# Is new polished clearcoat more sensitive?



## [email protected] (Aug 6, 2008)

Hi Mike,

As above, is new polished clearcoat more sensitive in comparison to virgin (not polished) clearcoats?

Some detailers say "the paint tends more easily to marr after polishing, even by finger touch or buffing with MF towel". Or is it just an optical illusion, where clean and swirl-free clearcoat cannot hide any minor imperfection?

Just wondering your thoughts...

Regards


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## JenJen (Jun 30, 2010)

Ok im not Mike but i have experienced this on my own car. I found after machining my 2005 audi A4 red car (hardest paint) that it was prone to marking if touched by a cloth etc.

I ended up leaving it for a month and it fixed itself. As they say time is a great healer, it was in this case.


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## [email protected] (Aug 6, 2008)

In that situation, waxing the car is dangerous, spreading-buffing = marring



JenJen said:


> I ended up leaving it for a month and it fixed itself. As they say time is a great healer, it was in this case.


Theoretically the paint/clearcoat should already cured years ago. Does the fresh surface needs again a curing time?

On the other hand, is virgin (non-polished) factory clearcoats more hard/durable? :buffer:


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## JenJen (Jun 30, 2010)

Myself, Robert, Gordon, John (PB) and a couple others looked and all we could determine was the clearcoat had softened after machining. This is no longer a problem but was a massive problem when trying to apply wax or remove anything using a MF cloth


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## great gonzo (Nov 4, 2010)

Mike?
I had this with my Merc, when only using a da.


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## DrDax (Apr 16, 2009)

I remember a bodywork chi telling me paint takes a good month to fully cure... Something about gassing and pay paint hardening fully

Sent from my GT-P1000 using Tapatalk 2


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## great gonzo (Nov 4, 2010)

DrDax said:


> I remember a bodywork chi telling me paint takes a good month to fully cure... Something about gassing and pay paint hardening fully
> 
> Sent from my GT-P1000 using Tapatalk 2


We are not talking new paint tho!


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## BigAshD (Feb 23, 2012)

I read that some Merx paint is "self healing" - to remove micro scratches. Maybe that has something to do with it?


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## stangalang (Nov 27, 2009)

According to Gordon ceramic clear coats can be removed. That is to say the "ceramic" part is only on the very surface of the clear, it migrates to the surface during baking. So in theory after a coupe of very heavy polishing sessions the granite hard part of your clear can be gone leaving a soft to medium clear, which marks far easier


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## Mike Phillips (Jan 26, 2007)

[email protected] said:


> Hi Mike,
> 
> As above, is new polished clearcoat more sensitive in comparison to virgin (not polished) clearcoats?
> 
> ...


Sorry for the late reply, been off all weekend working on my own car project.

Couple of comments...

After any finish is polished to perfection, or even after all the shallow defects have been removed by machine, any "new" defects are going to stand out like a sore thumb because there won't be other defects surrounding them acting to camouflage them.

Another comment is that when it comes to factory paint, the conditions under which the car is painted are so controlled that the factory paint really is the best paint for durability over the long run. For most cars after the paint is sprayed the car body is then baked at high heat before things that could melt or burn are installed, like wiring and fabric upholstery. By the time the car is completely assembled and kicked out of the plant the paint is fully hardened.

My opinion is that for non-cerami-clear paints the clear layer, or matrix if you will is uniform in it's molecular make-up and there shouldn't be any difference in the very top surface as original or the top surface after it's been abraded. If that makes sense at all.


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## Mike Phillips (Jan 26, 2007)

stangalang said:


> According to Gordon ceramic clear coats can be removed. That is to say the "ceramic" part is only on the very surface of the clear, it migrates to the surface during baking.
> 
> So in theory after a coupe of very heavy polishing sessions the granite hard part of your clear can be gone leaving a soft to medium clear, which marks far easier


I actually touch on this topic in my article here,

*Ceramiclear Paints - Be Careful*


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