^^^ you've clearly never done an intensive paint correction on a vehicle (no matter the color). The time and work that goes into a full paint correction is almost priceless. You can take a car with a dull finish and make it look like it just got a new paint job.

My longest paint correction was 16 hours on a Bentley Continental Flying Spur (over 2 days) and I was sore for a few days after.

$300 is pretty fair for a mild paint correction, that's about $50/hr which includes the manual labor, cost of products, and most of all, the experience needed to do it the RIGHT way

 

LOL. $300 for spending 35 hours on a car? Please. We're talking about different levels of detailing here. We're talking about the kind where after an extensive 3-step paint correction, the paint is foamed with a citrus wash to strip all polishing oils followed by an IPA or Eraser wipedown and inspecting it under the sun and proper lighting until not a single swirl is seen and buffer trails are 100% eliminated.

And we're talking about the cheap end here. If I could, I would do work for clients like this who appreciate the true art of correction and restoration. This is 5k+ easily:
http://www.autopia.org/forum/click-b...flections.html

 

What is this washing you speak of? does it add HP?

 

Bently came our beautiful! Can't imagine how it got that bad, must have had it washed using one of those drive thru washes that still uses the nylon brush wheels....
Gary

 

After viewing the link to the GT, I am very impressed. Also I feel hope for the 1001 swirls and chips in the thin Lake Shore Slate Blue paint of my G. Now, I just need to get to searching and reading how they do it. I have clayed a few times, but need to do the buffing and polishing steps... among others yet unknown to me.
So many people put the hundreds or thousands of dollars into the performance mods to make their car stand out from the crowd. It seems there's another way to do it.... deep glossy shine baby shine.

 

LOL, 300 is a rip off??? tell that to the Ferrari owner I just charged 1500 for a 3 step correction and watch his expression change!

I'll bet you think true correction is done in 3-5 hours, 100% as well, right????

you dont charge more for black cars, you charge more because they need an extra step! A one step on white is easy, but that same one step on black might need to actually be two steps in order to remove micromarring from the slightly more aggressive polishing since most black paints are softer and mar more easily!

Dark, some people just dont get it!!!!

 

Exactly, your car may be fast, but if it looks like **** and the paint is etched and failing after a couple years, who cares?

Check out Autopia or Detailingbliss.com for a good amount of info. Also, you'll need to judge how much time and money you want to invest into it. I would say you could get pretty nice results with about a $600 investment and ~20 labor hours of your time(+10 for research). This will pay off as you will be able to do it again and again over time and not have to pay a detailer.

The other option, you'll only need the time to find a detailer and the price is going to be around the same, and then again when you need the car detailed again 2-3 years down the road or paying for the detail of a new car. And this is assuming you can find a reputable detailer.



BTW, good to see you Eric

 

Should I try to use a Dr ColorChip product (or similar) to fix the chips first? Does the 2 or 3 step paint 'correction' highlight the fixed chips? My front bumper is pretty bad with chips and other marks due to 77K miles. Wondering if I should get that re-sprayed. I could not imagine this process 'fixing' the chips in any way.
I visited a site DetailedImage to see several packages and instructions. I have lots of reading to do.
I've always been interested in keeping a clean looking ride but a power tool would make that a LOT easier.
I was hoping to do it a little less than the $600 number above. Their tools are about $200, and products would be about $100 or less... Unless I'm totally underestimating the amount of product needed.
Yeah, 20 hours.... um I work and have two kids under 6 so, I can't get that kind of time in a block ever! It seems silly to do one panel a day, but that may be my best bet. Maybe it's better to break up the steps some, they would be a week or more apart though. I'll try to take some really close up sun pics and post them or PM for some advice. Thanks so much for the help.

 

Gator, you are a prime candidate for just paying a respected detailer instead of working on it by yourself...

here is the reality of things:

you can research and look around for the best package/price on products for two nights.
you can order $500 worth of stuff
you wait around a few days for it to come in
it arrives, you bring out all the goodies from the box and stare at it..."this goes with that, that goes with thing, whats that for again"
then you wash your car and then clay it
your kids are demanding your attention so you stop on the car
you make it back to the car, and bust out the machine and polish you are supposed to be able to use, it doesnt work so well
you try different combo and it looks worse
you then try another combo and it doesnt do the job either
scratch your head and think "oh, thats why I was told to get M105"
now you have to wait for it to get there
after it arrives a few days later, you bring out all the goodies again and get to work
then you get through both steps but still see some swirling and the paint isnt as glossy as you thought it should be.."oh, thats why I should have bought 85rd and the black pad"

My point of this is someone in your shoes doesnt have the time to waste on a car for a full day to get the paint looking as it should after a correction job, you have never used the polishes or machine you just ordered so you have to learn how to use them correctly panel by panel, and 9times out of 10, the end result isnt as good as having someone who does this for a living could have gotten it....and you paid the same amount in products as it would have cost for a pro to do it for you, but you cant get your time working on the car back, or the time missed hanging out with your kids!

Just something to think about....always two sides of the coin.
"sure, I can figure out plumbing, but I'd much rather pay a pro to do it and go enjoy my time with the money I have already worked for thats in my pocket"