High Points

"High Points" is a term commonly used within the industry, and it can describe numerous issues. These could be bits of dust or contamination that got into the paintwork during painting, or just an area of paint that stands proud because of a run or sag. It can also be used to describe the peaks on paintwork with excessive orange peel.

What it means

High points are the parts of a panel that stick out slightly compared with the surrounding surface – things like sharp edges, swage lines, wheel arch lips, panel crowns and tight curves. When you sand or machine polish, these areas make first contact with the pad or abrasive, so they get more cutting action than the flatter, recessed sections. They also tend to have slightly less paint or clearcoat from the factory or after a respray, which makes them more vulnerable.

Why it matters

• More risk of burn-through: Because high points both receive more abrasion and often have thinner clearcoat, they are the first places where you can strike through to primer or metal if you over-polish or over-sand.
• Affects how you work a panel: Professional detailers and bodyshops will usually ease off on edges, tilt pads away from sharp lines, or mask certain high points to avoid removing too much material there.
• Important for realistic promises: If heavy defects run right over high points, it may not be safe to remove them fully, so customers need to understand that some marks will be improved rather than eliminated.

Where you’ll see it

You’ll hear high points mentioned in paint correction estimates, training material and sanding or polishing guides – for example “be careful around high points on swage lines”, or “we masked the highest points before compounding”. Inspectors may also note that strike-through has occurred first on high points, such as door edges, bonnet ridges and wheel arch lips.

Context

High points sit at the centre of safe sanding and machine polishing technique. When flattening orange peel, levelling runs or carrying out heavy correction, technicians constantly balance the need to remove defects with the risk at edges and crowns. Paint depth readings are often taken across a panel to compare flatter areas with high points; a big drop at the edges is a warning to tread carefully or avoid aggressive correction there altogether.

Common mistakes

• Polishing high points with exactly the same pressure and passes as flat areas, and then being surprised when edges burn through first.
• Running sanding blocks or discs straight over sharp creases and body lines instead of feathering up to them or masking them off.
• Chasing deep scratches or orange peel that run across high points, even when thickness readings show there is not enough clearcoat to correct them safely.
• Ignoring the shape of the panel and working with oversized pads that constantly ride up over high points instead of matching pad size to the area.

Written by Danny Argent. Last updated 19/11/2025 15:17