New metalic black car how to maintain after ceramic
Discussion
So I have a new car arriving with me later this week and its metalic black, normally had grey daily drivers so show less dirt and less swirls.
Its being ceramic coated on Monday so thats a start.
Need some advice on hwo to keep it clean without causing swirls etc etc
Thnking about stuff like foamers, air driers , two buckets etc etc
Ive got loads of cleaning products at home from chenical guys, drying towels etc but thinking a bit more about hardware !!
Any advice very welcome
Thanks
Phib
Its being ceramic coated on Monday so thats a start.
Need some advice on hwo to keep it clean without causing swirls etc etc
Thnking about stuff like foamers, air driers , two buckets etc etc
Ive got loads of cleaning products at home from chenical guys, drying towels etc but thinking a bit more about hardware !!
Any advice very welcome
Thanks
Phib
It’s a black car so already that’s a battle. For me common sense.
BH snow foam, minimal contact use a nice wool mitt. A decent drying towel or a blower.
Helped my brother do my car as he’s a detailed and he drys it with a blower for the crevices and drying towel
There is a filter I saw connects to your hose to get stop the horrible water spots after washing.
Once clean a bit of rain or morning dew and it’ll be dirty again though.
Check out Epic auto detailing on you tube for some quick guides and product reviews on drying equipment.
BH snow foam, minimal contact use a nice wool mitt. A decent drying towel or a blower.
Helped my brother do my car as he’s a detailed and he drys it with a blower for the crevices and drying towel
There is a filter I saw connects to your hose to get stop the horrible water spots after washing.
Once clean a bit of rain or morning dew and it’ll be dirty again though.
Check out Epic auto detailing on you tube for some quick guides and product reviews on drying equipment.
Edited by Downward on Tuesday 10th October 15:46
Given that the car will be as susceptible (to the point it makes no difference) to swirls and marks from washing as an uncoated car, then as much of a contactless wash as you can perform as possible, so jet wash, snow foam and two bucket method (top down) and air drying is the obvious way forward, which is the same for any car regardless of coating if you want to minimise marking.
I have a Sapphire Black BMW F31, black wasn't on my radar when buying but at the time the nicer colours all had poverty spec options wise.
I found one with the exact spec I wanted, but it was Sapphire Black - I ended up going for it but oh my god it's been the most challenging car to keep mark free that i've had in 27 years of driving.
It shows every stone chip, and most annoyingly swirl/marring marks.
I'm not even an amateur detailer or even close, but I do like my car clean. After a lot of trial and error and reading some things on here I now at each wash:
1) Pressure wash off and do wheels (de-iron etc). If grime is heavy or winter salt based I snow foam at this point.
2) Wet the car again with a normal hose gun, on the shower setting.
3) 2 Bucket wash with Chemical Guys Black Light car soap - you have to be VERY careful with the dosage, too much it smears, too little and it results in wash swirl marks. Use shower setting to rinse off, the Black Light kind of sheets off resulting in few watermarks.
4) Use a very soft rubber blade for the sunroof, roof and windows, dry the rest with a Maguires water magnet cloth in combination with a high quality drying towel. I'm about to buy an air dryer too for this stage.
5) Use Chemical Guys P40 detailing spray to remove any odd watermarks.
6) Clean glass, sort door edges, treat tyres and plastics with a natural finish, dust and hoover.
Takes about 90 minutes to do that.
Slowly, marks do appear so I've resigned myself to do a reset every 4 months or so, based on washing every two weeks.
This reset involves around 8 hours doing:
1) Points 1 to 4 above first plus degrease and rinse engine bay.
2) Clay to decontaminate, and a citrus Valet Pro tar remover for tar marks.
3) Tape up rubbers/plastics then a DA (DAS6 Pro) polish using Mezerna pads and compounds, I find now that the medium and fine is all I need.
4) Then either the Mezerna gloss polish or Poorboys Black Hole by hand with correct applicators and no-sewn edge microfibre cloths.
5) Side skirts are heavily stone rashed, I use a small amount of black T-cut on the leading edges. It's enough to hide the whiteness of the rash and the next stage seals it for a while.
6) Next a coat of Poorboy’s Natty’s Black Paste Wax left on to cure properly, if time allows I do a second coat.
7) Clean glass, sort door edges, treat tyres and plastics with a natural finish, dust and hoover.
End result:
The above will probably draw gasps of horror from some, but that's what works for me without having to loose two days or spend a fortune on specialist products that will probably go out of date before I can use them up.
Finally, two things learnt along the way:
1) Might be tempting, but do not wash in sunlight or hot temperatures. Sounds obvious, I know.
2) Be careful mixing products. I used to use a Farclea sealant on all my cars, but it just didn't work with the Chemical Guys and Poorboys products - lead to loads of issues with smearing and polishing halos.
I found one with the exact spec I wanted, but it was Sapphire Black - I ended up going for it but oh my god it's been the most challenging car to keep mark free that i've had in 27 years of driving.
It shows every stone chip, and most annoyingly swirl/marring marks.
I'm not even an amateur detailer or even close, but I do like my car clean. After a lot of trial and error and reading some things on here I now at each wash:
1) Pressure wash off and do wheels (de-iron etc). If grime is heavy or winter salt based I snow foam at this point.
2) Wet the car again with a normal hose gun, on the shower setting.
3) 2 Bucket wash with Chemical Guys Black Light car soap - you have to be VERY careful with the dosage, too much it smears, too little and it results in wash swirl marks. Use shower setting to rinse off, the Black Light kind of sheets off resulting in few watermarks.
4) Use a very soft rubber blade for the sunroof, roof and windows, dry the rest with a Maguires water magnet cloth in combination with a high quality drying towel. I'm about to buy an air dryer too for this stage.
5) Use Chemical Guys P40 detailing spray to remove any odd watermarks.
6) Clean glass, sort door edges, treat tyres and plastics with a natural finish, dust and hoover.
Takes about 90 minutes to do that.
Slowly, marks do appear so I've resigned myself to do a reset every 4 months or so, based on washing every two weeks.
This reset involves around 8 hours doing:
1) Points 1 to 4 above first plus degrease and rinse engine bay.
2) Clay to decontaminate, and a citrus Valet Pro tar remover for tar marks.
3) Tape up rubbers/plastics then a DA (DAS6 Pro) polish using Mezerna pads and compounds, I find now that the medium and fine is all I need.
4) Then either the Mezerna gloss polish or Poorboys Black Hole by hand with correct applicators and no-sewn edge microfibre cloths.
5) Side skirts are heavily stone rashed, I use a small amount of black T-cut on the leading edges. It's enough to hide the whiteness of the rash and the next stage seals it for a while.
6) Next a coat of Poorboy’s Natty’s Black Paste Wax left on to cure properly, if time allows I do a second coat.
7) Clean glass, sort door edges, treat tyres and plastics with a natural finish, dust and hoover.
End result:
The above will probably draw gasps of horror from some, but that's what works for me without having to loose two days or spend a fortune on specialist products that will probably go out of date before I can use them up.
Finally, two things learnt along the way:
1) Might be tempting, but do not wash in sunlight or hot temperatures. Sounds obvious, I know.
2) Be careful mixing products. I used to use a Farclea sealant on all my cars, but it just didn't work with the Chemical Guys and Poorboys products - lead to loads of issues with smearing and polishing halos.
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