Decontamination (sometimes referred to as “decon”) is the process of removing those “things” that do not come off with just a car wash. These contaminants may come in the form of iron deposits, tar, paint overspray, concrete splatter, or sap. This is a crucial pre-paint correction step to deliver the best results.

1. This is the most crucial step prior to a multi-stage paint correction. The thought of having multiple high speed tools touching the vehicle’s paint surface is often times daunting. While this commonly happens at most dealerships and inexperienced detail shops, here at Squirrel Shine, it is our number one priority to produce the most striking result without creating further damage by incorporating next generation equipment. The vehicle is thoroughly inspected using multiple light sources including high powered LEDs, direct sunlight, and a sun gun to reveal all imperfections. A high powered digital magnifying microscope will be used to look into deeper scratches providing high resolution details at 500x magnification. The next step is to measure the paint’s clear coat using an ultrasonic paint depth meter to make sure there is enough clear coat to work with. This is a very important process and commonly overlooked by most detailing shops. It determines the thickness of the paint and the possibility of burning through the clear coat. 
2. All panel edges, plastics and sensitive areas will be protected using body safe masking tapes. Another step most detailing shops will ignore. Masking these areas will prevent the buffer from burning through the clear coat, since the paint is always the thinnest towards the edge of the panels.

We get this all the time. We usually get the vehicle with a bunch of holograms in the paint and wax all in the emblems and honeycomb areas. This is clear signs of an inexperienced detailer with a rotary and a wool pad and with too much compound or polish, and not properly trim masking around vehicle prior to polishing.

Typically, we offer up to 3 stages of paint correction on a vehicle. The first stage is the cutting stage. Here, we use an aggressive cutting pad, typically made of microfiber or wool, along with a cutting compound liquid, to remove heavy defects and swirls from the paint. The next step is polishing. This is done typically using a foam polishing pad, and a liquid polish. This does 2 things, remove more minor swirl marks and scratches, and leave the surface extremely clear and glossy in preparation for coating. The 3rd and final step, which is less common, is ultra fine polishing. This is done with a very very mild polishing pad, and heavy polishing liquid. This is done to further exchange the gloss and overall appearance of the painted surface prior to coating.

It is a common misconception that a brand new vehicle requires no paint correction and that the paint is fresh from the factory. It is the dealership’s usual practice to do a new car prep before delivering to the customer. Dealerships will always use the fastest and cost effective way to prep the car, which inevitably creates these imperfections. In addition to that, the dealership detailers uses a body shop glaze and a combination of high speed machines with dirty wool pads to create that show car shine under the showroom lights. This merely helps to create extra gloss, hiding all the imperfections remaining. However, this is not always necessary and can be determined on a case-by-case basis.

Paint Correction normally takes anywhere between six to 30 hours, depending on the vehicle. Price will be determined based on number of hours required, the type of vehicle and customer expectations. We do not give prices for paint correction over the phone, but we can set you up for an in-person appointment to inspect the paint and go from there. [Click here]

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