Maintaining Our Black Car

[madkatz]

"I've the same headache with [COLOR=blue ! important][COLOR=blue ! important]Honda[/COLOR][/COLOR] Paint. It's so frikkin soft. I think nail polish is more durable than Honda paint. Heck, I'd say that even white out correction fluid is more durable than Honda paint. If I so much as yell at my car's paint, I'm sure it would develop swirls. "

hahahaha I sure laughed myself off at that! hahahaha thats just crazy. but yeah people at Big berts also say honda's paint is really thin, its like after 2 detailing sessions with polishing or rubbing compound you could already clear through the primer.

Oh yeah where do you get that Xpel? Im very much interested!

And yeah same sentiments here, if i'd have to go through all those trouble maintaining black i would still get black as my new car color.

[ess]

Oh yeah where do you get that Xpel? Im very much interested!

I think the Mother's shop at Santolan Ave., San Juan sells and installs XPEL.

And yeah same sentiments here, if i'd have to go through all those trouble maintaining black i would still get black as my new car color.

Yep!

[madkatz]

*ess: alright i'll give mike a call first thing in the morning, have you tried this? is it really good? Can i apply it on other parts of the car as well? Lets say lower side panels, and those around the door handles?

[speed unlimited]

On black car most problem you encounter are swirl marks and scratches easily seen.

[n1kn0k]

is there a way to make the swirls disappear for a long time? i use turtle swirls and minor scratch remover every now and then, but i noticed after about two-three washings the swirls are back. pati pag wax ganon din, madaling bumalik. and to think naka-opti guard pa from BB yong auto ko!

[madkatz]

*n1knok: Did you work the swirl and scratch remover properly? You are supposed to use a foam pad and apply it in linear or circular motion, i prefer linear, once the polishes and abrasives here have broken down, you should have a clear and oily film build after, however using this would reduce a thin layer of you clear coat after, and you are not supposed to work it using a lot of pressure, just continuous light pressure only. I have used this product and found that it only reduces micro and hairline scratches only, work it hard enough and you're sure to remove your clear coat, a mistake i don't want to do again. If its been applied properly and still doesnt work maybe your scratches and swirls are already too deep for this products, maybe this product just hides and fills it with its polishing oils giving you the impression it was gone.

Waxes on the other hand are generally not intended to remove swirls, it could mask and hide them but yeah probably around about 2 to 3 waxes its visible again, NXT, Moms step 2 and 3, EO Nano Wax and TW black box does a great job at hiding swirls but once washed a few times its back and its really normal.

The only sure and effective way i know to remove swirls is by polishing the paint with mild to medium abrasives, this would mean a reduction in your clear coat to achieve the desired result, if the swirls are very light then a mild polish could do the job and only a fraction of the clear would be reduced but if its heavy swirls then thats up for compounding already. This would be best handled by the proffesionals, i would recommend Big Berts, Mothers and Meguiars to do this since this entails a rotary buffer, and hand application in the past attemps has never yielded me any satisfactory results.

As for the Optiguard thing, Optiguard is simply a fresh application of a sealant over your paint, what BB does as far as i remember it is

Wash
Dry
Remove Asphalt
Wash
Clay
Dry
Apply AIO ( Not sure if both )
Apply SG ( Not sure if both )( but the last time i had my car done it was both )

Carlack AIO and SG are not designed to remove and permanently hide swirls and scratches, it can however mask some very very small thin micro scratches up to very light scratches, at most for an extended period of time only, AIO and SG are generally used to provide a protective layer to the paint from dangerous contaminants, acid rain and UV's, not much from scratches, even if the bottle claims it could provide some scratch resistance trust me its not that much. AIO and SG are really good at preserving your paint though, and also making it not fade faster, i've noticed this on our company cars, I've had the optiguard from Big Berts and it still looks bright red and brand spanking new while my office mates car however has already started to fade and we go to the same carwash and all, this was on a 2 year and 3 month old car. In short Optiguard only protects the color of the paint from degrading not much from scratches and other physical damage.

Also proper washing and drying techniques are also a factor when it comes to swirls, Before i had my Revo repainted with PPG Ceramiclear it used to have lots of scratches, what i did was have BB detail it until it was swirl free, and i checked this with a halogen lamp, about a month or two i noticed the swirls were back so i had it detailed again, and again it was swirl free, this time however i decided to take a mental note of my paint condition before and after i wash them turns out i wasn't washing the car quite properly using chamois to dry and using a foam to scrub the paint, of course this was all before i started to get into detailing.

If you are not that much bent on having your car polished, then try using Mothers step 2 instead, its actually a good filler lasts also about the same number of washes, and its not abrasive as compared to TW Swirl and Scratch remover. If you have a DA polisher, then you might want to try out M82 and hit it with a DA and a white pad, this is quite gentle on paint, doesnt clear much clear coat out, but if you want to have someone do it for you then im suggesting BB again hehe, just tell them straight that you don't want to see swirls after you detailing session. If you haven't used up your 1 free detailing session then this would be a great time to use it and then have it topped up with their sealant.

Hope this helps

[forceG]

first time ko pina wax our black innova G, i was afraid at first it will leave a swirl marks but when its done i was really happy with the job, it was like a wet look super shiny black,taking care of black car really need extra effort for me 1/week shampoo then almost everyday washing lang with water only importatnt is it should be dried off after washing, use a microfiber cloth for drying para walang hirap. sipag lang talaga if you like your car to be shining all the time, no matter what color it is.

[jonjon_u]

*Jon: Hey thats some really really nice shots of black paint! Now im the one thats jealous, hahaha, so you used Mom's Power Polish on both cars right?

Correct.

How could you describe its abrasiveness? I mean is it very abrasive or a mild abrasive? Is it for heavy paint defects? or light paint defects? or just for swirls and hairline scratches?

Mother's PowerPolish is a very versatile product. You could change the aggressiveness depending on the pad. Here's a link to the Mother's forum comparing it to some Megs and PB products:

http://www.waxforum.com/showpost.php?p=3839&postcount=3

It seems like its a type of diminishing abrasive where it could actually work and polish out different levels of defects and scratches progressively becoming finer, am i right?

Yes.

Oh yeah, this is something im still not sure about, what does polycharged mean? Is it when you add a chemical to a wax/sealant to reduce the curing time? And how do you do this?

Polycharged refers to the chemical/product that's mixed with liquid waxes, sealants, and QDs to accelerate curing and boost durability, shine, slickness, etc. There are two variants of the products. What I have is the solvent based, or CH2 version.

The product comes with a dropper and 3 mixing bottles. You just fill a mixing bottle with your choice of wax or sealant. Then with the supplied dropper, you just add the correct dosage to the bottle. Shake for around a minute, then apply the polycharged wax or sealant on the paint.

Nice water beeding BTW

Thanks.

[madkatz]

*jon: Nice link, i just might try that power polish and try to remove some buffer swirls i induced on some junk panels today! O yeah BTW, where do you get/buy a polycharger? Price? Whats the difference between the two? Im very much interested in getting my hands on some of these, i really hate it when i have to leave a wax or a sealant for a long time to cure especially when i use klasse SG and i have to leave it for 24 hours, not to mention i do a 2x coat of sealant and 2x coat of wax, also around how much less would a polycharger reduce in terms of curing time?

[jonjon_u]

*jon: Nice link, i just might try that power polish and try to remove some buffer swirls i induced on some junk panels today!

Please do. One thing I noticed about the PowerPolish is that it's easy to use, and it's not as dusty as some polishes I have used.

What polisher are you currently using, by the way?

O yeah BTW, where do you get/buy a polycharger?

I got the polycharger from Autogeek when they were still selling it.

Price?

If i recall correctly, it was still priced at almost $40.00 when i got it. Now, I checked the autopia-carcare website and it's now down to $24.99.

Whats the difference between the two?

The CH2 version is for solvent based waxes/sealants. The H20 version is for your QDs, spray waxes, and some sealants like Klasse, Carlack68, and Jeffs Werkstatt.

Im very much interested in getting my hands on some of these, i really hate it when i have to leave a wax or a sealant for a long time to cure especially when i use klasse SG and i have to leave it for 24 hours, not to mention i do a 2x coat of sealant and 2x coat of wax, also around how much less would a polycharger reduce in terms of curing time?

As to the reduced curing time, that I really don't know. I've only tried it to mix it with the Mother's Reflections combo (where no curing time is needed), and the NXT 2.0 (which I don't layer).

If ever you get to try it, I hope I could get to read your findings here. Thanks.

Hope this helps.

[madkatz]

*jon: Thanks for the info, its very informative regarding polychargers im happy it could be used with klasse, as for power polish i sure will seeing you results with it, then again its with the skill on using the polisher not much on the product IMO, im heading to MOA now to get a bottle, My PC 7424xp haven't arrived yet so, so far im using BnD Wp1300 and Kp 600 both velcro fitted with LC pads, As for the findings, once i get my hands on some of them i'll be sure to update you.

[lloydwena]

sir question po, standard po ba sa mga detailers ung 3 step ng meguiars?

[madkatz]

*lloydwena: That would depend on the detail shop, Generally and a majority of detail shops don't use Megs Step 3, but there are those shops that advertise Meguiars on their detailing shop, now based on what the people at meguiars told me, it doesn't mean that if they have a Meguiars poster on the shop they use Meguiars products already, some shops with posters just have a service or an offer where they would use Meguiars products for an added fee, and sadly some detailing shops just get a poster of meguiars and post it without even using their products.

[lloydwena]

ayy. ganon ba? hahanap ako ng mga detail shops sa banaue area na ok. kung ma alam kayo, post naman.. =)

[madkatz]

*lloydwena: you could try genki car spa beside taza, i used to have my cars washed and waxed there before i knew about BB and the others. I'm not sure if they still offer Megs products though, the last time i got there i opted for the Moms 2 step Reflection. costed me around nearly 1k but its nice. Some people have been complaining about the shop but i guess nothing serious and most of the complains there could be easily remedied when you go out and check on your car from time to time.

Actually i've also gone to a shop near our place that offers genuine meguiars products but the results weren't that really outstanding, i got wax residues on paint and trims, some parts of the spoiler and claddings still feel like it has kerosene. Bottomline i think aside from a shop that uses genuine megs products ( if that your preference ) i guess going to a shop that knows the real deal when it comes to detailing is also another thing you should consider. I've gone to numerous detailing shops that doesn't actually use top brands but can still deliver great results and their workmanship is remarkable.

[jonjon_u]

Just posted some additional pics of the detail of my dad's black Honda CR-V in my detailing blog.

______________________
Jon

My auto detailing experiences:
http://autodetailingexperience.blogspot.com/

[Albino]

great blog jonjon. all i can say is WOW! nice work.

we just a black car also, and the swirl marks are killin' me. i've tried using 3m scratch and swirl remover but i'm not fully satisfied.

what else can you guys recommend?

[madkatz]

*albino: You could try Mom's Step 2, it had great filling abilities and it contains mild polishes that when used after a few times would slowly level the paint removing the swirls. You could also try Megs Step 1 or Swirl X, both are hand applied and contain abrasives that would even the paint and remove those swirls. Moms Scratch remover can also help in removing more prominent and deeper swirls.

[Albino]

*madkatz i chose between the megs swirl x and the 3m, but i got the 3m scratch and swirl remover anyway. how are the reviews on this product(3m) anyway?

blade has those moms products right?

thanks

[jonjon_u]

great blog jonjon. all i can say is WOW! nice work.

we just a black car also, and the swirl marks are killin' me. i've tried using 3m scratch and swirl remover but i'm not fully satisfied.

what else can you guys recommend?

Thanks. Hopefully I could get to detail the red civic and the black cr-v again before the next year starts.

With regard to the swirl marks on your car, I would humbly suggest machine polishing to remove them. It is still possible to remove them by hand, but expect that process to be much more difficult.

Here's an interesting article at Autogeek.

Man versus Machine

Hope this helps.


______________________
Jon

My auto detailing experiences:

http://autodetailingexperience.blogspot.com/