super cool people, honest work, and the prices are honestly amazing for the quality you're getting. My car came out looking way cleaner than before. You can tell they actually care about the work they do. Definitely coming back if I ever need anything again. Definitely would recommend these guys
Restyling & Protection
Paint correction by people who paint cars for a living
Machine polishing that removes swirls, scratches and oxidation for good — and a straight answer on when a scratch needs paint instead.
Mon–Fri 9 AM–4 PM · Sat 9 AM–1 PM · 446 W Orange Show Ln, San Bernardino
What it is
What is paint correction?
Paint correction is machine polishing that permanently removes swirl marks, light scratches, oxidation, water spots and holograms by levelling a microscopic layer of clearcoat with abrasive compounds and polishes. Factory clearcoat is thin — a few thousandths of an inch — and each correction stage removes a little of it, which is why it's measured work. It's the step that makes paint look new again and the required prep before ceramic coating or paint protection film.
- Permanent removal, not a filler glaze. The defect is levelled out of the clear, so it doesn't come back.
- Single-stage to multi-stage, depending on the paint and what's in it. You know which before we start.
- The fingernail test. Through the clear means paint, not polish — and we do both under one roof.
- The prep step for ceramic and PPF. A coating or film locks in whatever is under it.
- Desert-sun oxidation is our daily work. Chalky hoods and roofs from Inland Empire summers, brought back under the polisher.
Straight answer
Polish it or paint it? The fingernail test
Run a fingernail across the scratch. If it doesn't catch, the scratch is in the clear and can usually be polished out. If it catches, it's through the clear into color or primer, and no amount of polishing fixes that — it needs touch-up or a refinish. A detailer can only offer you the first answer. We do both, and we'll tell you which one you have before we start.
Not sure which you have? Shoot the scratch in direct sun and text us photos for a preliminary estimate. Vasken can usually tell from that.
Stages
Single-stage, two-stage or multi-stage?
Correction is quoted by stages. Each one is another pass with a different abrasive, and another measured layer of clear gone.
Stage 1
Single-stage
One pass with a fine polish. New cars with dealer-wash swirls, garaged cars, light haze on sound paint. The least clear removed.
Stage 2
Two-stage
Compound to cut the defects, then polish to bring the gloss back. Most daily drivers land here: brush-wash swirls, water spots, early oxidation.
Stage 3
Multi-stage
Heavy defects, chalky oxidation, deep wash marks, sanding marks. Several passes with finer and finer abrasives — the most clear removed and the most measuring.
How we choose
Which stage is yours?
We don't pick a stage from a photo and hope. The car is washed, decontaminated and put under the lights, and the defects are mapped panel by panel — a hood that's lived outside doesn't need the same pass as the doors beside it. The estimate lists the stage each panel needs. If a panel needs paint instead, it's on there as paint.
How it works
How a correction runs at R2R
Five steps. The decision that protects your clearcoat happens in step two, before the polisher is switched on.
Wash and decontaminate
Iron remover, tar remover, then clay. Grit left on the panel gets dragged around by the pad and scratches the paint you're trying to fix.
Inspect under lights
Defects mapped panel by panel under the bay lights. How much clear is safe to remove is decided here, before the polisher comes out.
Compound
A cutting compound on a machine polisher levels the clear down to the bottom of the defect. This pass removes the swirls and leaves its own fine haze.
Polish
A fine polish clears the haze and brings the depth back. Panel wipe, then back under the lights to check.
Protect
Corrected clear is bare. It leaves with a sealant at minimum, or a ceramic coating or paint protection film on the panels that take the hits.
Before coating or film
Why correction comes first
A ceramic coating is clear and it's meant to stay put. Whatever is under it — swirls, water spots, the hologram from someone's rotary — is sealed in for as long as the coating lasts. Film is the same: it shows what's beneath it. So every ceramic and PPF job at R2R starts on the polisher.
It runs the other way too. Light sand pitting on a hood sometimes polishes out; deep pitting needs paint. After a windstorm we check which one you have before writing anything up — see sand and rock-chip damage repair.
Why R2R
Why get correction from a body shop?
Polishing is the last step of painting a car. We do it every week on fresh paint, so we know what clear can take.
- Painters, so we know when to stop
If the clear on a panel is too thin for the stage it needs, we say so — and we can repaint that panel in our Platinum Finishing Systems downdraft booth instead of polishing through it.
- The same hands cut and buff fresh paint every week
A repaint isn't finished until it's been sanded and polished. Same skill, same measured approach, on your factory clear.
- Correction before every ceramic and PPF job here
It isn't an add-on. It's the first step of both, done by the same people who apply the coating or fit the film.
- Photo updates
You'll see the panel under the lights after compounding and after polish. If something needs paint instead, you'll see that before we touch it.
FAQ
Paint correction questions, answered
Is paint correction the same as a buff or a detail?
No. A quick buff with a filler glaze hides swirls for a few washes. Correction removes them by levelling the clearcoat with measured abrasive steps, so they don't come back. It's also why it's done before coating — a coating over swirls seals the swirls in.
Can you fix any scratch?
If your fingernail doesn't catch, it's usually in the clear and can be polished out. If it catches, it's through the clear into color or primer and needs touch-up or a refinish. We'll tell you which before we start, and we can paint it.
Does polishing thin my paint?
Yes, by a tiny amount each stage — that's how it works and why it's measured. Factory clear is thin, so a car can only be heavily corrected so many times in its life. We stop before it's unsafe.
Should I coat it after?
Corrected paint is bare and will swirl again with the next brush wash. A ceramic coating, or PPF on the impact panels, keeps the result. Most correction jobs here end with a coating.
Can you correct Peel Clear or a wrap?
Peel Clear cures to a sandable, polishable paint finish, so yes, once it's fully cured. Vinyl can't be compounded — a damaged wrap panel gets replaced.
Related
What goes with a correction
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Get started
Send a photo in direct sun.
Swirls only show in hard light. Shoot the hood at noon and text it over.