One swirl mark taught me more about paint correction than a year of YouTube tutorials had managed.
It happened on an ordinary Saturday, with a wash mitt I’d bought specifically because the reviews said it was ‘safe for delicate finishes’. It is not the mitt’s fault. It’s mine, for not understanding that dragging any fabric across a panel, however soft, picks up grit and turns it into fine sandpaper the moment you apply pressure. Under direct sun two weeks later, the door caught the light at the wrong angle and there it was — a fine web of scratches I hadn’t put there on purpose and couldn’t un-put there by wishing.
A proper detailer quoted me for a single-stage correction to remove it. That’s the £640 lesson. Compared against a year of careful, low-contact washes done properly — two-bucket method, pH-neutral shampoo, a fresh microfibre for every panel — the maths only makes sense if you actually do it properly every time. I don’t trust myself to, so now someone else does it four times a year and I keep my hands off the paint entirely in between.
The ceramic coating is a separate story. I paid for one before I understood what it actually protects against, then paid for a second, better one once I did. More on that mistake another time.