Is living with a black DD without swirls just a dream?

[Legacy]

Take a poll of us pros who have black cars. I am willing to bet there are very, very few. To me, black paint just isn't worth the additional time investment to keep it a swirl free as a daily driver can be.

I agree, show car, garage queen, maybe, but dd you have to be crazy or have a lot of free time, or just don't give a shi$.

 

[Deep Gloss Auto Salon]

Take a poll of us pros about how many of us have black cars. I am willing to bet there are very, very few.

Good point.. If I wasn't doing customers vehicles I may entertain the notion of having a black DD but considering my car sees the short end of the stick due to looking after custy's cars, MY DD is sliver

 

[simplybao]

I'm beginning to learn that having a black car is a pain in the butt-- especially since my eyes have been opened up to the world of Autopian detailing. I swear, I will never own another black car again. It is a pain in the butt to keep clean and swirl free. I know it can be done, but the work required sucks.



I think I'm just going to "live" with some swirls and defects in the paint. If I get too worried about it, the car becomes no fun and that's not what life's all about it. My other two cars are carefree....



Thanks for all the comments guys! I look forward to many more questions and the great answers that you all provide!

 

[Accumulator]

I'm beginning to learn that having a black car is a pain in the butt-- especially since my eyes have been opened up to the world of Autopian detailing....I think I'm just going to "live" with some swirls and defects in the paint. If I get too worried about it, the car becomes no fun and that's not what life's all about ...!

Yeah, spend enough time around here and you can start to think that there's something downright *wrong* about driving a car that's not perfect, and that *can* take a lot of the fun out of the whole thing.



FWIW, the people I know who have the most out-and-out *FUN* with their cars don't keep 'em *nearly* as nice as they "ought to" (scare quotes intentional ). The cars *I* had the most fun with were *FAR* from marring-free; I was much too busy driving the wheels off of 'em to worry about stuff like that. And the driving was a lot more fun than the detailing.



I keep thinking that I'm gonna quit being so Autopian about the marring, at least on the dog-haulers, but then I just never can quite bring myself to do that first normal wash We'll see how I do with my new white toy, which I plan to just use and abuse (yeah, I really do! I mean it! Or so I tell myself). I almost see it as a challenge- can I be cool with having a far-from-perfect car that's simply fun to drive? :nixweiss

 

[lexusgs]

My family and I have black DD and yes it is kind of a dream to keep them swirl free especially when they have soft clear coats like Lexus/Acura uses. After polishing is the best time to enjoy that black car because it is not going to stay that way for long. You can keep swirls/scratches to a minimum which will be pretty easy correct if you use proper methods. The biggest thing is never put any kind of pressure when running a rag or sponge on your finish when washing and use clean soft products when washing and drying. The two bucket method helps but will not do much good if you are putting alot of pressure when washing as you are certainly going to introduce swirls and scratches. Even after being extremely careful I still get a few swirls, scratches, and spots.



If you have a black car the smartest thing to do is get a PC or some other decent orbital polisher and polish it once or twice a year, it will be the best investment for your car you ever made, you cannot keep a black car swirl/scratch free without polishing it every so often.

 

[imported_Puckman]

Not to be contrarian here but I have a black BMW coupe that's in perfect condition and it isn't really that much work. It's the abrasion cycles that kill you with dark colors and refining your approach to minimize scratches and marring while washing, drying and wax/seal is critical. Weekly washes with a foam gun, perfectly clean wash mitt and 2, sometimes 3, rinse buckets with grit guards and I empty my almost perfectly clean soapy wash bucket when I'm done. I drip rinse and blot dry. My de-swirl effort (rotary and 4" pads) to remove what I accumulate over 6-8 months is, for me anyway, a minor effort and is part of my semi annual detail routine anyway. And that's with detailing customers on the weekends too. I treat my car as my advertisement board for potential customers.



Lexusgs and I agree - It is possible.

 

[SuperBee364]

Yeah, spend enough time around here and you can start to think that there's something downright *wrong* about driving a car that's not perfect, and that *can* take a lot of the fun out of the whole thing.



FWIW, the people I know who have the most out-and-out *FUN* with their cars don't keep 'em *nearly* as nice as they "ought to" (scare quotes intentional ). The cars *I* had the most fun with were *FAR* from marring-free; I was much too busy driving the wheels off of 'em to worry about stuff like that. And the driving was a lot more fun than the detailing.



I keep thinking that I'm gonna quit being so Autopian about the marring, at least on the dog-haulers, but then I just never can quite bring myself to do that first normal wash We'll see how I do with my new white toy, which I plan to just use and abuse (yeah, I really do! I mean it! Or so I tell myself). I almost see it as a challenge- can I be cool with having a far-from-perfect car that's simply fun to drive? :nixweiss

mmmmmhmm.. Not to doubt you, but we *are* going to need pics...

 

[Accumulator]

Some rambling on the black vehicle thing: arguably, clearcoat is clearcoat and marring is marring, it's all just more noticeable on black. In some ways colors like silver are *tougher* for me because I have to spend so long inspecting to make sure I don't miss something that'll only show under some weird/rare lighting condition (the same sort of light marring that so many say "just doesn't show" on silver). It's easy to keep some colors looking quite good at ~85%, but to keep 'em looking nicer than that, well....I dunno if it's *really* that important what the color is :think:



I've had a lot of vehicles in a lot of colors, and my current primary dog-hauler is a DenaliXL in metallic black; it's sure no harder *for me* to keep nice than my silver vehicles :nixweiss



But I really don't expect most people to wash the way I do, and for somebody doing a remotely normal wash regimen, dark vehicles are gonna be very hard to keep marring-free.



Oh, and note that if I have to do a full-vehicle correction even once a year (including after an Ohio winter) I figure I've screwed up quite badly. Polishing that DenaliXL or our Audis once a year? No thanks!





SuperBee364- Heh heh, wouldn't that be funny, for me to finally post pics on the internet just to show a vehicle that I *don't* keep really nice :chuckle:



Unless I've become just terminally Autopian, I oughta be able to keep a white car nice enough for driver-duty with hardly any work at all ("yeah, yeah, keep dreamin' mister..."). In its current "before" condition, the shop doing the mechanicals is still all "ooh, it's so immaculate"

 

[simplybao]

Accumulator, you crack me up. I enjoy reading your responses to all of my newbie questions.



I agree that it is harder to see swirls, scratches, and marring on lighter colored cars. In fact, after I read your post, I was outside looking at my silver Subaru in the sun. In fact, it was sunlight at about 5 PM and just at the right angle did I see the swirls. Under the Halogen, I completely missed them.



I guess that I'm not a detailer that is quite up to autopian standards. I can "live" with the swirls and rids if I can't see them most of the time. I guess my philosophy is that if I can't see it, then it's not there :lol:lol



Based on all of your post that I've read from you, I hope you really can drive your white car without doing too much to it. I know that I really enjoy my other cars more than I enjoy my black one. Maybe I'm just going to get less OCD about it (if I can really do that)....by the way, I just bought another $100 worth of stuff today (Hi-Temp APC, various MF towels, more collinite, and ONR)....LOL.

 

[Accumulator]

simplybao- IMO, there's a lot to be said for the "if I can't [normally] see 'em..." approach.



Guess thing might be one of those "do as I say, not as I do" things (in addition to being more of my Autopian Heresy).



But I will say that when you get silver *really* marring-free it looks better to a quite amazing degree. It's not the subtle difference I woulda expected, but rather something that really does make you step back and say "holy...". That jump from ~85% to the >90% range is *that* dramatic. But as to whether it's *worth doing* or not, well, :nixweiss



And the biggest downside is that once you've seen it that nice, you want to *keep* it that way, and that's when the real hassles begin :sosad

 

[WhiteStripes]

I have a dark navy car as well, and I'm about to do my first polish on it here pretty soon. I'm almost afraid to do it as well, because once I do I'm wondering if I'll ever be able to drive it around and not freak out when it's not in tip top shape haha. Oh well, I'm sure everything will be fine, but there's always that little chance.



All in all though, I believe it's possible to have a black DD that is relatively swirl free. I think BMW's are a little better at it than most because of their harder clear, but like everyone has said, with the right wash technique it shouldn't be too hard.

 

[imported_Detailing Technology]

I have a 08 Black Yukon Denali XL that is swirl free with almost 20K on it. It's not a dream but just a nightmare to keep it looking good. I'm constantly cleaning it and always checking it for defects. A garage really helps!

I'll agree, I've had black daily drivers for many moon. But only the last 3 years have been honest swirl free driving for me.

 

[simplybao]

But I will say that when you get silver *really* marring-free it looks better to a quite amazing degree. It's not the subtle difference I woulda expected, but rather something that really does make you step back and say "holy...". That jump from ~85% to the >90% range is *that* dramatic. But as to whether it's *worth doing* or not, well, :nixweiss



And the biggest downside is that once you've seen it that nice, you want to *keep* it that way, and that's when the real hassles begin :sosad

I must tell you that I noticed a very dramatic difference a few weeks ago on the silver subie. I clayed, applied KAIO by hand (my arms and hands were so sore after that) and then finished with a coat of Collinite (with a second coat a week later) and I stepped back and said WOW. It didn't look that good when I picked it up at the dealer. It's amazing what a little bit of elbow grease can do. I know the swirls are still there because I can see them in certain light, but most of the time, I just like to sit back and admire it because it looks so good.



It gets me to wondering what would happen if I busted out the cyclo on it. Maybe another day, LOL.

 

[Accumulator]

I must tell you that I noticed a very dramatic difference a few weeks ago on the silver subie...It gets me to wondering what would happen if I busted out the cyclo on it..

My Subies always corrected pretty easily, and yeah, the Klasse twins looked good on the silver one. I don't always like KSG on silver, but Subaru silver looks OK with it IMO.



Take that Cyclo to it some time, maybe to a panel or two at a time after each of a series of washes. I think you'll appreciate the difference. Even on silver, getting the light to reflect off a smooth surface, as opposed to refracting off a scratched (thus not-so-smooth) one, really can make a big difference.



Oh sheesh, reading myself here makes me thing how I gotta do that white car properly after all

 

[Cleaning Fool]

I have a black car. Its almost cuased me to drink, take anti-depressants, some nerve pills and prozak..But nothing looks better when its all cleaned up.

 

[simplybao]

I have a black car. Its almost cuased me to drink, take anti-depressants, some nerve pills and prozak..But nothing looks better when its all cleaned up.

LOLOL......I understand, I feel your pain. That's why I started this thread. Is it weird to dream about polishing your car?



I've been dreaming lately about re-doing the cadillac now that I know what I was doing wrong. I hate giving up. It's getting a bit cool outside and we have leaves everywhere that need to be cleaned up. We have the fall flowers that need to be planted. The gutters need to be cleaned out. The list goes on and on. House responsibilities are eating into my detailing time :wall

 

[Inzane]

I have a black car. It's almost caused me to drink, take anti-depressants, some nerve pills and prozak..But nothing looks better when it's all cleaned up.

:chuckle: That is sig-worthy material right there!