996 detailing advice for paint protection

Greetings everyone! So, I got my first 996.It is the Millennium edition with Pedro's DOF solution for IMS. I am taking it for detailing coming weekend and would like to get your advice. It has got the original special Violet Chromaflair metallic paint. So I have few questions: 1) Will buffing damage the paint or end up leading to wrong paint meter depth readings in future? 2) Or do you suggest that I should just tell the shop to hand wash and wax it and leave it at that ? 3) Any opinion if I they ask me to do ceramic coating or nano coating or something similar ? Obviously I did not buy it for investment but at the same time I do not want to deliberately do something to reduce the value in future by being unable to prove that the paint is original. Best.

I'd love to answer your question with a lot of detail, but I can't without seeing the car or you posting a lot of detailed pics using a flourescent or LED light to bring out the swirls/scratches.

Hi sasilverbullet - My question was kind of general Q&A. Cons of buffing, ceramic coating etc. ( I read a lot about the pros through the marketing material of the product vendors). Never paid too much attention to factory paints before, but since this was an exclusive option, am sure it would not be appreciated by the community if I damage it due to my limited knowledge about car detailing and paints.

While my car is not chromaflair, I’m very happy with the Kenzo coating my detailed applied a few weeks ago. Water beads like magic and the paint shines better than new. It also protects the paint. I think it is actually a VERY good idea to ceramic or nano coat to protect Chromaflair.

If you are taking the vehicle to an experienced and well regarded detail shop, then no, they are not going to damage your paint. A quality multi-step detail that includes wash clay polish sealant wax could run anywhere from $175 - $600, average $250 - $325. I would not perform a ceramic coating on this vehicle.

Thanks folks for responding. How do you guys feel about buffing to remove normal surface scratches which happens due to usage?

Congrats on the ME! You're Overthinking it...Leave it to the pro's and you'll be fine.

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I�d do it once, then take better care of it than the previous owner. My car�s POs took great care of mine, but I still had a 3 Stage paint restoration done anyways. It looked a lot better afterwards. I have a clear bra, installed by the PO. I had the coating added to protect the paint. I�m having my Mk1 aerokit spoiler painted tomorrow, and plan to have it coated as soon as the painter says it can be, or when my detailer says it can be.

Watch junkman paint correction on YouTube then thank me later.

I paint corrected my own, after a lot of studying on detailer's domain and a lot of practice on junkyard panels, my old 944, etc. When I had to appraised for trade-in, the people at Brumos were stunned at how good it looked, and how even the paint depth reading was across the whole car. My rule of thumb is that anyone who uses the term "buffed" or "buffing" is going to damage your paint with rubbing compound, a big wool pad, and too much pressure applied on what will probably be a huge high-speed rotary tool intended for heavy body work. These are the guys that burn through your clearcoat and then try to cover up their mistakes with Glaze (which works really well for a few months only). Anyone who uses the term "paint correction" is going to do a correct decontamination, and then lightly polish using a foam pad (and these days probably a nice random orbital like a Rupes Bigfoot), removing just enough clearcoat as necessary to achieve a good finish. Either way, you are removing some clearcoat whenever you polish. But, no amount of glaze or fancy ceramic coating will ever level out scratches and swirls like a good paint correction will. Adding a good coating *after* a thorough paint correct will be stunning and give you fantastic protection, however. Nothing will damage your paint like a hack "detailer" will. There is a detailing subforum on here that has loads of info as well.

And in regards to nano/ceramic coatings: they are awesome, and they are worth it if you plan to keep the car, but *only* if an excellent paint correction is done first. They are not magic potions.

I learned what I know from Junkman and have had excellent results on my 65 Corvette and 2001 Porsche 911

I am a big fan of ceramic coating and rinseless washes with the Optimum products. I have had several cars coated and then maintained them myself and have been very pleased w/ the results and how it has held up. Mine have all been with OptiCoat Pro+. +1 on what has been said above about EXCELLENT paint correction prior to coating the car.

I recently helped my friend paint correct his inherited 996. Here are the steps I used: Chemical decontamination with fallout remover - you cannot imagine how much iron particles are all over your car 2 washes with a pH neutral foam cannon wash Clay bar with a synthetic clay pad and lots of quick detailer Compounded with 3D HD Cut + with Orange cut Pad Polished with 3D HD Polish + with Green polish Pad Then I rinsed the car and surface prepped with water + IPA Finally, I topped everything off with CQuartz UK + Reload ceramic coating Definitely definitely get a random orbital!