Most new cars we see have light swirls from the dealer wash and grit from the trip here. A coating seals in whatever is on the paint, so that gets fixed first. Here’s how to check yours before you sign.
Because a lot happens to it before you get the keys. It rides a truck or a train, sits on the lot, and gets washed and wiped by whoever is on prep that day. Most of that leaves fine marks in the clear coat. A ceramic coating is clear, so whatever is on the paint when it goes on is what you’ll be looking at for the next three to nine years.
Every coating we do starts with decon, clay and correction, new cars included. The 5- and 9-Year get a full correction, the 3-Year gets a two-step. It’s part of the coating price, so you won’t see it added on later.
Usually light swirls from the dealer’s prep wash, some buffer marks, scuffs around the door handles, and rail dust from shipping. You won’t see much of it under showroom lights. Put a flashlight on it and it shows up.
Before delivery most cars get a quick wash and dry from the lot crew, often with shared mitts and towels. On dark paint that shows up as a fine spider web the first sunny day you own it.
A quick machine buff to “freshen up” a lot car leaves wavy trails you only see in direct sun.
Every walk-around, test drive and key hand-off touches the same panels.
Showrooms use big soft lights on purpose. They make every car look perfect.
Before any polisher touches a new car we put it under the lights and go panel by panel. Lower doors, rockers and the area behind the wheels pick up the most. If your paint is clean, we’ll tell you, and we do less.
New cars travel by rail and open carrier. Brake dust and iron fallout from the trip settle on the paint and bond to it. The bag test: put your hand inside a thin plastic sandwich bag and glide it across the hood. If it feels like fine sandpaper instead of glass, it’s contaminated, and polishing over it would grind that grit into the paint. That’s why an iron decon and a clay bar come before any correction.
Grab your phone flashlight, check the flat panels first, then walk around panel by panel. It takes about five minutes. Do it before you sign, while the car is still the dealer’s.
Direct sun, or your phone flashlight in shade. Hold it close and move it slowly. Swirls show as circles around the light.
Flat panels show it first. Look at a reflection: crisp edges mean clean paint, a hazy halo means marring.
Doors, handles, lower panels and bumper corners. Photograph anything you find and write it on the delivery sheet.
If you’re planning a coating, tell the dealer you don’t need the car washed before pickup. That quick wash is where a lot of new-car swirls come from. A little lot dust is easy for us to deal with. Fresh wash marks aren’t.
Usually a light one, less than a used car needs. It’s rare that a new car needs none. We measure every panel with a paint gauge first and take off as little as we can.
Because a coating bonds hard to whatever is under it. Fixing swirls afterward means polishing the coating off and recoating, so the paint gets fixed first.
It adds gloss and makes washing easier. It won’t hide swirls. If anything, the extra gloss makes them easier to see.
It cures hard on whatever surface it touches. Fixing a swirl later means cutting through it and recoating.
Every ST6 coating is registered on the vehicle’s Carfax with a nationwide warranty. Better to have that record start with clean paint.
Plenty of people coat their own cars, and that’s great. The prep is what makes it last, so do it in this order. The full walkthrough is in our paint correction guide.
Just took delivery? At 2725 N Nevada Ave we put the paint under the lights with you standing there, correct what’s actually there and coat it the same visit. Mobile or in-shop. Text (719) 517-7220 with the year, make and model.
Correction is already in every Gtechniq coating price. No deposit, you pay after the work is done.
Other questions we get from new owners.
Yes. Dealer prep washes, lot handling and transport leave fine swirls and contamination on new paint, and a ceramic coating is clear, so it locks in whatever is underneath. At ST6 every coating starts with decon, clay and correction, new cars included.
Use one hard light: direct sun, or a phone flashlight held close in shade. Swirls show as fine circles around the light, and reflections on the hood look hazy instead of crisp. Check flat panels first, then doors, handles and lower panels.
If you plan to coat it, ask them to skip the courtesy wash. It is the most common source of swirls on a car with delivery miles. Light lot dust comes off safely in a proper decon wash.
Usually less than a used car, but rarely none. We gauge every panel and remove as little clear coat as it takes. Our 3-Year Gtechniq coating includes a two-step correction; the 5-Year and 9-Year include full correction.
No. Decon, clay and paint correction are included in every ST6 Gtechniq coating price: 3-Year from $899, 5-Year $1,099 and 9-Year Crystal Serum Ultra $1,599. There is no deposit, and you pay after the work is done.
As soon as you can. Factory paint is fully cured, so there is nothing to wait for, and every week of driving adds wash marks, bug and bird etching and, in a Colorado winter, mag chloride film. The 3-Year and 5-Year take one day; the 9-Year takes two.
No deposit to book. You pay after the work is finished and you have looked at it.
Dana Starr has been detailing in Colorado Springs for 17+ years. He runs this shop with his two sons and a crew he trusts. Every job gets looked at before it goes back to you.
Gtechniq AccreditedAccredited installer in El Paso County