Best way to care for black paint.

10728 Views 37 Replies 30 Participants Last post by TheCarGuy, Oct 5, 2017

ncbryan

Discussion Starter · Nov 8, 2016

I am proud owner of G2 Black Edition. I have purchased a monthly package from local car wash. It is a brand new car wash and uses cloth rollers and no plastic or paint damaging parts. Their window cleaner is ammonia free and safe for tinted windows. I typically run my truck through once a week. This car wash provides microfiber towels to dry the car yourself. They towels are always clean and very soft.

With that said my truck is developing some swirl marks that are visible when you catch it in the right light at the right angle. These marks are most visible after a few days when dust or dirt begins to show on the truck.

I know you have to be super careful with any paint but especially black paint. What is everyone's go to wax or polish for protecting and keeping their black vehicle looking best?

Thanks in advance for your comments.

Bryan

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Tidewater BE

· #2 · Nov 8, 2016

I use Wolfgang Paint sealant rather than wax because it looks just as good & lasts much longer. Even cloth rollers and soft microfiber towels are rubbing the paint so don't be surprised if swirl marks continue to develop.

There are a couple of other threads in this forum on folks favorite waxes, etc and even a wash/wax/detailing forum. I love my BE but it is a lot of work - for me a labor of love.

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Dave729

· #3 · Nov 8, 2016

ncbryan said:
I am proud owner of G2 Black Edition. I have purchased a monthly package from local car wash. It is a brand new car wash and uses cloth rollers and no plastic or paint damaging parts. Their window cleaner is ammonia free and safe for tinted windows. I typically run my truck through once a week. This car wash provides microfiber towels to dry the car yourself. They towels are always clean and very soft.

With that said my truck is developing some swirl marks that are visible when you catch it in the right light at the right angle. These marks are most visible after a few days when dust or dirt begins to show on the truck.

I know you have to be super careful with any paint but especially black paint. What is everyone's go to wax or polish for protecting and keeping their black vehicle looking best?

Thanks in advance for your comments.

Bryan

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

From 20ft away my Sport looks shiny clean. But sit in the driver's seat and my black hood is covered with dust. The way most of the car washes are set up around me, there is no blast or flood of water to knock off the dust before it goes under the first set of back&forth fabric strips. Just a gentle spray of soap or foam. So then the strips proceed to grind the dust particles into the paint. It also likely is carrying particles from previous vehicles trapped in the fabric - there's just no vigorous flow of water to flush that stuff off our truck and the strips..

I'm happy with a quick touchless wash then an occasional coin self wash where I can tackle anything stubborn and an occasional home wash if it's cloudy.

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AG87BlkLX

· #4 · Nov 8, 2016

If it's your daily driver & you run through car washes you will have to live with swirls.

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Dust

· #5 · Nov 8, 2016

Black vehicles and car washes do not mix (if you don't want to live with swirl marks that will get worse over time). A paint coating and hand washes are in your future if you want to keep your black vehicle looking its best. It takes a lot of work and commitment, but it is worth it. A clean black vehicle looks awesome!

I know this from experience, as my 2014 Audi is black.

Reactions: 1

Ridgelinerinmo

· #6 · Nov 8, 2016

Curious what you mean by "cloth rollers?" I've owned and currently own a black vehicle, but it's the same for all paint colors. If you improperly wash your car, you will have swirls. Do yourself a favor and watch some videos online of how to properly wash a vehicle. Look up the two bucket method.

trainman605

· #7 · Nov 8, 2016

I think when you come out with a new vehicle and the only color offered is, in this case, BLACK, you do your buyers and injustice. These are not collector editions by any means and never will be, there just the top of the line for the RL's. Personally this edition was not needed for sure and they just should be building more "E" models, they allready have a Sport model that only comes in BLACK and it too should come in the other colors. Now I'm not against BLACK, but for myself I would rather have a color that is easier to keep, I will reserve BLACK for my special cars that see very little use, that's just the way I see it.

trainman

Ridgemeister

· #8 · Nov 8, 2016 (Edited)

Dave729 said:
It also likely is carrying particles from previous vehicles trapped in the fabric - there's just no vigorous flow of water to flush that stuff off...

I agree,
If you want to avoid swirl marks, never take your car through an automatic wash! Hand washing with a double bucket method is the only way. There is no way that grit is completely washed off the car wash fabric from the guy before you..
My RL is 8yrs. old and I have absolutely no swirl marks because it has never been through an auto car wash. Black vehicles won't show swirls any more than other colors if you wash it correctly. Also, make sure when you have you truck serviced at a Honda dealer, tell them to never courtesy wash it!

Reactions: 1

Cym

· #9 · Nov 8, 2016

Touchless is the way to go. That's what I use and no marks

Reactions: 1

Ridgemeister

· #10 · Nov 8, 2016

Cym said:
Touchless is the way to go. That's what I use and no marks

But, It still leaves a film of dirt on your car...

Windypoint

· #11 · Nov 8, 2016

Other than hand washing as described, I have never found a car wash that uses machines that will not leave marks. I finally gave up on black cars after trying all the alternatives. They look great but you pay a price for cleanliness.

redman7.0

· #12 · Nov 8, 2016

The problem I have with car washes is the buildup of spot free additives and waxes on the plastic trim. Eventually turning it milky looking. Also builds up on the windshield making it difficult to see through on rainy nights.

Canofwhoopass

· #13 · Nov 8, 2016

This is my first black vehicle and I was very hesitant about going with the BE. My wife actually convince me to get it because we have had every other color on our vehicles. That being said as most other BE owners on this thread, nothing looks better than a detailed clean black vehicle! I use zaino and klasse on my other vehicles but used hydro2 on the BE because it's a touchless sealent. I also use a McKee blower to dry the vehicle too. The only thing that touches it is a microfibre wash mitt with the two bucket system. No swirl marks so far and loving the Black Edition!

Reactions: 1

Shineaholic

· #14 · Nov 9, 2016

Ridgemeister said:
I agree,
If you want to avoid swirl marks, never take your car through an automatic wash! Hand washing with a double bucket method is the only way. There is no way that grit is completely washed off the car wash fabric from the guy before you..
My RL is 8yrs. old and I have absolutely no swirl marks because it has never been through an auto car wash. Black vehicles won't show swirls any more than other colors if you wash it correctly. Also, make sure when you have you truck serviced at a Honda dealer, tell them to never courtesy wash it!

and do NOT Use a sponge! A sponge is like sandpaper.

Reactions: 1

CCDAstro

· #15 · Nov 9, 2016

Best Method. :grin:

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hosel

· #16 · Nov 10, 2016

I'm happy that my BE is like a trophy-wife... high maintenance but very nice to look at, lol

Lord Caedus

· #17 · Nov 10, 2016

I have recently invested in some new goodies for car washing. I like this method. Foam Cannon, at home touch less wash.

https://youtu.be/WOotw7c8TL4

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Corey337

· #18 · Nov 10, 2016

Did you try the big car wash on Johnston? Can't remember the name but it's fairly new.

coolbob

· #19 · Nov 10, 2016 (Edited)

Here's my $.02 on paint care.

There's about 0.0015 to 0.002 inch of clear coat on your new vehicle, enough to keep your vehicle looking good for a long time if you do your part.

Environmental exposure plays a large part in how long your clear coat will last. If you can garage your vehicle at home you spare it from many hours of sun exposure as well as the effects of dew settling on the paint, mixing with the contaminates on the surface and then drying on the paint every day. A garage or car port can add years to the life of the paint. I don't think car covers make sense for daily drivers and cause scratches of their own.

Ignoring your paint means it will look dirty and and letting contaminates accumulate on the paint can break down your clear coat prematurely, so it's good to keep it reasonably clean.

Aggressively cleaning your car wears down the paint faster than average. Aggressive cleaning can be things like running your vehicle through car washes with brushes, very high PSI power washing, even hand washing and polishing excessively can be detrimental.

I am fortunate to have a garage, so that helps tremendously. I used to hand wash both vehicles 2-3 times a month and clay and wax them when necessary (~ 3 times a year). When I owned black vehicles, I would have to wash, polish, wax a lot more often.

Lately I've been experimenting with spray on waxes when the water doesn't bead well after a hand wash. Once the vehicle is clean and dry, it takes 5-minutes to apply the spray on 'wax'. I think I can polish, clay and wax once or maybe twice a year, spray waxing in between. I believe this will significantly reduce the time I spend caring for the vehicles as well as the amount of rubbing on the paint that polishing, claying and hand waxing entails.

Lastly, I have given my wife the green light to take her car through a touches car wash in the event her car gets dirty and I do not have the opportunity to wash it. She probably ran her last car through the touches wash 20-30 times over the 6-years we owned it with no detrimental effects that I could detect.

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Dave729

· #20 · Nov 11, 2016

Corey337 said:
Did you try the big car wash on Johnston? Can't remember the name but it's fairly new.

What? Another RL in Laf?

I haven't taken my RL through , but thst one
does the best of the 3 big washes I have used in the past (the others being Freedom Wash on Kaliste Saloom and Gulf Breeze on Pinhook.) If I had a lighter color, I'd use any of them, but with my black RL, none...

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