said it looks fine and the 3000 grit was able to get rid of the line. After that I polished an area by hand with megs polishing compound and all the haze went away and the line was not visible at all. I rather have the body shop do it because of the f up and burn through they will repaint the panels. I could do it myself but taking forever by hand, took me 30 min to do one edge on the trunk. It would go super fast if I switched to say 2000 grit but I’m not comfortable doing that. This project never ends……

Good thing is the shop is doing it for basically free since I’m a repeat customer lol. Had my Tahoe there atleast 5
Times for accidents (people hitting me) and some other paint work. . They told me $200 and leave a good google review to wet sand the roof, trunk, and rear bumper.. And if they burn through they will repaint it.

I’ll never get a car with vinyl again!
 
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ReaperHWK06 said:
update on this. They cut it but it didn’t get rid of it, it did however make the color match from under the stripes to the rest of the panel(the texture and color is now all uniform on the panels). . I told them to cut more on the edges when I saw the car and they tried with a microfiber pad with heavy cut on a test area and it wasn’t working. Looks like the heat from the buffing was the issue and they didn’t want to cut more even after I told them to try. Felt like I was saying just so it and go reckless and they talked sense into me lol. Just the hard lines were visible on the stripe edges. Did a test of 3000 grit wet sand and was able to remove the marks on a test area with minimal clear removal (maybe 0.1 mil). Went to Local body shop and they took a look and said they can wet sand the panels with 3000 grit DA and it would look mint. I left the areas where I sanded cloudy so they could look and they said it looks fine and the 3000 grit was able to get rid of the line. After that I polished an area by hand with megs polishing compound and all the haze went away and the line was not visible at all. I rather have the body shop do it because of the f up and burn through they will repaint the panels. I could do it myself but taking forever by hand, took me 30 min to do one edge on the trunk. It would go super fast if I switched to say 2000 grit but I’m not comfortable doing that. This project never ends……

Good thing is the shop is doing it for basically free since I’m a repeat customer lol. Had my Tahoe there atleast 5
Times for accidents (people hitting me) and some other paint work. . They told me $200 and leave a good google review to wet sand the roof, trunk, and rear bumper.. And if they burn through they will repaint it.

I’ll never get a car with vinyl again!
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So this high-end detail shop that exclusively details lambos, ferrari and porches solution was a microfiber pad and a da polisher??
Hopefully you didn't let those clowns, errr I mean experts* ppf and ceramic your ride


P.S. I can't remember who, but seems like someone else was telling you to wet sand the edges 🤔
 
bad penny said:
So this high-end detail shop that exclusively details lambos, ferrari and porches solution was a microfiber pad and a da polisher??
Hopefully you didn't let those clowns, errr I mean experts* ppf and ceramic your ride


P.S. I can't remember who, but seems like someone else was telling you to wet sand the edges 🤔
Click to expand...

They won’t do any heavy cutting or polishing really as it’s “not their main job”. They just do final correction for PPF and ceramic mostly on brand new cars from the showroom. They did refer me to places that will wet sand though.

I’d probably go back after the wet sand though. There good at what they do. They even applied PPF over to see if it would hide it but it didn’t. Gave me my money back as a credit for the future work as well so no complaints. Car still needed that paint correction though as the surface is uniform all over the panel now, wasn’t going to wet sand the whole panel for sure.

I’ll do some more sanding today, I may finish the trunk myself.

And to your point why would I wet sand prior to trying a heavy cut? Start least aggressive first.
 
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ReaperHWK06 said:
They won’t do any heavy cutting or polishing really as it’s “not their main job”. They just do final correction for PPF and ceramic mostly on brand new cars from the showroom. They did refer me to places that will wet sand though.

I’d probably go back after the wet sand though. There good at what they do. They even applied PPF over to see if it would hide it but it didn’t. Gave me my money back as a credit for the future work as well so no complaints. Car still needed that paint correction though as the surface is uniform all over the panel now, wasn’t going to wet sand the whole panel for sure.

I’ll do some more sanding today, I may finish the trunk myself.

And to your point why would I wet sand prior to trying a heavy cut? Start least aggressive first.
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So basically this place is a window tint shop that offers a car washing service.
If I were you I would expose them as such with a Google review and dispute the charge with Amex.

I don't recall ever saying anything of the sort. My 1st suggestion was to wetsand using 2000 grit.
I said this because I have experience with what your dealing with. Polishing (especially with a da polisher) will get you nowhere fast

You say your going to sand more on it today like it's a wood deck.
Me thinks this will lead you to my 2nd (or 3rd) suggestion of covering that area with a new vinyl stripe or just repainting that area altogether

Regardless, please keep us posted
 
bad penny said:
So basically this place is a window tint shop that offers a car washing service.
If I were you I would expose them as such with a Google review and dispute the charge with Amex.

I don't recall ever saying anything of the sort. My 1st suggestion was to wetsand using 2000 grit.
I said this because I have experience with what your dealing with. Polishing (especially with a da polisher) will get you nowhere fast

You say your going to sand more on it today like it's a wood deck.
Me thinks this will lead you to my 2nd (or 3rd) suggestion of covering that area with a new vinyl stripe or just repainting that area altogether

Regardless, please keep us posted
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Stop being a dick. I’m working on my car and talking to people around here for help and suggestions. Also on this board. I’m not a detailer just a guy trying to enjoy his car.

Anyway I did sand some more and I got most of it out on the trunk lid but it’s taking forever. I def could do it myself but I go meticulously slow and it will take me days with 3000 grit and going section by section.


I do have a question. Is it worth for me to get the body shop to finish this or would I get better results doing this myself? There is no way the shop is going to go slow like me by hand. I literally wet sand and wipe every 2-3 passes and look for the line. As soon as it disappears I stop. They will probably hit it with 2000 grit and pass it over with 3000 and call it good.

It’s not a money thing either it’s what the best results would be. I’ll probably stop by later and talk to them and show my progress.


What would you guys do? My results look good but I’m definately not an expert.
 
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