Beautiful job way more then what I expected 💯 would recommend zippys for sure.even came to house to do it ! Thank you zippys for a beautiful bronco
Home › Paint Correction & Polishing
Correction removes defects. It does not hide them.
Swirls, holograms, oxidation, light scratches and vog etching, levelled out of the clear coat rather than filled in. It is also the step that decides whether a ceramic coating is worth putting on — because a coating locks in whatever is underneath.
Free test section
Single pass included in every coating
Kona shop or mobile
Visual proof
Levelled out, not filled in
Correction is the one service where the proof has to be shot in hard light. Swirls disappear completely in shade — which is exactly how a filler-heavy glaze job gets sold as correction, and why it looks fine until the first sunny day.
Before — swirls and buffer holograms
After — same light, same angle, defects gone
If a fingernail catches, it needs paint — not a machine
We prove it on a test section before quoting the car
How it actually works
Levelling, not filling
Correction removes a microscopic amount of clear coat down to the bottom of each defect. Understanding that explains both what it fixes and where it stops.
- Swirl marks and spider-webbing — from washing, almost always
- Holograms — the buffer trails a previous shop left behind
- Oxidation — dull, flat, chalky-feeling paint
- Light scratches — the ones a fingernail does not catch on
- Light vog etching — acid rings and haze that have bitten in but not through
- Water spot etching — see hard water spot removal
Single-stage or multi-stage?
- Single-stage — one combined cut-and-polish pass. Light swirls, general flatness. Included free in every coating package.
- Multi-stage — compound, refine, then polish. Deeper defects, heavier oxidation, neglected paint. Quoted on inspection.
- We settle it with a test section, not a guess from a photo. Half an hour, a small area taken through full correction, and you can see what comes out and what stays.
Said before you pay
Where correction stops
- Anything through the clear coat. Run a fingernail across a scratch. If it catches, it is too deep to polish and needs paint. No amount of machine work changes that.
- Failed or thinning clear coat. Once the clear is gone there is nothing left to level, and polishing a failing clear coat accelerates the failure. This is common here because UV gets to clear coat faster than almost anywhere. The answer is clear coat application, not correction.
- Deep vog etching that has gone all the way through the clear.
- Clear coat is finite. A car corrected repeatedly over many years has less to give each time. We check before cutting deep on an older finish.
We tell you which category your paint is in at the inspection — not after polishing hopefully for a day and charging you for the attempt.
Island Special · Big Island pricing
What correction costs
Prices shown are cash prices. Pay by cash or check and that is what you pay. The card price is shown in grey beside every figure — slightly higher, because card processing costs us that. Nothing is added at checkout either way: both prices are on the page before you book.
Hawaii GET is added at invoice and shown as its own line, at the state maximum visible pass-on of 4.712% (4% state + 0.5% Hawaiʻi County surcharge). Prices on this page do not include it.
Correction
Single-pass machine buff & polishAdded to any detail
from $150$156 card
Multi-stage correctionQuoted on inspection — condition range is enormous
Custom quote
from $150$156 card
from $100$104 card
Included free in every coating package
Stealth Diamond BorographSingle-pass polish included — multi-stage quoted on top if needed
from $1,000$1,035 card
from $3,000$3,105 card
Protect the work afterwards
Ceramic Infused Super ProtectionSix to twelve months on this island
from $100$104 card
Correction alone on a Big Island car is buying a result with no protection on it. Bare corrected paint faces vog, salt and the strongest UV in the country with nothing on top. Correction plus protection is the combination that makes sense.
Travel fee $50$52 card past 20 miles outside the Kona district. Gas on this island runs well above the mainland and the run to Waimea, Hawi or Hilo is real time in the truck — that fee goes straight to the technician working your job, not onto the service price. No fee if you drop off at our Kona shop near Magic Sands Beach Park — we give you the exact address when you book. We tell you the travel fee when you book, never when we arrive.
Free test section
13 years on the Big Island
5,000+ vehicles
Fully insured
Trained & certified techs
100% satisfaction guaranteed
In our customers’ words
Five stars, every one
Google Reviews
Shown word for word
Another great detail from Zippy. Had both my vehicles done. Came a little early and Skyler took care of business. Highly recommend. Try the super infused. Good stuff.
ZIPPY KLEAN Technician Steve was absolutely a Professional. He answered all of our questions before we knew to ask it. We got the Worx package for OUR 2025 Ford Bronco and are extremely satisfied. Stay tuned for the 6 weeks report, the time it takes for the clear coat to cure. We would HIGHLY RECOMMEND ZIPPY KLEAN TO HELP MAINTAIN YOUR CAR IN PRISTINE CONDITION. MAHALO STEVE FOR YOUR PROFFESIONAL AND ALOHA ATTITUDE.
No obligation
Get your paint assessed
Send photos in direct sunlight — swirls only show up in hard light. We will tell you what is correctable, what is not, and what it costs before anything starts.
Prefer to talk? (808) 201-6005 — call or text. Open 7 days · 6am–6pm.
Straight answers
Paint correction questions
How much does paint correction cost on the Big Island?
A single-pass machine buff and polish is $150 added to a detail. Multi-stage correction is quoted on inspection, because the condition range is enormous and a flat price would be a guess.
A single-pass polish is included in every Borograph and Liquid PPF package at no extra cost. Multi-stage correction, if the paint needs it, is quoted on top.
We give you the number before any work starts. No discovering work halfway through and billing for it.
What does paint correction actually remove?
Swirl marks, holograms, oxidation, light scratches and the hazy flatness that makes paint look tired — by levelling a microscopic amount of clear coat down to the bottom of each defect.
That is the key thing to understand: correction does not fill defects, it removes the clear coat around them. Which is why there is a limit, and why clear coat thickness matters.
On this island there is a fourth thing in that list: light vog etching. Acid rings and haze that have bitten into the clear coat but not through it come out with correction.
What can paint correction not fix?
Anything through the clear coat. Run a fingernail across a scratch — if it catches, it is too deep to polish and needs paint.
Also: failed or thinning clear coat. Once the clear is gone there is nothing left to level, and polishing a failing clear coat accelerates the failure. On the Big Island this is common, because UV gets to clear coat faster here than almost anywhere. The answer there is clear coat application, not correction.
And deep vog etching that has gone through the clear. We will tell you which category yours is in at the inspection rather than polishing hopefully and charging you for it.
Why does correction have to happen before a ceramic coating?
Because a coating locks in whatever is underneath it. Coat over swirls and etching and you have made them permanent.
This is the single most important thing about coating prep and the place shops cut corners, because correction is where the labour goes. A cheap coating quote usually means a single-pass polish instead of multi-stage correction — which is a legitimate service at a legitimate price, just not the same one.
We will not coat over defects. If the paint needs correcting first we tell you, with the number, and you decide.
How many stages does my paint need?
It depends on how deep the defects go, and we determine it with a test section rather than guessing from a photo.
A test section is a small area taken through a full correction so you can see exactly what comes out and what stays. It settles the question in about half an hour and it is how we price the job honestly.
Single-stage: one combined cut-and-polish pass, for light swirls and flatness. Multi-stage: compound, refine, then polish, for deeper defects and heavier oxidation.
Will correction come back if I keep washing the car?
Swirls come from how the car is washed, not from time — so yes, if the washing method does not change, they come back.
Tunnel and brush washes are the main culprit: they drag grit across the paint under pressure. That is the mechanism, and it is why coated vehicles are hand-wash only.
If you want the correction to hold, either change the wash method or put it on the maintenance program so one of the monthly washes is done correctly by us.
Is correction worth it if I am not coating the car?
Yes, but it will not last as long — bare corrected paint is exposed to vog, salt and the strongest UV in the country with nothing on top of it.
Correction plus a sealant or a coating is the combination that makes sense. Correction alone is buying a result with no protection on it, on an island that is actively hostile to bare clear coat.
At minimum, Ceramic Infused Super Protection at $100 gives you six to twelve months of cover over the work.
Island Special · Big Island pricing
Book your spot
(808) 201-6005Kailua-Kona to Hilo. We come to you, or drop it at our Kona shop near Magic Sands.