I'm wondering how many times over a car's life it can be corrected. I'm sure the aggressiveness of the compounds and pads plays a roll, and the thickness and hardness of the paint.

But, in general, how many times can one do this in a car's lifetime?

 

Like you said, I'm sure many factors play a part in answering this question, although I'd guess it wouldn't be too many.

At that I'll leave if for any of the resident technical detailing experts / gurus to pile in and offer sound advice.

 

Every time I get a new car to work on, the first thing I do is go over the car with a paint depth metering gauge. It measures the thickness of the paint remaining on the car. This gives you a very accurate assessment of where you can work and where you have to be very careful... I have found Jaguar paint to always be a little on the thin side compared with other manufactures,

A meter of this sort can be purchased at any automotive paint suppliers

 

Aren't you only working on the clear coat and not the underlying paint?

 

Depends on the year of the car you are working on. Jaguar started using basecote clear cote in manufacturing year of 1987 and not before.