Did you end up with white marks over your paint after ceramic coating? There is no need to panic or freak out when you find high spots. Even experienced professional detailers are also facing this issue from time to time. White marks after the ceramic coating is probably the most common issue encountered when ceramic coating a vehicle.
What is the cause of High Spots?
Highspots occur due to various reasons. The most common cause is not buffing the coating properly after applying the ceramic coating. When applying the ceramic coating, you should be working on small sections/panels of the car at any one point. You should spend time on that section and ensure the coating is levelled and residue removed using buffing with a microfiber cloth before moving on to the next area.
It is very easy to miss unless you work with appropriate lighting. That’s why we recommend using a flashlight for inspection after the coating. Another best way to inspect the coating is to check it on a cloudy day. During a normal sunny day, due to the different lighting sources and everything the coating may look levelled up or perfect but when you check the same vehicle on a cloudy day, you may find a dark patch or high spot.
Also Read: How To Apply Super Ceramic Coating?
Things to keep in mind for avoiding the White Marks
- Do not get too much ceramic coating on the applicator
- Apply the coating even and optimum pressure on the applicator
- Do not squeeze out
- Slightly overlapping each wipe, ensuring the same on cross-hatch strokes.
- Most people tend to work in large areas or sections for ease, but it makes the levelling difficult and gradually, it leads to high spots.
- In summary, you need to allocate around 1- 2 hours for ceramic coating, depending on the size of your vehicle. Apply the coating responsibly.
At Super Ceramic Coating, we believe in providing transparency and useful resources to our customers. High spots are a common occurrence when applying any brand of ceramic coating, not just ours. To help you address this issue, we’ve included a video from an expert in the ceramic coating industry. Although this video is from another international brand, the information provided is highly relevant and can help you easily fix high spots on your vehicle’s surface. High spots are not a sign of poor-quality coating, but rather a normal challenge faced during the application process by users of all ceramic coating brands.
What to do when you find a high spot?
There are numerous techniques to get rid of the high spots. These techniques mostly depend upon the amount of time the coating has been applied. It’s necessary and important to look for high spots as early. The earlier you find it, the better you can fix it.
1) USE MICROFIBER CLOTH TO LEVEL THE COATING
Using a microfiber cloth to level the coating can be of great help if you find the high spot soon, I.e.just after you apply. When the coating cures, it becomes hard, and after a span of time, the hardness can’t be levelled with a microfiber cloth. So make sure to look for high spots soon after your coat. Inspect the vehicle using a flashlight. You can use your mobile flashlight too.
2) APPLY COATING TO THE HIGH SPOT
When wiping with a microfiber cloth doesn’t work, you can try applying a small layer of coating over the area. It makes the high spot invisible. Make sure not to apply a huge amount of coating over a high spot it can worsen the condition. Only use 1-2 drops on the applicator. Then buff off with a separate microfiber, but do this fairly quickly.
3) POLISH WITH HAND TO REMOVE THE COATING
When wiping with a microfiber cloth and applying a ceramic coating over the high spot doesn’t work, you can try to remove the coating to level or flatten the high spot. Sometimes less work is required to remove the coating, depending on when the coating has settled on the paint. We made Marine Paste Ceramic Coating Remover to make it easy for you to remove the ceramic coating and high spots without damaging the paint. The marine paste is clear coat safe and it won’t affect the original paint, unlike normal rubbing compounds. Also, it can remove tiny scratches and swirl marks. Optionally, you can apply the Paste Wax to bring back the glossiness.
4) MACHINE POLISH TO REMOVE THE COATING
If all the above techniques fail to make the high spots invisible, you’re left with the option of machine polish. This only happens in rare cases where you ignored the high spots for a really long time (More than 2 months) and the coating bonded with the paint solidly. This technique is only meant for worst-case scenarios, as you will have to remove the ceramic coating in this process. Machine polishing can remove any hard high spots or any other paint defects.
You can apply the ceramic coating again to the high spots removed areas, Don’t worry. There won’t be any visible layering on the surface by reapplying.
SINGLE TIP TO AVOID ANY MISHAP: DO NOT RUSH THE PROCESS. GO SLOW, GO EASY, GO CAREFULLY!
HAPPY DETAILING ^___^
