Newbie question= When compounding are you taking off a thin layer of paint or clear coat. I always thought we were only touching the clear coat and not the actual paint. Just read article from detailler saying compound removes thin layer of paint??

 

When ever your using a abrasive compound or polish, your removing a really thin layer of clear coat. No matter if its a light cutting polish or heavy compound.

 

clearcoat is paint, and you are removing a portion of the clearcoat when you compound.

 

Paint System Thickness-

Most modern vehicle paint film systems comprise;
Primer coat of 2Mils
Colour coat of 1-2Mils
Clear coat 2-3Mils.

Removing more that 0.5 mil (0.0005") of clear coat will cause premature paint film failure.

As a point of reference two sheets of Saran wrap placed on top of each other measure 1.5Mil (0.0015") a surface scratch that will `catch' your fingernail is approximately 0.004" deep will usually require wet sanding and refinishing. There comes a point when you must judge wither removing a scratch will compromise the clear coat and if so you’ll have to ‘live’ with the imperfection


See also article Polishing (Paint Correction) -
http://detailingwiki.com/index.php5?..._Correction%29