shane@detailedreflections

One thing that seems to get forgotten is you can develop a haze when you really start to layer products. This is even more true when laying products with different bases (sealant is not silica based like “ceramic” products are).
 
Many enthusiasts like to touch their cars and apply product to “make it shine.” The truth is that sometimes less really is more. 
 
Before adding more product, what protection is left?  What layers are still there?  Wax will disappear before a sealant as an example. Frequent use of some products allows them to build up and become more difficult to work with. 
 
It’s often brought up about streaking when using too much of a product in application. Frequent application creates the same effect. 
 
My daily driver and the wife’s daily drivers are both ceramic coated (with another product, not Adam’s for full disclosure) and admittedly don’t get washed as often as they should or could. I’ve applied a spray top coat to our vehicles once or twice since application and that’s in New England winter. They were coated in August and September of last year. A wash, clay and reapplication and they looked like we had just done them. 
 
The garage queen gets washed more often, but boosted less since it’s not driven often. It gets a top coat once a year. 
 
With waxes/sealants you need to do more frequent applications, but this should be measured in months. Not days. 
 
Don’t over complicate or overthink your processes. Make it easy on yourself and pick a set of products that work for you and stick with them. If you’re “ceramic based,” stick with them. If your traditional, stick with them. Don’t cross them over looking for a magic formula of shine. The real truth is that the gloss comes from how you finish your paint before ever applying protection. The other layers merely lock it in to with varying degree. Pick the products that fit with your style of maintaining your finish. If you’re hands on, go with products that will allow you to satisfy yourself. If you’re the “I just want to drive it” type, go with products that lend themselves to that goal. 
 
In the end you can spend a lot of money on products you don’t need or don’t fit your style and then drive yourself crazy trying to make them work for you. It’s needless stress.

A coating is a different product than a spray and are formulated as such for their storage environments. 
 
A bottle of ceramic has to be kept tight to help prevent it from curing. The sprays are formulated to be tolerant of their environment. But for ease of application. It’s all about maintaining balance.
 
A silica based top coat won’t harden with the top off. A coating will. They’re different formulas. 

One thing that seems to get forgotten is you can develop a haze when you really start to layer products. This is even more true when laying products with different bases (sealant is not silica based like “ceramic” products are).
 
Many enthusiasts like to touch their cars and apply product to “make it shine.” The truth is that sometimes less really is more. 
 
Before adding more product, what protection is left?  What layers are still there?  Wax will disappear before a sealant as an example. Frequent use of some products allows them to build up and become more difficult to work with. 
 
It’s often brought up about streaking when using too much of a product in application. Frequent application creates the same effect. 
 
My daily driver and the wife’s daily drivers are both ceramic coated (with another product, not Adam’s for full disclosure) and admittedly don’t get washed as often as they should or could. I’ve applied a spray top coat to our vehicles once or twice since application and that’s in New England winter. They were coated in August and September of last year. A wash, clay and reapplication and they looked like we had just done them. 
 
The garage queen gets washed more often, but boosted less since it’s not driven often. It gets a top coat once a year. 
 
With waxes/sealants you need to do more frequent applications, but this should be measured in months. Not days. 
 
Don’t over complicate or overthink your processes. Make it easy on yourself and pick a set of products that work for you and stick with them. If you’re “ceramic based,” stick with them. If your traditional, stick with them. Don’t cross them over looking for a magic formula of shine. The real truth is that the gloss comes from how you finish your paint before ever applying protection. The other layers merely lock it in to with varying degree. Pick the products that fit with your style of maintaining your finish. If you’re hands on, go with products that will allow you to satisfy yourself. If you’re the “I just want to drive it” type, go with products that lend themselves to that goal. 
 
In the end you can spend a lot of money on products you don’t need or don’t fit your style and then drive yourself crazy trying to make them work for you. It’s needless stress.

One thing that seems to get forgotten is you can develop a haze when you really start to layer products. This is even more true when laying products with different bases (sealant is not silica based like “ceramic” products are).
 
Many enthusiasts like to touch their cars and apply product to “make it shine.” The truth is that sometimes less really is more. 
 
Before adding more product, what protection is left?  What layers are still there?  Wax will disappear before a sealant as an example. Frequent use of some products allows them to build up and become more difficult to work with. 
 
It’s often brought up about streaking when using too much of a product in application. Frequent application creates the same effect. 
 
My daily driver and the wife’s daily drivers are both ceramic coated (with another product, not Adam’s for full disclosure) and admittedly don’t get washed as often as they should or could. I’ve applied a spray top coat to our vehicles once or twice since application and that’s in New England winter. They were coated in August and September of last year. A wash, clay and reapplication and they looked like we had just done them. 
 
The garage queen gets washed more often, but boosted less since it’s not driven often. It gets a top coat once a year. 
 
With waxes/sealants you need to do more frequent applications, but this should be measured in months. Not days. 
 
Don’t over complicate or overthink your processes. Make it easy on yourself and pick a set of products that work for you and stick with them. If you’re “ceramic based,” stick with them. If your traditional, stick with them. Don’t cross them over looking for a magic formula of shine. The real truth is that the gloss comes from how you finish your paint before ever applying protection. The other layers merely lock it in to with varying degree. Pick the products that fit with your style of maintaining your finish. If you’re hands on, go with products that will allow you to satisfy yourself. If you’re the “I just want to drive it” type, go with products that lend themselves to that goal. 
 
In the end you can spend a lot of money on products you don’t need or don’t fit your style and then drive yourself crazy trying to make them work for you. It’s needless stress.

One thing that seems to get forgotten is you can develop a haze when you really start to layer products. This is even more true when laying products with different bases (sealant is not silica based like “ceramic” products are).
 
Many enthusiasts like to touch their cars and apply product to “make it shine.” The truth is that sometimes less really is more. 
 
Before adding more product, what protection is left?  What layers are still there?  Wax will disappear before a sealant as an example. Frequent use of some products allows them to build up and become more difficult to work with. 
 
It’s often brought up about streaking when using too much of a product in application. Frequent application creates the same effect. 
 
My daily driver and the wife’s daily drivers are both ceramic coated (with another product, not Adam’s for full disclosure) and admittedly don’t get washed as often as they should or could. I’ve applied a spray top coat to our vehicles once or twice since application and that’s in New England winter. They were coated in August and September of last year. A wash, clay and reapplication and they looked like we had just done them. 
 
The garage queen gets washed more often, but boosted less since it’s not driven often. It gets a top coat once a year. 
 
With waxes/sealants you need to do more frequent applications, but this should be measured in months. Not days. 
 
Don’t over complicate or overthink your processes. Make it easy on yourself and pick a set of products that work for you and stick with them. If you’re “ceramic based,” stick with them. If your traditional, stick with them. Don’t cross them over looking for a magic formula of shine. The real truth is that the gloss comes from how you finish your paint before ever applying protection. The other layers merely lock it in to with varying degree. Pick the products that fit with your style of maintaining your finish. If you’re hands on, go with products that will allow you to satisfy yourself. If you’re the “I just want to drive it” type, go with products that lend themselves to that goal. 
 
In the end you can spend a lot of money on products you don’t need or don’t fit your style and then drive yourself crazy trying to make them work for you. It’s needless stress.

It’s harder than clear coat. It’s not impervious to damage. 
 
Poor technique will damage any finish. 

You could use ceramic wax or ceramic spray. Using both probably provides little to no benefit.
 
Thoughts on the process...
 
Strip wash isn’t a necessary product unless you already have it. The process when done fully will remove any excess product on the paint.
 
It won’t hurt to use a finishing polish either way. It’ll ensure a level clear coat before applying protection with minimal clear coat removal. Think of it as a good cleaner. 
 
Claimed durability between the ceramic wax and coating is similar. The wax is more forgiving to apply (no high spots). 
 
Ultimately the choice is yours, as protection will be similar between the two options. 

It’s harder than clear coat. It’s not impervious to damage. 
 
Poor technique will damage any finish. 

It’s harder than clear coat. It’s not impervious to damage. 
 
Poor technique will damage any finish. 

It’s harder than clear coat. It’s not impervious to damage. 
 
Poor technique will damage any finish. 

I don’t know who told you this, but it’s largely false information. If coatings could be removed by clay, nobody would ever use them for the time/effort/expense of installation. 
 
Claying a coating is a standard maintenance process for every coating we have worked with. 
 
Coating life spans are generally measured in years. They require maintenance. And they require care. They can become contaminated and do require cleaning. In fact, most coating “failures” aren’t failures at all but coatings that require maintenance. 
 
To remove the water spots, use a fine finishing polish and see if that clears it up. Adams is not the most durable coating out there (as are most consumer grade coatings, so I’m not singling them out). So aggressive working of polishes or aggressive ones will remove the coating. A quick pass of finishing polish should knock most of the issues down. 
 
Food for thought, in a product that spans years and forms a bond to paint it will take a mechanical abrasive process to remove. Most chemicals and soft products will have no removal effect (but can mar the finish if used incorrectly). 

Listen to him.  

I don’t know who told you this, but it’s largely false information. If coatings could be removed by clay, nobody would ever use them for the time/effort/expense of installation. 
 
Claying a coating is a standard maintenance process for every coating we have worked with. 
 
Coating life spans are generally measured in years. They require maintenance. And they require care. They can become contaminated and do require cleaning. In fact, most coating “failures” aren’t failures at all but coatings that require maintenance. 
 
To remove the water spots, use a fine finishing polish and see if that clears it up. Adams is not the most durable coating out there (as are most consumer grade coatings, so I’m not singling them out). So aggressive working of polishes or aggressive ones will remove the coating. A quick pass of finishing polish should knock most of the issues down. 
 
Food for thought, in a product that spans years and forms a bond to paint it will take a mechanical abrasive process to remove. Most chemicals and soft products will have no removal effect (but can mar the finish if used incorrectly). 

I don’t know who told you this, but it’s largely false information. If coatings could be removed by clay, nobody would ever use them for the time/effort/expense of installation. 
 
Claying a coating is a standard maintenance process for every coating we have worked with. 
 
Coating life spans are generally measured in years. They require maintenance. And they require care. They can become contaminated and do require cleaning. In fact, most coating “failures” aren’t failures at all but coatings that require maintenance. 
 
To remove the water spots, use a fine finishing polish and see if that clears it up. Adams is not the most durable coating out there (as are most consumer grade coatings, so I’m not singling them out). So aggressive working of polishes or aggressive ones will remove the coating. A quick pass of finishing polish should knock most of the issues down. 
 
Food for thought, in a product that spans years and forms a bond to paint it will take a mechanical abrasive process to remove. Most chemicals and soft products will have no removal effect (but can mar the finish if used incorrectly). 

The guy we use usually starts around $100 and goes from there. I always send him pics so he can quote it. I don’t upcharge his work. 

I don’t know who told you this, but it’s largely false information. If coatings could be removed by clay, nobody would ever use them for the time/effort/expense of installation. 
 
Claying a coating is a standard maintenance process for every coating we have worked with. 
 
Coating life spans are generally measured in years. They require maintenance. And they require care. They can become contaminated and do require cleaning. In fact, most coating “failures” aren’t failures at all but coatings that require maintenance. 
 
To remove the water spots, use a fine finishing polish and see if that clears it up. Adams is not the most durable coating out there (as are most consumer grade coatings, so I’m not singling them out). So aggressive working of polishes or aggressive ones will remove the coating. A quick pass of finishing polish should knock most of the issues down. 
 
Food for thought, in a product that spans years and forms a bond to paint it will take a mechanical abrasive process to remove. Most chemicals and soft products will have no removal effect (but can mar the finish if used incorrectly). 

I don’t know who told you this, but it’s largely false information. If coatings could be removed by clay, nobody would ever use them for the time/effort/expense of installation. 
 
Claying a coating is a standard maintenance process for every coating we have worked with. 
 
Coating life spans are generally measured in years. They require maintenance. And they require care. They can become contaminated and do require cleaning. In fact, most coating “failures” aren’t failures at all but coatings that require maintenance. 
 
To remove the water spots, use a fine finishing polish and see if that clears it up. Adams is not the most durable coating out there (as are most consumer grade coatings, so I’m not singling them out). So aggressive working of polishes or aggressive ones will remove the coating. A quick pass of finishing polish should knock most of the issues down. 
 
Food for thought, in a product that spans years and forms a bond to paint it will take a mechanical abrasive process to remove. Most chemicals and soft products will have no removal effect (but can mar the finish if used incorrectly). 

I don’t know who told you this, but it’s largely false information. If coatings could be removed by clay, nobody would ever use them for the time/effort/expense of installation. 
 
Claying a coating is a standard maintenance process for every coating we have worked with. 
 
Coating life spans are generally measured in years. They require maintenance. And they require care. They can become contaminated and do require cleaning. In fact, most coating “failures” aren’t failures at all but coatings that require maintenance. 
 
To remove the water spots, use a fine finishing polish and see if that clears it up. Adams is not the most durable coating out there (as are most consumer grade coatings, so I’m not singling them out). So aggressive working of polishes or aggressive ones will remove the coating. A quick pass of finishing polish should knock most of the issues down. 
 
Food for thought, in a product that spans years and forms a bond to paint it will take a mechanical abrasive process to remove. Most chemicals and soft products will have no removal effect (but can mar the finish if used incorrectly). 

I don’t know who told you this, but it’s largely false information. If coatings could be removed by clay, nobody would ever use them for the time/effort/expense of installation. 
 
Claying a coating is a standard maintenance process for every coating we have worked with. 
 
Coating life spans are generally measured in years. They require maintenance. And they require care. They can become contaminated and do require cleaning. In fact, most coating “failures” aren’t failures at all but coatings that require maintenance. 
 
To remove the water spots, use a fine finishing polish and see if that clears it up. Adams is not the most durable coating out there (as are most consumer grade coatings, so I’m not singling them out). So aggressive working of polishes or aggressive ones will remove the coating. A quick pass of finishing polish should knock most of the issues down. 
 
Food for thought, in a product that spans years and forms a bond to paint it will take a mechanical abrasive process to remove. Most chemicals and soft products will have no removal effect (but can mar the finish if used incorrectly). 

I don’t know who told you this, but it’s largely false information. If coatings could be removed by clay, nobody would ever use them for the time/effort/expense of installation. 
 
Claying a coating is a standard maintenance process for every coating we have worked with. 
 
Coating life spans are generally measured in years. They require maintenance. And they require care. They can become contaminated and do require cleaning. In fact, most coating “failures” aren’t failures at all but coatings that require maintenance. 
 
To remove the water spots, use a fine finishing polish and see if that clears it up. Adams is not the most durable coating out there (as are most consumer grade coatings, so I’m not singling them out). So aggressive working of polishes or aggressive ones will remove the coating. A quick pass of finishing polish should knock most of the issues down. 
 
Food for thought, in a product that spans years and forms a bond to paint it will take a mechanical abrasive process to remove. Most chemicals and soft products will have no removal effect (but can mar the finish if used incorrectly). 

I don’t know who told you this, but it’s largely false information. If coatings could be removed by clay, nobody would ever use them for the time/effort/expense of installation. 
 
Claying a coating is a standard maintenance process for every coating we have worked with. 
 
Coating life spans are generally measured in years. They require maintenance. And they require care. They can become contaminated and do require cleaning. In fact, most coating “failures” aren’t failures at all but coatings that require maintenance. 
 
To remove the water spots, use a fine finishing polish and see if that clears it up. Adams is not the most durable coating out there (as are most consumer grade coatings, so I’m not singling them out). So aggressive working of polishes or aggressive ones will remove the coating. A quick pass of finishing polish should knock most of the issues down. 
 
Food for thought, in a product that spans years and forms a bond to paint it will take a mechanical abrasive process to remove. Most chemicals and soft products will have no removal effect (but can mar the finish if used incorrectly). 

You can use a tar/adhesive remover. But do a test spot first. These things can be pretty harsh products and not all materials tolerate them well.
 
if it’s a plastic type surface, it shouldn’t be an issue. The best residue remover we have is the tar/adhesive remover that we let sit for a few minutes then scrape with the plastic razor blade. Steam can be helpful to loosen the adhesive as well. But the chemicals work really well. 

Let’s follow up with a whole bunch more information about what paint correction is, and when it should (and shouldn’t be applied). 
 
Paint correction is not a magic bullet. It’s not something that can be done unlimited times. Paint correction works by removing clear coat in order to remove defects in your paint. 
 
Most of the UV protection of your paint comes in the first 1/3 of the clearcoat. Knowing that, we don’t want to remove more than that over the LIFETIME of the vehicle. Once you reduce the UV protection you accelerate clearcoat failure requiring a repaint. 
 
Paint correction also serves to level the clearcoat on a vehicle increasing the glossy look of the finish. This is why even brand new vehicles benefit from polishing. 
 
Modern paint systems are a three part system. They consist of a primer, base coat (color) and clear coat.  Older paints may be single stage in nature mixing the clear and paint layers. 
 
On top of your paint sits a variety of contamination and defects typically. Contamination on the paint is generally tackled with washing, iron remover and clay.
 

 
When we talk about defects, there’s spider webs which are microscratches, deep scratches which may or not be able to be taken care of without repainting and other forms of defects as illustrated below. 
 

 
When paint correcting we are only working with the clear coat. So as you can see, the deep scratches can’t be fixed. And some that are just in the clear coat shouldn’t be fixed for fear of striking through or removing too much clear accelerating failure. 
 
So you get a car, and you paint correct it. You’ve removed a little clear coat. You use good technique in washing and over time you develop damage (it happens no matter what we do). You polish again. But because you’ve used good technique along the way, you only need a finish polish to take a little clear coat off. Using this methodology you can get a long time with out of your paint and great looks. 
 
The other scenario is you perform a paint correction and you take it through the automatic car wash. You damage your finish over time. You then need a full correction to repair the damage which takes off more of the clear coat.  When approached this way, you’re going to burn through more clear coat or get less corrections. 
 
So the ultimate answer to your question is to correct as infrequently as possible to preserve the clear coat. We use a paint thickness gauge to know what we are doing to a clients paint (or what they’ve done to it already). 
 
We are not opposed to using a fine polish a couple times a year. It leaves a satisfactory finish for most clients without significantly shortening the life of the paint. We will sometimes use a compound in isolated spots to handle concentrated damage as opposed to going all in everywhere. 
 
Hope this is helpful. 

If it’s alresdy cured, glaze may mask it but if won’t remove it. If it did, it would be the easy way to strip coatings odd vehicles. It works on fresh or partially cured coating...a fully cured one and you’re wasting your time in my opinion. 
 
You can try some finishing polish and see if it levels it out a bit. Then maybe try to reapply. Worst case is you’re polishing it all out. If you do, I’d polish the entire hood starting with compound and redo the entire hood application. 
 
Great example of what high spots on a coating look like (as an education point for those reading and learning, not as a criticism). 
 
Be thorough. Change towels frequently. Work in small bites. Don’t take too big of a bite of the apple you scramble and end up with this. With experience you’ll know how much you can cover for given conditions. 

Let’s follow up with a whole bunch more information about what paint correction is, and when it should (and shouldn’t be applied). 
 
Paint correction is not a magic bullet. It’s not something that can be done unlimited times. Paint correction works by removing clear coat in order to remove defects in your paint. 
 
Most of the UV protection of your paint comes in the first 1/3 of the clearcoat. Knowing that, we don’t want to remove more than that over the LIFETIME of the vehicle. Once you reduce the UV protection you accelerate clearcoat failure requiring a repaint. 
 
Paint correction also serves to level the clearcoat on a vehicle increasing the glossy look of the finish. This is why even brand new vehicles benefit from polishing. 
 
Modern paint systems are a three part system. They consist of a primer, base coat (color) and clear coat.  Older paints may be single stage in nature mixing the clear and paint layers. 
 
On top of your paint sits a variety of contamination and defects typically. Contamination on the paint is generally tackled with washing, iron remover and clay.
 

 
When we talk about defects, there’s spider webs which are microscratches, deep scratches which may or not be able to be taken care of without repainting and other forms of defects as illustrated below. 
 

 
When paint correcting we are only working with the clear coat. So as you can see, the deep scratches can’t be fixed. And some that are just in the clear coat shouldn’t be fixed for fear of striking through or removing too much clear accelerating failure. 
 
So you get a car, and you paint correct it. You’ve removed a little clear coat. You use good technique in washing and over time you develop damage (it happens no matter what we do). You polish again. But because you’ve used good technique along the way, you only need a finish polish to take a little clear coat off. Using this methodology you can get a long time with out of your paint and great looks. 
 
The other scenario is you perform a paint correction and you take it through the automatic car wash. You damage your finish over time. You then need a full correction to repair the damage which takes off more of the clear coat.  When approached this way, you’re going to burn through more clear coat or get less corrections. 
 
So the ultimate answer to your question is to correct as infrequently as possible to preserve the clear coat. We use a paint thickness gauge to know what we are doing to a clients paint (or what they’ve done to it already). 
 
We are not opposed to using a fine polish a couple times a year. It leaves a satisfactory finish for most clients without significantly shortening the life of the paint. We will sometimes use a compound in isolated spots to handle concentrated damage as opposed to going all in everywhere. 
 
Hope this is helpful.