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Black Car Lament

Yea I love black, looks amazing clean and polished but give that paint a few washes or days without washing and it looks like total crap. Maybe if I was

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Old 06-01-2012, 11:52 AM   #1 (permalink)
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Yea I love black, looks amazing clean and polished but give that paint a few washes or days without washing and it looks like total crap.

Maybe if I was independently wealthy and could spend all day washing and dusting the car I would torture myself with a black car after this one, but I think not. From now on, silver or white for me only.

I love the car, I love the magnetic black color, I hate maintaining it.

I hate micro scratches that no matter how careful you are washing/drying the car you still get, and still drive me crazy when I catch them in the light.

Maybe in my retirement ill get something in black again but damn its a lot of work to keep this looking as good as my silver car.

If I had a garage I might not be venting about this but it sits outside all the time and gets coated in all sorts of crap all day even right after a full detail!

Anyone got any stellar tips about how to keep this bad boy cleaner or what products or towels will prevent this microscratch problem.
...and yes I use a electric leaf blower but you still need to dry the sucker.

ahhh I feel better already
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Old 06-01-2012, 12:10 PM   #2 (permalink)
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Any other color gets dirty/swirls just as easily. It's just less noticable. The pollen is what drives me crazy.

It starts with a really good detail job. You need to polish out the swirls with a DA polisher. I personally use a Porter Cable and Adam's polishes. Then top it off with a high quality wax. I use Swissvax, but the Adam's Americana is great also. The key to washing without getting any swirls is to wash with a really clean mit using the two bucket system. If you buy your towels at AutoZone, Pepboys etc... You're using the wrong towels. Try the ones from Adam's or go to DetailersDomain.com. The microfiber towels you find in the stores are gauranteed to leave swirls. It is really bad right now with all the pollen and dust in the air, but it's not too bad in the summer when the trees settle down.
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Old 06-01-2012, 12:16 PM   #3 (permalink)
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Yeah man I totally feel what you're saying. I would've really liked a black Z with red trim myself.. except my father's car is black and I already saw what a nightmare it was to keep it consistently spotless. I also would've like white but I had a white Honda and after a few years in the sun it goes a little yellow and that bugs me.

Why can't you just dry it with the leaf blower alone? It should be able to dry it completely. Is it leaving water spots? Have you tried maybe 'dabbing' the towel onto the car instead of swiping? Maybe that'll dry it well enough?

Good luck man!
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Old 06-01-2012, 12:21 PM   #4 (permalink)
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Ive tried it all and eventually you will get micro swirls. I use very expensive micro fiber towels from DD and or Adams/Zaino They are definitely the best you can get, even the water may have minerals in it that cause the micro scratches theres no avoiding it. I wish I had time to porter cable it when I see a problem but theres no time in my life for that anymore, maybe a few years ago
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Old 06-01-2012, 12:35 PM   #5 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Amj2020 View Post
Ive tried it all and eventually you will get micro swirls. I use very expensive micro fiber towels from DD and or Adams/Zaino They are definitely the best you can get, even the water may have minerals in it that cause the micro scratches theres no avoiding it. I wish I had time to porter cable it when I see a problem but theres no time in my life for that anymore, maybe a few years ago
I'm OCD when it comes to the paint also. It doesn't help that the Nissan paint is really soft. Bird crap etches the clear easily and it's nearly impossible to fully fix.
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Old 06-01-2012, 02:06 PM   #6 (permalink)
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Bird poop has left this colorful blue tinted etching in my paint in numerous places...I hate Nissan Paint
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Old 06-01-2012, 05:45 PM   #7 (permalink)
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When I lived in a condo with no parking I invested in a car cover and a California Duster. Seemed to work out fine.
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Old 06-01-2012, 05:53 PM   #8 (permalink)
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Wash it weekly and come to terms with the fact that the car will look like poo 80% of the time. You can only do so much. It sounds like you have a grasp on detailing and the products to use. Just keep it up. Black cars are a full-time job.

To be honest, even when I know the car is filthy, it still looks amazing 10 feet out. And when the car is clean... well, you know
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