Rsurfer
Well-known member
- Jan 26, 2007
- 14,159
- 26
It's pretty hard to hide a coating high spot.
How to remove a Ceramic Paint Coating High Spot by Mike Phillips
- Thread starter Mike Phillips
- Start date
Desertnate
Well-known member
- Aug 5, 2013
- 6,239
- 291
I'm not even sure how you'd do it. Polishing will actually remove the driend coating material which causes the high spot. If you want the high sport to go away, it needs to be polished off and more coating applied to the area. However, at this point, if your actually two years into the coating, any spot polishing will create a area which will look cleaner and glossier than any of the surrounding area.
Mike Phillips
Active member
- Dec 5, 2022
- 51,004
- 7
- Thread starter
- #23
I hear you...
What you need is an honest inspection and determination of the issue.
Me?
I would do what I call paint troubleshooting. I've typed about this a LOT over the years but I don't have an article on it.
Here's what I would do though, I would do the normal stuff first, wash and dry the car. The place a strip of painter's tape across one of the streaks of what is believed to be excess coating, or a high spot.
Then buff on just ONE SIDE of the tape. Wipe off the residue and inspect. If the high spot is gone, then it's pretty easy to see that this is the problem. Remove the strip of paint and polish out the entire hood, strip and re-coat.
If the high spot or whatever you're seeing is STILL intact, then time to do more inspection and research. Might take a compound. Might not be excess coating.
Hard to say without being there but I would start by doing some troubleshooting.
If you have the time, it's a great opportunity to polish your car yourself and apply an LSP.
Mike Phillips
Active member
- Dec 5, 2022
- 51,004
- 7
- Thread starter
- #25
Because it's been a couple of years, I'd say there's no definitive way to know what the streaks are or when they were instilled. Had you noticed within a month or two and then taken it back, then I'd say there should be no charge.
To clean the hood, (or wash the car), then clay, then machine polish, then chemically strip then install the coating is going to take the person 3-4 hours easy. (plus chemical coast and wear-n-tear to pads, towels and tools)
Usually within minutes. It's a drying process and in most environment,s the coating is going to "flash" or in other words, the carrying agents, usually some type of solvent, (note water can be a solvent, it dissolves dirt), and then using GOOD LIGHTING a person should be able to see the high spots or in SIMPLE terms, excess product.
This is why anyone installing ceramic coatings should have access to good lighting or high spots will not be seen. I know, it's happened to me.
If the streaks you're talking about don't wash off or even rub off but will polish off or in worst case scenario, compound off, then more than likely they are in fact streaks of coating. That is unless something else has "happened" to the car.
I think that with some of the spray coatings that if you apply them too thick the carrier agents get trapped and don't fully evaporate. I've had a few places that once I've buffed off a section and it looked good, the next day I would see some streaks on dark paint. After a wash the streaks were gone.