Talked to a detailer about clear coat on modern black paint

I was buffing out a 2022 black Honda at the shop and a detailer friend said, 'You can't treat that like the old single-stage, it's a three-layer system and the middle one is soft.' It made me realize I was probably burning through the base layer on a lot of jobs. How do you guys adjust your cut and polish for these new finishes?

4 comments

4 Comments

torres.riley2mo ago

My buddy Mark in Tampa had a 2021 black Toyota Tacoma. He went at it with a heavy compound and a wool pad, trying to remove some dealer-installed swirls. He ended up with these weird, hazy patches that wouldn't clear up. A pro he knows took a paint gauge to it and showed him he'd cut right into that soft middle layer. Now he starts with the least aggressive polish and a foam pad, and he checks his work constantly under a bright light.

the_robin2mo ago

Honestly torres.riley, sometimes you gotta go aggressive first to see what you're really dealing with.

colegarcia2mo ago

Yeah but that's the thing, you can't always play it safe. Sometimes that soft paint is hiding deeper scratches or defects that a light polish just won't touch. You end up wasting hours and a ton of product only to find out you needed to step it up anyway. Going in a bit aggressive right off the bat shows you the true baseline, then you can dial it back and refine. You just gotta know when to stop, which is the real skill.

andrew_baker911d ago

Wait you can actually cut into a middle layer on these new paints? That's wild to me. I always figured if you messed up you'd just hit primer or bare metal eventually. Never knew there was a soft layer in between just waiting to get screwed up. Your buddy Mark's story is scary man, I've been using heavy compound on newer cars thinking I was just saving time. Makes me wonder how many jobs I've done where I was secretly wrecking the paint and just getting lucky. Definitely gonna start with the gentle stuff and a foam pad from now on, bright light checks every pass. Better to take an extra hour than explain to a customer why their truck has cloudy patches that won't come out.