One step corrects and refines in a single machine stage. It removes most light swirling, takes about 4 to 6 hours, and is the right answer for most daily drivers. Two step adds a dedicated cutting stage before the refining stage for deeper defects, at 6 to 8 hours or more. Three step adds a final polish for maximum clarity.
More steps is not automatically better. Each one spends clear coat you do not get back, so the right level is the least aggressive one that gets the result you actually want.
On our packages, correction is priced as an adder on top of a sealant or coating. On a sedan that is +$250 for one step, +$500 for two and +$750 for three, and it scales with vehicle size.
| Level | Machine stages | Time | Realistic defect removal |
|---|---|---|---|
| One step | One combined cut-and-refine stage | About 4 to 6 hours | Most light swirling and haze. A large visual jump for the money. |
| Two step | Cutting stage, then refining stage | 6 to 8 hours or more | Deeper swirls, wash marring, light scratches that do not catch a fingernail. |
| Three step | Heavy cut, refine, final polish | Often a full day or more | Heavily marked paint, plus the last increment of clarity on a show finish. |
Every level is quoted after we look at the paint, because defect depth and available clear coat both matter and neither can be judged from a phone description.
Correction is not sold on its own. It is priced as an adder to whichever protection tier you choose, and every package already includes a full interior and exterior detail plus the complete decontamination process.
| Correction | Sedan / coupe adder | Midsize SUV | Large SUV / truck |
|---|---|---|---|
| One step | +$250 | ×1.25 of the sedan adder | ×1.5 of the sedan adder |
| Two step | +$500 | ×1.25 | ×1.5 |
| Three step | +$750 | ×1.25 | ×1.5 |
Worked example: a sedan 5-year Gtechniq coating with no correction is $649. The same car with a two-step correction is $1,149. The full matrix is on the ceramic coating page.
The car is a daily driver, the paint is hazy or lightly swirled, and you want it to look dramatically better without chasing perfection.
This is the right answer for the large majority of cars, including most that arrive asking for two step.
The swirling is heavy — years of tunnel washes — or there are visible scratches that do not catch a fingernail, and you are keeping the car.
Also the sensible level under a 5-year coating, since you are locking the finish in for years.
The finish itself is the point. A car you care about disproportionately, or paint that is genuinely badly marked.
Honest note: on a daily driver the visible difference between two and three step is small relative to the cost and the clear coat.
The paint looks good under a bright light at night. Plenty of newer and well-kept cars need no correction at all, and every package is available with no correction for exactly that reason.
We will tell you if that is your car.
Clear coat is finite. A factory finish is roughly 40 to 60 microns of clear, and every correction stage removes a measured amount of it. Spend too much and there is not enough left to protect the color underneath, which is a problem no product fixes.
So the real question is not 'how perfect can this get' but 'how much clear coat is this result worth'. On a car you are keeping for a decade, leaving room for a future correction is worth more than the last two percent of gloss today.
This is also why we measure and look rather than quote from a photo alone. A car that has already been corrected twice by a previous owner may not have the clear coat to support a two-step, whatever its swirls look like.
The related point: correction is far more valuable when it is protected afterwards. Corrected paint left bare re-swirls quickly, which means paying for correction again sooner, which means spending clear coat again. That is the practical reason our correction always comes with at least a 12-month sealant.
The pattern we recommend most often is one step plus a good sealant or coating. It is the combination that produces the biggest visible change per dollar and per micron.
We look at the paint in proper light, assess defect depth and clear coat, and tell you the level we think it wants. That recommendation is frequently lower than what the customer came in asking for.
Then you pick the protection: 12-month sealant, 2-year sealant, 5-year Gtechniq coating or 5-Year Plus. The correction level and the protection tier are independent choices.
More short answers live on the FAQ.
The services this guide is about:
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We would rather do a one-step well and leave you clear coat for the future. Quoted after we see the paint.