New car looming - Metallic black - wash/detailing
Discussion
Hi all,
I've got a new motor coming, metallic black paint and it's been years since I had a black car, but I always remember the constant looking dirty and micro scratches and swirl marks.
I want to avoid this as much as possible, so I'm contemplating getting it detailed as soon as possible, or what do I need to do to protect the paint as much as possible, processes (in plain English) and what products do you recommend.
All info appreciated.
I've got a new motor coming, metallic black paint and it's been years since I had a black car, but I always remember the constant looking dirty and micro scratches and swirl marks.
I want to avoid this as much as possible, so I'm contemplating getting it detailed as soon as possible, or what do I need to do to protect the paint as much as possible, processes (in plain English) and what products do you recommend.
All info appreciated.
I've had a metallic black car for around 5 years now, and have come to the conclusion that no matter how much care I take, or what products I use, it will get swirled and marked to death. It depends on the manufacturer and the quality of paint of course, but unfortunately mine is a Ford and metallic Panther black was obviously blended with 70% butter at the factory, it's that soft.
A good ceramic coating will help, but as for regular waxes there's nothing I've found that really offers much in the way of protection against marks. What I do is handwash myself with the minimal amount of contact I can get away with, and accept that once a year I have to clay and machine polish the entire car to "reset" it.
A good ceramic coating will help, but as for regular waxes there's nothing I've found that really offers much in the way of protection against marks. What I do is handwash myself with the minimal amount of contact I can get away with, and accept that once a year I have to clay and machine polish the entire car to "reset" it.
I’ve had a metallic black car for a few years now. I’ll never own one again. Every scrape, scratch and swirl shows up a mile away. I love detailing but I’ve pretty much given up on this car. It doesn’t help that it’s the only car I have that isn’t garaged and is used as the family workhorse. It’s a nightmare.
I love black and always regret it at some stage! My latest car is Obsidian and I decided to go to town on it from new, I didn't want to go the ceramic coating route so opted for Blackfire products, clayed the car, cleaner fluid, seal and then three coats of wax. Six months in it looks pretty good, but there is the odd swirl although I've had pretty good results with Gtechniq P1 Polish and if all else fails I just fill them with Autoglym SRP. I can recommend the Blackfire products, car looks great after a wash, for about 10 minutes!!
Me too - against my better judgement have just put a deposit on a 2020 metallic black X3 M40i...I am sure I will regret it especially after reading this.
What are peoples views on the super guard paint protection or whatever it is called these days. It is about £500 I think - Am I better having it properly detailed once back in Cardiff with a coating etc that makes it easier to keep clean; can this be done for similar money or what other options do I have?
Not a lot of time to clean the car but just bought a nilfisk c135i which has the foam bottle on it so plan to use that rather than the local hand wash place. Any recommendations for filling that one too?
Thanks
Mark
What are peoples views on the super guard paint protection or whatever it is called these days. It is about £500 I think - Am I better having it properly detailed once back in Cardiff with a coating etc that makes it easier to keep clean; can this be done for similar money or what other options do I have?
Not a lot of time to clean the car but just bought a nilfisk c135i which has the foam bottle on it so plan to use that rather than the local hand wash place. Any recommendations for filling that one too?
Thanks
Mark
I have a black 5 series. Never again.
I had it ceramic coated and always hand wash it. When it’s clean, it looks great.
But as soon as it rains which, let’s face it, it does quite a bit in this country, it’s covered in watermarks and just looks grubbier than another colour.
Also, any scratch sticks out like a sore thumb.
I had it ceramic coated and always hand wash it. When it’s clean, it looks great.
But as soon as it rains which, let’s face it, it does quite a bit in this country, it’s covered in watermarks and just looks grubbier than another colour.
Also, any scratch sticks out like a sore thumb.
Muzzer79 said:
I have a black 5 series. Never again.
I had it ceramic coated and always hand wash it. When it’s clean, it looks great.
But as soon as it rains which, let’s face it, it does quite a bit in this country, it’s covered in watermarks and just looks grubbier than another colour.
Also, any scratch sticks out like a sore thumb.
Wrong answer I had it ceramic coated and always hand wash it. When it’s clean, it looks great.
But as soon as it rains which, let’s face it, it does quite a bit in this country, it’s covered in watermarks and just looks grubbier than another colour.
Also, any scratch sticks out like a sore thumb.
:What was the approx cost for the coating?
MarkGArgyle said:
What are peoples views on the super guard paint protection or whatever it is called these days. It is about £500 I think - Am I better having it properly detailed once back in Cardiff with a coating etc that makes it easier to keep clean; can this be done for similar money or what other options do I have?
Thanks
Mark
I'd suggest politely declining the dealers upsell offer of paint protection and find a detailer local to you who will prepare the car properly.Thanks
Mark
£500 or thereabouts should get you a new car detail including a ceramic coating - giving you the knowledge and product tips to maintain the car post-detail should be all part of the service. Once coated the wash process is very straight forward.
Cheers,
Chris
Summit_Detailing said:
I'd suggest politely declining the dealers upsell offer of paint protection and find a detailer local to you who will prepare the car properly.
£500 or thereabouts should get you a new car detail including a ceramic coating - giving you the knowledge and product tips to maintain the car post-detail should be all part of the service. Once coated the wash process is very straight forward.
Cheers,
Chris
Great - suspected as much so thanks for the confirmation Chris.£500 or thereabouts should get you a new car detail including a ceramic coating - giving you the knowledge and product tips to maintain the car post-detail should be all part of the service. Once coated the wash process is very straight forward.
Cheers,
Chris
MarkGArgyle said:
Muzzer79 said:
I have a black 5 series. Never again.
I had it ceramic coated and always hand wash it. When it’s clean, it looks great.
But as soon as it rains which, let’s face it, it does quite a bit in this country, it’s covered in watermarks and just looks grubbier than another colour.
Also, any scratch sticks out like a sore thumb.
Wrong answer I had it ceramic coated and always hand wash it. When it’s clean, it looks great.
But as soon as it rains which, let’s face it, it does quite a bit in this country, it’s covered in watermarks and just looks grubbier than another colour.
Also, any scratch sticks out like a sore thumb.
:What was the approx cost for the coating?
Bank on about £500, maybe a bit more depending on where you are and who you use.
touchless dry it with a car air dryer or filtered water such as
http://www.raceglaze.co.uk/car-care-exterior/rinsi...
and therefore you are only touching it the one time during the suds shampoo stage. No need to use towels, which, no matter how boastfully soft the microfibre quality is, will scratch and swirl the paint.
http://www.raceglaze.co.uk/car-care-exterior/rinsi...
and therefore you are only touching it the one time during the suds shampoo stage. No need to use towels, which, no matter how boastfully soft the microfibre quality is, will scratch and swirl the paint.
I've recently purchased a Sapphire Black BMW 3 series - 4 years old. All the higher spec ones in my age and price range were dark colours, so I did a decent amount of reading up on cleaning and keeping a black car in nice condition whilst on a three month car hunt. I'm not a detailer or anything, but have kind of learned the basics of keeping a daily driver respectable so that armed with some seemingly good advise from a few forums I felt that i'd be ok.
It's been a bit of a shock in all honesty, the exterior whilst totally dent free has acquired a lot of stone rash and what I would call wash marks that can be felt with a finger nail.
I was aware of the stone rash, some of the wash marks were deeper than I'd noted. The week I got it I ended up indoors in a relations workshop for a wash/clay/decontaminate then the whole car was gently machine mopped with a couple of different compounds from 3M. This improved the swirl marks so a quick coat of Farclea G3 paste wax was applied knowing that i'd be doing further work on it.
A week or so later I re machine polished a couple of the deeper scratches, then gave it a really good hand polish using Poorboys Black Hole. Again that improved it further, it looked a different car, but this was the point it all started to unravel. I applied a coat of AG Ultra Gloss Protection, leaving it on the usual 60 minutes or so whilst I did the glass work, when I attempted to take the AG off it just continually kind of smeared. I just couldn't get any areas to shine up, no matted what cloths I used. I ended up having to go over it all again with the Poorboys Black Hole assuming that the AG was either out of date, or was reacting in someway with the Poorboys product. It was getting late in the day so I used the Farclea paste wax again which in fairness added a decent depth.
Following weekend, I needed to rinse the car off as it was covered in dust and pollen. I use a good quality wash mitt with a grit catcher, and usually a Simonez shampoo that is light on chemicals and contains carbuana to top up. I've used it for years as it doesn't water mark or streak. Again, I had really bad issues with it kind of having a halo effect after being washed - not swirl marks, more like the wax coat hadn't been properly buffed up. I was stumped, and getting a bit brassed off with it. I couldn't figure out this kind of smearing thing, it was almost like I was using the wrong amount of shampoo or again it was reacting oddly with products underneath.
So, onto attempt three last weekend. Did the usual wash, clay, wash prep - this time using Chemical Guys - Blacklight Shampoo. I then gently machine polished the bonnet and a couple of other areas that I wasn't happy with using some G3 pro paintwork renovator compound. Next used a small amount of dark t-cut by hand to the side skirts, front bumper and a couple of places I couldn't get into with the machine polish. Next stage was to again use Poorboys Black Hole half a panel at a time, taking my time with it and it really added depth. My final task was a coat of Poorboys Natty Black Wax which has really finished it off nicely. No issues with it smearing, or having a polish haze. As a test I washed the back bumper with the Blacklight - again no smears or similar.
This is how it looks now, quite hard to photograph on a phone and the light wasn't great:
You can see the level of refection where the silver BMW is parked in the street.
I'm happier now that whilst it'll take some keeping on top of, good results can be had. Like someone mentioned above, I think i'll end up doing a 'reset' polish each year and there are two inch or so long scratches that I need to get the guts up to tackle with some really fine 3k wet and dry then polish.
It's been a bit of a shock in all honesty, the exterior whilst totally dent free has acquired a lot of stone rash and what I would call wash marks that can be felt with a finger nail.
I was aware of the stone rash, some of the wash marks were deeper than I'd noted. The week I got it I ended up indoors in a relations workshop for a wash/clay/decontaminate then the whole car was gently machine mopped with a couple of different compounds from 3M. This improved the swirl marks so a quick coat of Farclea G3 paste wax was applied knowing that i'd be doing further work on it.
A week or so later I re machine polished a couple of the deeper scratches, then gave it a really good hand polish using Poorboys Black Hole. Again that improved it further, it looked a different car, but this was the point it all started to unravel. I applied a coat of AG Ultra Gloss Protection, leaving it on the usual 60 minutes or so whilst I did the glass work, when I attempted to take the AG off it just continually kind of smeared. I just couldn't get any areas to shine up, no matted what cloths I used. I ended up having to go over it all again with the Poorboys Black Hole assuming that the AG was either out of date, or was reacting in someway with the Poorboys product. It was getting late in the day so I used the Farclea paste wax again which in fairness added a decent depth.
Following weekend, I needed to rinse the car off as it was covered in dust and pollen. I use a good quality wash mitt with a grit catcher, and usually a Simonez shampoo that is light on chemicals and contains carbuana to top up. I've used it for years as it doesn't water mark or streak. Again, I had really bad issues with it kind of having a halo effect after being washed - not swirl marks, more like the wax coat hadn't been properly buffed up. I was stumped, and getting a bit brassed off with it. I couldn't figure out this kind of smearing thing, it was almost like I was using the wrong amount of shampoo or again it was reacting oddly with products underneath.
So, onto attempt three last weekend. Did the usual wash, clay, wash prep - this time using Chemical Guys - Blacklight Shampoo. I then gently machine polished the bonnet and a couple of other areas that I wasn't happy with using some G3 pro paintwork renovator compound. Next used a small amount of dark t-cut by hand to the side skirts, front bumper and a couple of places I couldn't get into with the machine polish. Next stage was to again use Poorboys Black Hole half a panel at a time, taking my time with it and it really added depth. My final task was a coat of Poorboys Natty Black Wax which has really finished it off nicely. No issues with it smearing, or having a polish haze. As a test I washed the back bumper with the Blacklight - again no smears or similar.
This is how it looks now, quite hard to photograph on a phone and the light wasn't great:
You can see the level of refection where the silver BMW is parked in the street.
I'm happier now that whilst it'll take some keeping on top of, good results can be had. Like someone mentioned above, I think i'll end up doing a 'reset' polish each year and there are two inch or so long scratches that I need to get the guts up to tackle with some really fine 3k wet and dry then polish.
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