I have a car coming to me with a ton of swirls on every panel. It was compounded poorly (obviously) to begin with and to make matters worse, the owner has taken it to 2 other places to try to get the swirls out to no avail. I am concerned about how much clear has been removed by the previous butchers. I inquired locally into a paint thickness guage and was told that they all measure from the metal to the top and therefore it is impossible to know the thickness of only the clear coat layer. He said the guages all work that way and anyone who claims different is full of..well you know. I know there are members here who have and use them...your thoughts? I am going to get the customer to sign a paper stating that if I burn through the clear due to previous jobs, I'm not responsible. What I would hope is that the clear will be thick enough that I'll have no problems.