Advice on Jet Black Paint Correction, Polish and Wax

[BADCLOWN]

I need to do my car in the next week or two in order to get ready for a show.

I watched a chemical guys video a few weeks ago about an all in one compound that removes water spots and swirl marks.

What do you guys recommend I do after a clay to freshen up my paint? Not looking for a terribly evasive process.

[John in VA]

What do you guys recommend I do after a clay to freshen up my paint? Not looking for a terribly evasive process.

Best time spent is a machine polish, followed by a sealer or wax, or sealer with a wax coat over it. You can apply the sealer or wax with the machine & soft pad, or by hand.

[Sreten]

Just don't use chemical guys compound/polish. It's crap. I had great experience with Meguiars, easy to work with and great results.

[BADCLOWN]

So, is the process the following:

Wash
Clay
Some type of polish to remove water/swirl marks
Wax


?


The extent of my detailing experience has always been clay bar and waxing, by hand, thats it

[John in VA]

So, is the process the following:
Wash
Clay
Some type of polish to remove water/swirl marks
Wax
?
The extent of my detailing experience has always been clay bar and waxing, by hand, thats it

It's as simple as that! Some have switched to sealants vs. wax for its durability, and you can add a coat of wax over it for bit more shine.
Clay can result in some marring of the paint, so it's best to polish after that to remove surface imperfections before adding the protective final coat.

[BADCLOWN]

I haven't heard bad things about chemical guys or Adams polishes. Obviously meguairs is established as well. Anyone have better experiences with one or the other on black paint?

[John in VA]

Detail products are almost like oil these days - most are very good, and everyone has their preference. Meguiar's and 3M can be found in the auto body supply shops, but the boutique brands will have to be purchased on-line = no big deal if you have time & $$ for shipping. Places like:
Amazon
Autogeek
Autopia-carcare.com
Carcareonline.com
Detailedimage.com
etc.

Ask-A-Pro: Best Polish or Wax for Black Paint?
ww.detailedimage.com/Ask-a-Pro/ask-a-pro-best-polish-or-wax-for-black-paint/

How to get the best shine out of a black car
http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums...t76TGVb4Ccz.97

[Sreten]

When I was polishing my Jet Black e38, I wanted something that will get the job done and that's easy to use.

I decide to try chemical guys products (V34, V36, V38) and regretted it. They didn't give the best results and one of them made so much dust that it was unbearable.

I am not professional detailer but I've polished few cars that turned out awesome.
I first clay bar the whole car, then polish using medium polishing pad with Meguiars Ultimate Compound (great for removing swirls and scratches), after that light polishing pad with M205 Mirror Glaze Ultra Finishing Polish to give it that nice shine. As a finial step I like to use M21 Mirror Glaze Synthetic Sealant 2.0 to seal the paint, much more durable than wax.

This is a Jet Black paint after one pass with Ultimate Compound.




This is how it turned out. Paint was a mess before.



This is a Jet Black ZHP that received the same treatment.

http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showt...ck-(CA)-10-500

Good luck. It's actually pretty easy once you get into it, just time consuming.

[John in VA]

I was just reading the cosmetics section on the F30 forum and a guy in FL was wowed by the CarPro Essence product for his Black Sapphire Metallic paint:
http://www.autogeek.net/carpro-essence-xtreme-500.html

"Try CarPro Essence. I love keeping my car clean but polishing is by far my least favorite part. With a microfiber cutting pad, you can remove light swirls and protect for up to 6 months all in one swoop. It sounds like it's too good to be true but I'll vouch for it. I had some light swirls from the factory and this easily got rid of it. Beading was great as it does have some Cquartz in it. As long as you don't have years of neglect, it should do the trick and get you 95% of where you want to be."

[BADCLOWN]

I think I'm going to give the Sonax line a try. My buddy uses them on his new body style S4 (also black) with amazing results.