[Arugon]

Hey everyone, I plan on applying Cquartz Car Pro Ceramic Coating to my 2017 Summit White SS next weekend. The car was manufactured in May of 2017 and is sitting on about 4.5k miles at the moment.

I am wondering if a 2 stage paint correction using a compound and finishing polish is necessary considering the car is so new and has been taken pretty good care of. I would rather not cut into the clear using a compound if i dont need to.

There are definitely some micro-scratches in the clear coat which are only visible under a direct flashlight, however most of the scratches seem very fine. The car is also fully wrapped in Xpel on the Bumper, Hood, and Fenders. The roof is wrapped in a 3m Gloss black.

I was hoping to just use 2 applications of Meguiars Ultimate Polish, 1st with a medium-light cutting pad and 2nd with a finishing pad. Do you guys think that is sufficient or do I need to use a product like Ultimate Compound from Meguiars as well. The Machine I have is a Porter Cable.

Also any tips on the areas of the car that are wrapped? Thanks!

[Glen e]

You need to decide whether the paint that you’re looking at is what you want to put under the ceramic coating. If the scratches are so small that only you can see them, and no one else can, and only you can see them with a light, then you don’t need to do a two-stage polish. I personally have never done a new car with anything other than a finishing polish first and then a coating. If the car is 2,3,4 years old then it’s gonna take two stages and maybe three stages to get it correct. Just remember the only reason you prep is because you’re about to seal in whatever is there. I think too many people get far too anal about this and go for such perfection and nobody really cares. I always use the “wife and friend” Test: If my wife and my friends can’t see any problems with the paint, that I don’t look for problems either.

And I see you have a white car, my god , they don’t need to be “perfect” at all. White doesn’t show anywhere near the imperfections that any other color does….

[Arugon]

Originally Posted by Glen e

You need to decide whether the paint that you’re looking at is what you want to put under the ceramic coating. If the scratches are so small that only you can see them, and no one else can, and only you can see them with a light, then you don’t need to do a two-stage polish. I personally have never done a new car with anything other than a finishing polish first and then a coating. If the car is 2,3,4 years old then it’s gonna take two stages and maybe three stages to get it correct. Just remember the only reason you prep is because you’re about to seal in whatever is there. I think too many people get far too anal about this and go for such perfection and nobody really cares. I always use the “wife and friend” Test: If my wife and my friends can’t see any problems with the paint, that I don’t look for problems either.

And I see you have a white car, my god , they don’t need to be “perfect” at all. White doesn’t show anywhere near the imperfections that any other color does….

Yea I'm kind of a like mind in that if no one else will ever notice then why stress out. Especially with it being a white car, I felt that 1 or 2 rounds of a finishing polish was more than enough. Thanks for the advice, do you have any tips for the wrapped areas of the car? Should I polish them or maybe just blast the areas with a blow dryer? Mainly worried about the areas wrapped in gloss black tbh.

[Glen e]

Don’t polish wrap or film… Just wash it down with Dawn , alcohol wipe it if you want, and apply the coating....

If this was my car and I did a walk around, and there were no major swirls or paint defects, I’d polish it once with a medium pad , med speed w/ the ultimate polish, then wipe it down with alcohol/water, then apply the coating....... But that’s just me.

[bpang1234]

The next time I ceramic coat it, I am gonna have a full paint correction done. I was actually planning to with this car when I got it new but the dealer threw it in free of charge because I had to wait an extra weekend because they screwed up the paperwork...so they did it before it left the dealership. Paint was "pretty good" when they received the car and I knew the guy doing it so I was happy with it.