BMW Carbon Black - Total Nightmare?

[Pickled Piper]

I've been looking at replacing my car and have seen a number for sale in Carbon Black. Do the usual rules on black cars apply? ie looks great when clean but shows light scratches.

I would appreciate any comments from owners and detailers who have worked on these cars.

If I buy one I plan to keep it for some years.

Thanks in advance.

pp

[kds keltec]

Your title said it all really ,

I think i am into 40-50 different bmw cars for machine correction detail for that colour and includes the new jerez black over the last 3 years or so .

looks stunning when done and not the easiest colour to get right .

here is what i see with carbon / jerez black



different car



different car



and this car 3 days old straight from dealership











For the turnaround pictures of HOW good properly finish carbon paint can be look here

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0...


up its a nightmare but looks sooo good IF flawless


i have got many more before pictures far worse too

Kelly

[Pickled Piper]

Thanks Kelly.

It does appear to be the second most popular colour on BMWs after grey.

pp

[Lost soul]

Pickled Piper said:

Thanks Kelly.

It does appear to be the second most popular colour on BMWs after grey.

pp

It is a beautifull colour

[davey68]

Hi does this include BMW black sapphire metallic too? seems black really is hard to keep scratch free. Its one of my fave BMW colours (looking at it on a new 135i coupe). How are colours like le mans blue to look after?

[Tony 1234]

And Deep Sea Blue ditto

[belleair302]

All dark colours come up beautifully if you wash your car carefully, clay a coupel of times a year, polish when necessary and wax ever six or so weeks throughout the year. Most scratches and swirls are caused by careless washing technique and bad cellulose sponges and drying towels etc.

[beanbag]

Bringing up an old thread here.

I'm about to order a new 420d Grand Coupe in M Sport trim and I too love the Carbon Black option.

The car will be used daily and subject to a lot of motorway miles so I'm thinking would Estoril Blue fare better? I just sometimes feel it looks "childish". I think I'll get fed up with it fairly quickly.

The carbon black on the other hand looks stunning!

[Summit_Detailing]

beanbag said:

Bringing up an old thread here.

I'm about to order a new 420d Grand Coupe in M Sport trim and I too love the Carbon Black option.

The car will be used daily and subject to a lot of motorway miles so I'm thinking would Estoril Blue fare better? I just sometimes feel it looks "childish". I think I'll get fed up with it fairly quickly.

The carbon black on the other hand looks stunning!

I'm currently working on a 435d coupe in Estoril and although a nice colour I wouldn't spec it myself and I can understand where you are coming from.

There's no reason to think that Carbon Black can't look amazing with the correct preparation and something like Gtechniq Crystal Serum + EXOv3 for protection...and of course a safe wash routine to keep it looking that way.

cheers

Chris

[scratcher_]

As Chris said, a ceramic coating will help it stay looking great and keep the swirls and things at bay.

[beanbag]

Cheers for the tips. Probably a stupid question but is a teflon coat similar to a ceramic coating?

I live in the South of Spain and it's hard to find high quality detailers. There are a lot of mis-fit cowboys in the area so I'll be incredibly cautious where I take my car to.

[Adamski69]

Yup, those pics pretty much sum up any black car that has been taken to a drive through hand car wash. My wife, after 4 years of me telling her not too, took her Saphire black, spotless 3 series to one last week for a 'quick spruce up' and it came back looking like those pics. They destroyed it in one 10min visit. Idiots.

Had Carbon Black before as well and if treated badly, will look like that sadly. :-(

[beanbag]

Adamski69 said:

Yup, those pics pretty much sum up any black car that has been taken to a drive through hand car wash. My wife, after 4 years of me telling her not too, took her Saphire black, spotless 3 series to one last week for a 'quick spruce up' and it came back looking like those pics. They destroyed it in one 10min visit. Idiots.

Had Carbon Black before as well and if treated badly, will look like that sadly. :-(

I'll never take it to a hand wash, or through a machine. I bought my wife a 2 series and she chose champagne. I've banned her from using any of those places and will only use a jet wash. If it needs a scrub, I use a fresh microfibre towel and go from top to bottom after cleaning the majority of dirt with a good jet wash soak.

I do the same with my white F31, but I'll also practice the same with a carbon black car religiously!

[Adamski69]

beanbag said:

I'll never take it to a hand wash, or through a machine. I bought my wife a 2 series and she chose champagne. I've banned her from using any of those places and will only use a jet wash. If it needs a scrub, I use a fresh microfibre towel and go from top to bottom after cleaning the majority of dirt with a good jet wash soak.

I do the same with my white F31, but I'll also practice the same with a carbon black car religiously!

Same here dude. I looked after it for nearly 4 years, then she decides she wants to either sell it or hand it back and took to a hand wash as the hose on my karcher split a day or 2 before and the new one hadn't arrived, she didn't tell me just went and as mentioned, 10 mins = total destruction. :-(

[Robin S]

I went for carbon black too, wouldn't dream of going near a car wash with it. It's probably made me more cautious with my wash routine than any other colour car I've had. But when properly clean and protected, it does look great. These pics are roughly a year apart.

[beanbag]

Robin S said:

I went for carbon black too, wouldn't dream of going near a car wash with it. It's probably made me more cautious with my wash routine than any other colour car I've had. But when properly clean and protected, it does look great. These pics are roughly a year apart.

Stunning! I've pretty much made my mind up. Carbon Black it is.

I now need to decide on a few other options, including if I do a leather interior or not. (I live in Spain so leather can be a little sticky). I just find the alcatara interior a bit....knaff with the blue hue on the M-Sport.

I've also got to sell my current car. The dealer took the piss out of me yesterday and offered me just €15k when they go privately for over €20k. He then told me if I buy a stock car, he'd give me €18k but it had to be that very same moment....

I've bought two brand new BMW's from this dealership and this is the way I'm treated.....