Paint Correction
 
Generally poor paintwork on a car can make it appear "average" or "tatty" even if it is a relatively new car.
On the other hand a good paint finish will give the car life and people will notice, "fantastic", "wow", "Shiny" will be their comments.
Even with a poor paint finish, which is often caused by many things including automatic car wash machines, poor washing techniques and atmospheric fall-out you don't always have to get a respray.
With machine polishing techniques, and using the correct foam buffing pads and polishes,
you can almost certainly get your car's paint finish to a very high standard.
Some of the most common paint "defects" are Swirl Marks, holograms, buffer marks, oxidisation, small scratches and carpark scuffs, almost all of which can be corrected to some degree, whether it be fully or partial.
 
Before any machine correction is carried out, we will treat the paintwork with tar remover, and treat the paintwork with a clay bar, which when finished will give the paintwork a glass like surface.
 
Clay Bar
 
If you have ever washed your car, and given it a coat of polish you may have felt or snagged your cloth on tiny contaminants on the paint. These can be tar spots, tree sap or atmospheric fall-out. They can be easily removed using a tar remover and then by rubbing the paintwork down with a mild clay bar. A clay bar is an abrasive substance more commonly used in bodyshops. The abrasive nature of the clay means is can be "wiped" across paintwork and lifts off tar and sap, but without damaging the paintwork underneath. This is carried out using a lubricant that enables the clay bar to glide across the paint.
 
Swirl Marks (aka Cob Webbing)
 
Generally caused by automatic car wash machines or poor hand wash technique's. The wash brushes on the machines are quite abrasive, so cause microscopic scratches called micro marring. This can also be said for hand washing with sponges, any small amount of dirt/grit in the sponge can cause these microscopic scratches that appear in a circular formation -  hence the name "swirl marks".

Generally quite obvious when the paintwork is in direct sunlight, they can be removed with a light/medium polish and can then be covered with a glaze/sealant and then a quality wax.

 
Holograms
 
They appear to "float" on the paint surface when caught with light. Generally caused by improper use of a rotary or orbital polisher, the incorrect polish and the wrong technique.
Can be easily removed using good polishing techniques.
 
Oxidation
 
As a result of UV light and no polish protection the paint surface can become oxidized
causing paint to become dull and rough to the touch. Light/medium oxidation can be easily removed with machine polishing. Then the paints oils can be replenished with varying polishes, sealant and waxes.
 
Light Scratches
 
Generally caused by incorrect cleaning and polishing techniques. Grit can be caught up in a sponge and create many small scratches. Using the incorrect abrasive polishes  can also cause light surface scratching. Picture below shows paintwork that has been paint corrected on the right
 

    

 
Scuff Marks & Wet and Dry correction
 
Scuff marks can result in many different ways, more commonly they are caused in carparks. Someone opens their door on your car leaving you with a nice scruff on your paintwork  If it has not penetrated the clear coat then it's possible it can be removed or at least made less intrusive. A process of varying the amount of machine polishing may remove a scuff mark. Alternatively by using a very fine wet and dry paper (between 1500-3000 grit) We can rub down the offending area and then using varying stages with varying polishes, polish out the offending area until new.

     

Muddy detail currently use products from the following manufacturers:

DODO JUICE
Poorboys
Menzerna
Blackfire
Autoglym
Collinite
Sonus
Meguiars
Chemical Guys
Jeff Werkstatt
Victoria Wax
P21S
Swissvax

Thanks go to the following:

www.dodojuice.com
www.polishedbliss.co.uk
www.motorgeek.co.uk
www.carwashnwax.co.uk
www.cleanandshiny.co.uk
www.cleanyourcar.co.uk
www.autobritedirect.co.uk
www.detailingworld.co.uk
www.mobilevaletersforum.co.uk