9/7/22, 1:48 PM What it looks like when you buff through the clearcoat - Burn Through - Strike Through

at - Burn Through - Strike Through - Mike Phillips

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Thread: What it looks like when you buff through the clearcoat - Burn Through - Strike Through - Mike Phillips
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12-19-2019, 04:25 PM #1

Mike Phillips

What it looks like when you buff through the clearcoat - Burn Through - Strike
Member Through - Mike Phillips
What it looks like when you buff through the clearcoat - Burn Through -
Strike Through - Mike Phillips

Recently, we held a ceramic coating class and upon our walk-around inspection, one
of the cars, a custom streetrod, we discovered an area on the top half of the driver's
door where the previous owner, or the previous detailer, buffed through the clearcoat
and exposed the basecoat.

Here's the car - a 1949 Mercury Convertible

Join Date: Jun 2009

Location: Stuart, Florida
Posts: 50,925
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9/7/22, 1:48 PM What it looks like when you buff through the clearcoat - Burn Through - Strike Through - Mike Phillips

And here's the area where the someone buffed through the clearcoat and
exposed the basecoat.

The darker center section is the BASECOAT. The perimeter you see is the edge of
the clearcoat. The faded looking area beyond the perimeter is VERY THIN
clearcoat. If a person were to buff on this area some more - the circular area you
see and the perimeter line you see - will grow and grow as you buff away more of
the clear layer of paint and expose more of the basecoat. If you buff too much of the
basecoat off the panel you will expose the primer coat. If you buff away too much of
the primer coat you'll see shiny metal or whatever the substrate the car body panel
is made from..

In detailing lingo - this is referred to by different names but they all mean the same
thing and that is someone buffed for too long and removed all the clearcoat in an
area and has exposed the basecoat also called color coat.

Buff-through
Burn-through
Strike-through

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9/7/22, 1:48 PM What it looks like when you buff through the clearcoat - Burn Through - Strike Through - Mike Phillips

I'm pretty confident the term strike-through is the commonly used term in Europe.

Here in America, we tend to use the term burn-though. I'm not a fan of the term
burn-through because it's most commonly used to describe buffing through the top
layer of paint via the use of a rotary buffer. But in reality, a person can burn-through
or buff-through the top layer of paint using any tool and even by hand. Use whatever
term you like as as long as it works for you and your audience.

The bad news

If you're new to the car detailing world, here's the bad news, this type of paint defect
cannot be fixed without re-painting the affected area or the entire panel.

Best option - Re-spray the entire panel

The best option for repair is to have the entire panel re-painted. By the word panel, I
mean the entire hood, or the entire door, or the entire fender, etc. When the entire
panel is repainted, the painter is able to spray new paint from edge-to-edge, i.e., re-
spray the entire panel.

Less costly option - Spot repair or blending paint

A less costly repair is to for a painter to only re-spray a portion of the panel. This
means they will spray the primer and the basecoat to the affected area and then
spray a little further out onto the original paint. After the color coat or basecoat has
been sprayed, next they will spray the clearcoat over the affected area and spray a
little past the end of the basecoat they sprayed. Sort of a stepped application of the
three different types of paint. When done correctly it cost less money then repainting
the entire panel. But, this leaves what is called a blend line. A blend line is the line
you can see where the new clearcoat layer of paint ends on the original paint. You
have to look close to see it and without the right light and without being at the right
angle it can be very difficult to see.

The BIG PICTURE

Anytime you're working on your own car or a customer's car, trying to remove any
type of below surface paint defect, you need to know when to stop buffing. A Paint
Thickness Gauge can be helpful but in most cases you're going to need to rely on
experience and your gut instinct.

Me? When I'm trying to remove a deeper defect like an isolated scratch, water spots,
sanding marks, gouges, etc. My normal practice is to,

First, evaluate the car. Is this a daily driver with the factory clear coat? Or is this a
custom car with a custom paint job? (usually thicker paint)

Second, evaluate the customer. If it's a daily driver, do they understand the factory
clearcoat is thinner than a Post-it Note? If not, can I educate them on this fact? If the
car is a Special Interest Vehicle, for example a body-off, rotisserie restoration or
resto-rod 1969 Chevelle with a custom paint job? If it is, does the owner have
confidence the painter sprayed plenty of paint on the car?

I take the above factors into consideration. In most cases, if the car is in fact a daily
driver with the factor clearcoat intact, then I'll dial-in my Test Spot and once I'm
satisfied with the results and the process, I'll duplicate this process over the rest of
the car. Whatever defects buff out from the process is what I normally call good or
good enough. I educate the owner about paint and explain to them they are better
off to learn to live with a few deeper defects and have the paint on the car hold-up
over time and hold-up to match the mechanical service life of the car versus having
me remove more and more clearcoat paint in an effort to make the paint on a daily
driver, (a car that is going to see more swirls and scratches into the future), only to
have the clearcoat fail sooner than later. This will mean the car has to be repainted
and if it's a daily driver, the cost of repainting a used car is usually higher than most
people want to pay. The better choice would have been to use common sense and
learn to live with a few deeper defects here and there but overall, have a great
looking car/great looking paint job.

For custom paint jobs, I'll get more information from the owner and in most cases,
buff a little more to remove the deeper defects WHILE educating the owner that after
I'm finished, they need to be super careful moving forward and stop doing the things
they are doing that are putting the deeper scratches/defects into the paint. There's
only so much a professional detailer can do before they buff-through the clearcoat
and expose the basecoat.

I'd will always error on the side of caution versus buying someone else a new paint
job.

Hope this helps explain buff-through, burn-through and strike-through.

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9/7/22, 1:48 PM What it looks like when you buff through the clearcoat - Burn Through - Strike Through - Mike Phillips

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12-19-2019, 05:00 PM #2

Mike Phillips

Re: What it looks like when you buff through the clearcoat - Burn Through -
Member Strike Through - Mike Phillips
Continued....

Recommended reading....

When to stop buffing - Or - How far should you go to remove swirls and
scratches?

Will this buff out?

Join Date: Jun 2009

Location: Stuart, Florida
Posts: 50,925
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How do you know when to stop buffing?

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9/7/22, 1:48 PM What it looks like when you buff through the clearcoat - Burn Through - Strike Through - Mike Phillips

Clearcoats are thin by Mike Phillips

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12-23-2019, 04:11 PM #3

Mike Phillips

Re: What it looks like when you buff through the clearcoat - Burn Through -
Member Strike Through - Mike Phillips
Continued....

A guy sent me the below pictures via FB messages, asked me if this was burn-
through? (buffing through the clear layer of paint)

He was trying to remove a scratch.

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9/7/22, 1:48 PM What it looks like when you buff through the clearcoat - Burn Through - Strike Through - Mike Phillips

It's never fun telling anyone that "yes" that looks like you've buffed through or
burned-through the clearcoat and exposed the basecoat.

It's even less fun when you tell them the only way to fix it is to re-paint the panel or
the affected area.

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12-23-2019, 06:20 PM #4

PaulMys

Re: What it looks like when you buff through the clearcoat - Burn Through -
Super Member Strike Through - Mike Phillips
Like Kenny Rogers once said:

Know when to hold 'em, and know when to fold 'em.

Cool thread, Mike.

Join Date: Jan 2014

Location: Eastern L.I. NY

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9/7/22, 1:48 PM What it looks like when you buff through the clearcoat - Burn Through - Strike Through - Mike Phillips
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It is no coincidence that man's best friend cannot talk.

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12-23-2019, 06:59 PM #5

ClearVue18

Re: What it looks like when you buff through the clearcoat - Burn Through -
Super Member Strike Through - Mike Phillips

Originally Posted by Mike Phillips

Continued....

A guy sent me the below pictures via FB messages, asked me if this was burn-
through? (buffing through the clear layer of paint)

Join Date: Jan 2018

Location: The Moon
Posts: 1,091
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It's never fun telling anyone that "yes" that looks like you've buffed through or
burned-through the clearcoat and exposed the basecoat.

It's even less fun when you tell them the only way to fix it is to re-paint the panel
or the affected area.

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9/7/22, 1:48 PM What it looks like when you buff through the clearcoat - Burn Through - Strike Through - Mike Phillips
That must suck......what sucks even more is when u get that body shop invoice. I'm
gonna guess this happens when you fall asleep at the wheel and forget you running
the polisher on the paint.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Autogeekonline mobile app

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12-23-2019, 07:32 PM #6

Farmallluvr

Re: What it looks like when you buff through the clearcoat - Burn Through -
Super Member Strike Through - Mike Phillips
yup, seen that a couple of times,

(I've even done it myself a few times)

It happens and when it happens I think respraying the entire panel to be the best
solution.

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Location: Michigan
Posts: 506
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“I have trouble with names and faces, but I never forget a car.”

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12-30-2019, 03:09 PM #7

Mike Phillips

Re: What it looks like when you buff through the clearcoat - Burn Through -
Member Strike Through - Mike Phillips

Originally Posted by Farmallluvr

yup, seen that a couple of times,

(I've even done it myself a few times)

I've done it a few times too. It's how we learn. It's called going to the School of Hard
Knocks.

I also have an article on this topic,

Your Signature - Don't leave one...

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07-25-2022, 06:58 AM #8

fju2112

Re: What it looks like when you buff through the clearcoat - Burn Through -
Newbie Member Strike Through - Mike Phillips
Join Date: Apr 2021
Posts: 29 This is great info. All the work I've been doing lately is to my 8 year old daily driver,
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a Benz E350 with black paint and a LOT of swirl. I haven't got all the scratches and
swirl out yet but have made progress. But perhaps buffing the entire car once (not
using the best method but pretty darn close to the Test Spot video), then focusing in
on the hood and trunk lid (so that's twice buffing and two attempts at polishing on
those panels), I worry that further attempts may thin out the clearcoat? For a daily
driver with factory paint, how much is "too much" - how do I know when to leave
well enough alone? The car has pitting and a couple paint chips; it's never going to
be "perfect", but the swirls really bugged me.

Also, if the car has 3M paint film on the hood and fenders and mirror, is it worth it to
simply have this removed? I feel like it now looks WORSE than the factory paint and
the pitting on most of the front end may just be on the 3M film. I feel if it's removed
there's a good chance the paint underneath will look better, and I can simply have it
re-applied once I figure out if paint correction is in order.

Sorry, lot of questions - just making sure I don't screw anything up before I have at
it again!
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07-25-2022, 06:59 AM #9

fju2112

Re: What it looks like when you buff through the clearcoat - Burn Through -
Newbie Member Strike Through - Mike Phillips
Join Date: Apr 2021
Posts: 29
Originally Posted by Mike Phillips

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Continued....

Recommended reading....

When to stop buffing - Or - How far should you go to remove swirls and
scratches?

Will this buff out?

How do you know when to stop buffing?

Clearcoats are thin by Mike Phillips

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9/7/22, 1:48 PM What it looks like when you buff through the clearcoat - Burn Through - Strike Through - Mike Phillips

Just saw this response - will read this first! (Re: my above post)

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07-26-2022, 03:13 PM #10

fju2112

Re: What it looks like when you buff through the clearcoat - Burn Through -
Newbie Member Strike Through - Mike Phillips
Join Date: Apr 2021
Posts: 29 The damage on my panels isn't nearly as bad as the damage in the first photo of the
black paint above. There are significant swirls even after a couple attempts to
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mitigate. After reading the posts I'm going to give it one more try with different
products and see how I do.

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