@911 Crazy I work a real day job but love detailing and do some side work on weekends at the shop that does PPF and ceramic to all my vehicles.
Paint correction can mean different things, but say you are going to have a two stage correction before PPF or ceramic. As to the why, even a new vehicle has all sorts of environmental pollutants from being on a transport truck, sitting outside, being test driven, etc. This can be anything from water spotting due to rain, brake dust spewing all over the paint, etc.
A typical paint correction would involve something like this, assuming a detail prep wash:
- Wheel cleaner and full cleaning of wheels and barrels. Either in the wheel cleaner or via separate IronX application, ferrous (iron) particles and brake dust are chemically removed from the wheel surfaces along with regular dirt, etc.
- Tire degreaser to strip all silicone, dirt and grime, etc. from the rubber, essentially making a clean surface that dressing or whatever is going to be applied can thoroughly bond to
- Power wash and cover with foam cannon to remove most dirt
- Depending on the condition of the vehicle, maybe cover it with APC (all purpose cleaner) to strip protectants etc. from its make ready or most recent commercial wash, then power wash again
- Hit it with the foam cannon again, wash thoroughly. Most of the time this won't be the "two bucket wash" that people espouse since your vehicle is about to be paint corrected anyways
- After rinsing, cover the vehicle in IronX or similar to break the chemical bonds of iron and brake dust in the paint. The reason this is desirable is that the particles embed into the clear coat itself, so if you skip this step and clay you basically shear the particles off at the surface but leave some embedded in the paint
- Assuming a new vehicle, usually just one clay bar pass with medium to fine clay is required
- If it's a two stage correction, the first polishing pass will likely be with a cutting compound to remove deeper swirls and light scratches
- The next pass is with a finer grained polish to remove the micromarring from the first pass and produce a smooth, defect free surface
- If wheels and calipers etc are to be coated, they will be removed and polished as well
At this point you should be about ready to apply PPF or ceramic or wax or whatever. You should have a chemically clean surface that the substance you're about to apply can bond to properly, and the clear coat should be in better than factory condition.
As for ceramic coating removing the need to wax, it's a nuanced question but the general answer is yes. You typically want to do some sort of upkeep on top of normal washing. That could be as simple as adding some sort of ceramic booster as a final detail step after you wash, to polishing with a ceramic coating specific maintenance product every 6-12 months. Coatings have finite life and it depends on the brand and how many coats were applied. An entry level coating with fewer applications might be 1 year warrantied, whereas say Modesta or Feynlab might be a 7-10 year warranty with maintenance.
You don't need to spend thousands on this just like you don't need an aftermarket FMIC or SVC mid travel suspension setup. Some guys on here like their truck to look like it's been in some scraps, some guys prefer pristine paint.
Even if you do want a nicer aesthetic, you can do most of the above yourself for a few hundred dollars (assuming you don't have an orbital polisher and need to buy one) and several hours of work.
Enjoy your truck!