Is it possible?

rickssimpala

rickssimpala

New member
I have a BLACK impala that needs a serious detailing inside and out.My question is for the exterior though.Can i get a black car to look as good without using power tools? CAN IT BE DONE BY HAND. Obviously its going to take more time but i'm willing to try it.What should i use?I use (dont laugh) mguiars gold car wash and also the clay bar,microfiber towls to dry and a wool wash mit. I'm new to this so please take it easy on me.
 
meroving1an said:
no. you also need to polish. and polishing by hand will not do much good.
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Polishing is only needed to remove/minimize scratches, swirls, and marring. While we can probably assume that the paint has defects, the OP did not mention this specifically so I wouldn't jump to conclusions.



rickssimpala, it would be helpful if you described your cars condition in more detail (pics would be better) as well as what your expectations are for the end result.
 
If you expect to fix marring on a black car by hand I have two words for you: filler glaze.



It is "possible", but it would take mor endurance than I would expect of a mere mortal. Scottwax used to do all his details by hand, but he's a pro with many years of experience. He also now uses a PC and a Cyclo. If you expect to do *any* polishing by hand, I highly recommend you get the 1Z polishes. Accumulator will probably chime in with better advice on them, I'm a newb to that line but they are excellent to use by hand.



Filler glaze is usually shunned around here, folks prefer to correct marring rather than hide it. I'm just being realistic that since you're working by hand, it will by *much* easier to reapply glaze occasionally than to do a complete correction of your paint by hand.
 
I agree with velobard, and remember when Scottwax did everything by hand. However, this worked for few others. If you're not interested in getting a PC at this time, you should check out the article on scratch/swirl removal by hand. It shows pics of what can be realistically taken out of the paint. Plan on spending a lot of time on it though.
 
velobard said:
If you expect to fix marring on a black car by hand I have two words for you: filler glaze.. If you expect to do *any* polishing by hand, I highly recommend you get the 1Z polishes. Accumulator will probably chime in with better advice on them, I'm a newb to that line but they are excellent to use by hand..
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You rang? :D



rickssimpala- Not sure which generation Impala you have, but the clear on all of them is fairly hard.



The 1z brand polishes work OK by hand if you put in the time/effort. They do both mechanical/abrasive correction and some concealing. I usually recommend that people buy all three (Ultra/Extra Polish, Paint Polish, Metallic Polish) and I get mine from Aloha & Welcome to Our Oasis for All Your Auto Detailing Supplies & Accessories . I'd top with a "heavy carnauba" such as Collinite 476S that does some concealing of its own and lasts a long time, but I sure wouldn't argue with any of the other good waxes out there these days. But *NO WAY* would I try/expect to get it nice enough for a sealant.



There's simply no way I'd try to do it by hand with any other products, and I've a) had a lot of black cars and b) tried a lot of products.



But IMO the single biggest thing to concentrate on is the wash technique. Once you get it nice the trick is to *keep* it that way so you don't have to polish again for a long, long time.



[insert Accumulator's usual foamgun lecture here..]
 
The simple answer to your question is no, you can't get it to look AS good without power tools. However, you CAN make it look decent but with that same time spent making it look decent by hand, you could use that same amount of time, in most cases even less, to make your car look awesome using a dual-action/random orbital (Porter Cable 7424/7336).



Trust me, a black car is not something you want to do by hand, especially if it has a hard clear. :wall
 
By hand, I would suggest using One Grand's Special Touch polish, followed by their Omega Glaze, and finally their Blitz wax. I used to use this process before I got a polisher and it produced excellent results. The Omega Glaze will hide a lot of defects and the Blitz will also to some extent. The Special Touch is an excellent paint cleaner to use by hand, and leaves the paint nice and smooth.
 
I have seen a fellow polish his SOFT single stage black car to what I can see as pretty much perfection on another board. He used 1Z Ultra and followed up with ScratchX or ColorX. It took him over 20 hours and lots of sore arms. But if your paint is clear coated and harder, it would take even longer. I would estimate something like 50 hours. It's probably possible if you spend enough time going over the inperfections over and over again until it's significantly diminished. Then follow up with something that fine polishes and conceals well. I don't think there is anything wrong with concealing swirls. I'd rather have thicker paint than thinner paint. Thinner clear coat will lose depth, too.
 
Heh heh, I used to do ss black by hand back in the day...did it for years, on all my black GMs when I was young and indefatigable. But that was then and those paints weren't anything like today's b/c.



Still, 1z Ultra *will* cut paint by hand if you put in the time.
 
I have an 02 red monte carlo. After I clayed my car I polished it all by hand using scratchX. It took alot of time and effort but the results werent bad. It didnt take out much swirls but it made the paint smoother and much more red and deep. (im still waiting to develope the pics) From far the car looks great but up close there are still annoying imperfections. Ill eventually get a pc but I would say that polishing by hand isnt a bad place to start but it isnt the best place. If you dont want to spend money, but you got the time, I'd say go for it.



Ryan
 
ryan2002ls said:
If you dont want to spend money, but you got the time, I'd say go for it.



Ryan
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I would also say go for it. Its not going to hurt anything beside your arms. It may very well get you to thinking that the PC would be a great thing to get:chuckle:
 
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