How can you tell if a car paint is soft or hard?

In the detailing world, the terms “hard paint” and “soft paint” are thrown around a lot. But what do they really imply, and how does it effect auto care?

The phrases “hard” and “soft” should be seen as a spectrum rather than two sides of a coin. Soft paint is one that can be readily modified with polishing and mending. It gets tougher and harder to adapt and mend as it becomes more complex. Kosilla mentions that no car is exactly the same—cars of the same make and model could have different paint structures for any given reason, so it’s up to the detailer to experiment on each individual car and find out for themselves what level of paint they’re dealing with.

Related Questions

• Does my car have hard or soft paint?

  You should have an idea after using a quick detalier to clean your dirty automobile. If you’ve suddenly implanted a slew of swirls, you’ve got soft paint. If you didn’t add any additional swirls, your paint is probably hard.

• What cars have the softest paint?

  This could include brands like BMW, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, and Volkswagen. Mazda, Nissan, and Honda, on the other hand, are known for being gentler. Aston Martin, Ford, Jeep, and Jaguar fall somewhere in the center of the range.

• What hardness is automotive paint?

  A car’s present clear lacquer has a hardness of 1 to 4 on the Mohs scale. Ceramic coatings are said to raise this hardness to 9H. Measured with mohs’ scale, this would mean that the lacquer becomes as hard as diamonds, with the result that there can be no scratch in the lacquer anymore.

• How can I tell the quality of my car paint?

  Learn how your car’s new paint job should look and feel.

  1. Don’t be taken off guard by shoddy automobile painting.
  2. Step 1: Examine your car in a well-lit place.
  3. Step 2: Ensure that paints match. …
  4. Step 3: Check for imperfections in the paint. …
  5. Ask: what paint do you use? …
  6. Step 4: Look for paint spatter inside and out.

Makenzie Berke

Makenzie Berke is Interior Repair Manager at ColorProTech. He writes about technology, answer questions about car topics that people want to know
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