Paint correction for white truck and ceramic coating

[Limited2021]

So am looking in to doing ceramic coating for my new truck and a I see a lot of guys do the paint correction before hand. I am wondering if this would be necessary for a white truck since it doesn't show the defects as much as a darker color would. I am considering doing the ceramic coating because I want the truck to clean up easier since I live on a gravel road and the dust and dirt sticks to everything. I am not super pick on my paint being perfect so I am thinking I could save some money by having someone do just the ceramic coating. Thoughts on this ? I'm I missing something about paint correction that I should be doing?

 

[GATORB8]

Paint correction (compounding or polishing) basically sands down the imperfections in the paint. Ceramic coating goes on top of the paint (like a wax or sealant). If you were to do paint correction after the Ceramic, it's likely most would be removed by the process, but other than removing contaminants, if you're happy with the condition of the paint, it wouldn't hurt to skip the correction.

 

[BowDown]

You're correct about white paint, if you're good with how it looks now, ceramic coat it and be done

 

[Royalist_Ram]

Yeah I just got my finished on Thursday. I had swirl marks in my paint and needed it corrected. I’m sure it’s possible to do just a ceramic but I also needed my paint polished, decontaminated, and clay bared. So I just figured might as well do a ceramic coat on top to make it look nicer and have it easier to clean; while also protecting the paint to some extent. The detailer did say, if you’re gonna do a ceramic, kinda had it do it with the paint correction. Otherwise if I wanted a ceramic 6 mo from now, they would have to clean up the paint again and possibly correct it.

The paint correction was more expensive than the ceramic, but it was only a Level II and the ceramic was a CQuartz UK 3.0. Not as fancy as the Professional or Finest Reserve.

Hopefully the pics do it justice, but the paint looks so much better and really makes the Pearl come out, granted it’s Black.

 

[jcedorjr]

Nice work, truck looks amazing! I used the same coating on our truck over two years ago and still looks amazing. No pictures handy, but you won't be disappointed with it! I use the HydrO2 Lite when I dry it to prevent marring and the truck still looks awesome.

As for the OP, I'd agree with the others. If you're paint is good and you're happy with it, go for the coating but I would recommend a clay bar at the very least and then make sure you follow all of the prep to remove oils from the paint, but I'd definitely go with the coating and have been super happy with the CarPro 3.0 UK, about to redo our truck soon with it.

 

[KCViper]

OP, you might consider a light polish (less abrasive than correction) to give your ceramic a good foundation. As others have mentioned, if you are happy when you look at the paint under good lighting, move on to ceramic. However, any tiny imperfections (scratches, etc) that are ceramic coated over will remain there until polished/corrected. GL