I have a few questions that have been bugging me. I will be opening a part time mobile detailing service this summer to generate some extra income and I want to know what to say if I ever come across the situation. Is it unethical, when doing any sort of paint correction on a customer's car to not tell them that you are reducing the life of their paint or clear-coat. I mean as ugly and hideous as swirls are, they still have clear around them and when we level paint we reduce the life of the clear coat. Should we be explaining this to our customers? How do you guys explain paint correction to customers, I mean it took me a while to figure out what paint correction was and how it worked. How would you explain it to them if they gave you 5 minutes of their time and they had no formal schooling, so I mean speak in layman's terms
I wouldn't emphasize the 'reducing life' because the amounts you are taking off are miniscule. I would emphasize that bringing it back to you for regular detailing will lengthen the time it looks good and keeps the car nice.
hamza7 -- Great questions ! You are going to find that some Clients are interested in knowing about the microns of paint vs compounding to remove the defects to bring clarity, gloss, and surface slickness, etc., to their paint, and some, well maybe most are not. I always bring up the fact that in order to properly clean and remove paint defects (that I also point out using a portable light so they can see), a very small amount of clearcoat will need to be removed and smoothed over. I also bring my Highline meter and measure their paint with them if possible so they can better understand what paint removal in microns or less than a micron means. I always tell my Clients that I will take as little material off their vehicle as possible, so that they can have many, many, more details. You are going to find that in most cases, the amount of clearcoat removed is very small, unless it is totally trashed paint that has very high readings and you have their consent to remove just enough to achieve the level of clarity they may specify. I explain paint correction to those that want to know, by showing them my tools if they are interested in seeing what I use, and my cabinet full of different colored pads, and my cabinet full of different compounds. Also good to advise them that the "swirl marks" they have, or have seen on cars that are freshly detailed, will not be a part of your work, and instead they will see perfectly clear, straight, reflections from their paint. Another key question for me to ask is "has this vehicle been detailed in the past, and if so how often? This helps me determine what to expect paint material-wise, and also turns on the "look and see if this shop did as good as you do light" You will be able to pick out those that are interested by what they say, and their body language, if you study this. Oftentimes the vehicle itself will tell you much about the prospective Client and their actual involvement in the care and feeding of their vehicle, pride and joy, daily driver, baby, etc... You are going to be great at this ! Good luck !!! Dan F
I don't see how its unethical - unless you burn the paint or an edge and don't tell them. In reality you are only removing a microscopic level of clear and not necessarily "reducing the life of the paint". With that said, briefly explaining your process/techniques is never a bad idea for the few who are actually willing to listen. I find doing a test spot works well too - once they see the 50/50 they are usually shocked.
@Dan F, thank you for the detailed response @Nick, this question arose for me because I am going to be sponsoring a forum in a month's time. The particular breed of cars I am going to be detailing do not have much clear to work with in the first place (around 80-85 avg.) taking off 3 from 80 microns every time I polish will put the CC at risk. I will have to tell the customers to change their ways and be very careful. I'm scared if I tell them I am actually taking CC off that they will reject the idea of paint polishing.
hamza7 -- Thanks for the detail -- Im thinking 3 microns of clearcoat is an awful lot to remove at one shot anyway - do they really need that much correction? Probably the best thing that can be done to help reduce the amount of paint available after correction, is to replace it with Opti-Coat then, right? Then you lay down a couple layers of Opti-Coat on top of your correction and you now have replaced the removed material with a great sounding product that appears to be able to replace and protect the original material better than anything short of a respray. And when they come back for correction again, you are now working off of the Opti-Coat product and not even touching the paint again.. This could turn out to be a huge win-win for you and your new project !! We are talking about this very subject - Opti-Coat on another thread with Chris of Optimum at this time already.. It sounds even better now that a lot of unanswered questions were just addressed by Chris yesterday and today. I think you may be able to do great things with this product and your project and make extra $$$ at the same time using Opti-Coat !! Good luck with this ! Dan F
I just want to add that even though you are removing some clear coat, by properly protecting it and by additionally education your client on how to maintain their paint, you are actually lengthening the life of the car's paint because knowledge and education are what will make a car look its best and last the longest. So, explain to them that paint correction does remove paint, but that because of this, it gives their paint a fresh start in life and that maintenance will make them last longer. If you want a simple analogy, I use this one: Paint correction is like giving an obese person liposuction. It gets rid of the problem instantly and effectively, but the only way to stop it from coming back, is to adopt a healthy life style afterwards. Proper maintenance techniques and use of quality products is that "healthy life style." (note: do not use this analogy if your client is obese - that's asking for problems; lol) BTW, is this particular brand Mazda by any chance?
Some very good points so far. I would have to say no, you don't have to tell them that you are removing clear coat and reducing the life of it because for the most part, you are not. Keep in mind I am basing that decision on a car with NORMAL paint readings; 100-130 range. The reason I say that is because unless you are doing heavy compounding, the amount of clear you are removing will not be measurable. Using a green pad with Power Finish or equivalent, (the combo necessary to remove most wash induced damage), will not remove a measurable amount of clear on most cars. Even if you used 105 with a wool pad and took away 3-4 microns, you are not reducing the life of that cars clear coat by any amount of time that would be a concern. Now, having said that, if the cars you are working on have initial readings of 80-85 microns and you use anything more abrasive than 106FA and a green or black pad, you're a fool. There just isn't enough clear there to be messing about with. Compounds like 105 are out of the question. With readings in the 100-90 range, I wouldn't use anything more aggressive than the green pad/Power Finish combo. 80-90, I'd go green or black with 106FA or equivalent and lower than 80 you can glaze it. If the clear on the flat panels is only 80, I can guarantee there is next to none on the edges as paint flows away from them when sprayed. Its just not worth the risk. Tell them that when you polish, you are smoothing the paint out so that the scratches are actually removed and that the light will be able to reflect straight off the paint. When the paint is scratched, the light reflects in different directions causing the dull look. The more scratches, the less the light reflects straight back, the duller the paint looks.
you will be playing with more than that on average on those cars. A 203s polish would take about 1-2 microns, many times the gauge won't register the difference. It's a service, nothing unethical about that. clear coats on current cares stand up much better than CC from 15 years ago. More UV filters and better quality paints reduce the UV degradation that would have been seen on earlier cars. For women,I tell them plishing is like microderm abrasion. You are taking a small layer off in order to make the car look younger. For guys, i just tell them you are polishing off a layer of paint in order to level out the scratches and swilrls. ] A little sexist yes, but it gets the point across quickly. Also, tell them it is a permanent fix and proper washing will help to keep the car looking that way for a long period of time in the future.
