Correction, Coatings & Wax
Every Detail-It-Yourself guide on correction, coatings & wax. Or browse all guides.
Correction, Coatings & Wax
Can You Wax Paint Protection Film? Check the Film Series and Current Care Instructions
Match wax or sealant to your exact paint protection film. Check current care instructions, product compatibility, installation timing, and residue at the edges.
How Long Does PPF Really Need to Cure Before You Wash or Wax It?
Use the care sheet for your exact film and installation. Compare verified first-wash guidance from 3M, SunTek, and XPEL without confusing it with coating or waxing intervals.
Clear Coat Failure: Why It Peels, and Whether You Can Fix It Yourself
Cloudy patches and actual peeling clear coat are two different problems with two different fixes, and only one of them has a product that solves it.
Touch-Up Paint That Doesn't Look Worse Than the Chip
A touch-up job goes wrong in a small number of predictable ways: too much paint in one coat, the wrong bottle for the job, or skipping the wet-sand step that actually blends the edge. Here's how to avoid all three, and how to tell when this particular chip isn't a touch-up job at all.
Pressure Washing Paint Protection Film: The Distance That Actually Protects the Edges
XPEL's own product-care page says stay 36 inches back. Nearly every installer blog says 12 to 18. Nobody selling either number tells you the other one exists, so here's why they disagree by roughly double, and what that means for your actual wash routine.
Rock Chips and Scratches: When Polish Fixes It and When You Actually Need Paint
Paint correction is a subtractive process: it levels off a thin layer of clear coat to erase a surface defect. A rock chip or a through-scratch is a missing-material problem, and there's no version of buffing that fills a hole. Here's the 60-second test that tells you which one you're actually looking at, and what changes the moment bare metal shows through.
Matching Your Car's Paint Code: How to Actually Get the Right Color
A paint code tells a supplier what to mix. It doesn't guarantee that mix will match the actual paint on your actual car, and the gap between those two things is where most touch-up jobs go wrong.
Spray Sealant vs. Hard Ceramic Coating: When Is It Worth Leveling Up?
The real cost of leveling up from a spray sealant to a true 9H ceramic coating isn't the extra fifteen dollars. It's the extra six hours, and the fact that a mistake on the hard coating cures in instead of wiping off.
Clay Bar and Paint Decontamination: Do You Actually Need It?
The plastic-baggie test takes about ninety seconds and tells you more about your paint than any bottle on a store shelf, including whether you need to buy anything at all.
Headlight Restoration: Does the 3-Step Kit Method Actually Work?
The sanding and polishing genuinely work. The coating that's supposed to keep the clarity is where every 3-step kit falls short, not just one brand's.