My car's paint is absolutely wrecked from desert driving - any hope?
I've had my SUV for about four years now and I do a fair bit of off-roading on the weekends, which I absolutely love, but I'm starting to think my paint job is paying the price for all that fun. The front bumper is covered in tiny stone chips, the sides have those fine scratches from brushing against desert shrubs, and the hood has this faded patchy look from the sun that no amount of wax seems to fix. I took it to a couple of detailing places and they quoted me prices that made me choke, and honestly I'm not even sure they could actually fix the deeper scratches without repainting the whole panels. I was browsing online and came across this website exoticautoservices.ae/car-paint-and-scratch-remover/ which seems to have some pretty detailed information about the paint correction process and what's actually achievable depending on how deep the scratches are. I'm not looking for a showroom finish because I know the car gets used properly, but I'd love to get it looking decent again and protect it from further damage. What's holding me back is I've heard horror stories about places that promise paint correction but then just use a heavy compound to fill in the scratches temporarily, and a few months later it all comes back looking worse than before. I want someone who's going to be honest with me about what can and can't be fixed without repainting, and actually use proper techniques rather than cutting corners. Has anyone had paint correction done on a car that's been used off-road and actually seen good results that lasted? Also, how do you maintain it afterwards because I feel like if I just go back to my regular washing routine, all that work is going to get ruined pretty quickly. I'm also wondering if ceramic coating after the correction is worth the extra money or if that's just another upsell that doesn't really deliver in this climate. Any advice from people who've been through this would be really helpful.