How to get that factory shine/luster to your paint back ?
 

Any tips on getting a super slippery/wet gloss shine to the car like when it came out of the factory?

Ive been taking my car to the same moderate end detailer and they do a good job with period wash/wax, but the car seems to get dirty after a week and never has that super slick shine to it that it seemed to have when it was new.

Any one have some tips on a great product to use? PS its a black car and its 3-4 years old now

Thanks!

Clay bar the car. Depending on the paint and finish you can do a multi stage compound/polisher using an orbital polisher, then a glaze then a paint protection like Ammo skin or Kloss and do a wax topper.


It all will highly depend on how the paint and clear are now and the color of the car.

Dont do this polishing your self its a job left to the detailers .He will check first to see how thick you paint is before he works on it .You dont want to polish through the top coat do you ?.

Have fun. The hardness of the ceramic paint makes correction a pain.

https://mbworld.org/forums/c63-amg-w...detail-me.html

If you're new to this, use an all-in-one cleaner-polish-wax for decent results. Meguiars makes a good product. And read the detailing forums - there's a lot you can learn there.

Claybar will help a lot and give you the slickness and smoothness back and with a good coat of wax will make dirt stick less and be easier to clean.

Next step up is a paint correction to also remove all the fine swirls and scratches - it is time consuming and expensive to get all the right equipment, so usually best left to a good detailer. Mine charges around $400 for a light correction, full polish to remove the majority of the swirls - obviously you can spend a lot more depending on how perfect you want it. For $400 my guy has the car for about 8 hours to do the process and it comes back looking like new - I do it typically in the spring every year or 2 depending on the wear and tear on the paint.

OP - unless you've already had some practice and know what you're doing, I would respectfully suggest you leave machine polishing to the professionals... you can end up burning the paint if you're not skilled at it.

All good suggestions here by everyone... and if you're after that wet gloss look, I would consider finding a certified Opti-Coat Pro installer and having it professionally applied (the Pro coating is not available as a DIY, and you do get a 5-year warranty on the finish). In addition to the car looking "wet" when it's clean, it also protects the paint as it is a harder coating than the top clearcoat.

Just saw the "45-hour detail" writeup by chrisridebike8 - that's an awesome job Sir! :y

+ 1 Especially on a black car where you will see the marring effects of clay.

Here ya go!

https://mbworld.org/how-tos/c/cleani...tailing-37723/

Check the how-to's tab above for more info as well.

:ditto:

Modesta
 

My car is obsidian black. I've used opticoat pro on my other cars. On this black one, I opted for a glass coating with Modesta to really make the paint pop. I also agree with most people here, it's very time consuming when done right, so I leave it for the pros.

I used to have a black car. Never again, as keeping it clean was literally a full time job. I used 3M hand glaze and then finished it off with hand wax with pretty good results.

Great suggestions by all. I would also recommend a good detail spray. I have tried many detail sprays (meguiars, black magic, chemical guys, pinnacle, wolfgang) the best I've used so far is called PappaShine Quick Mist. It has Brazilian Ivory and white Carnuba wax and is amazing as a final wipe down, after wash, bug spots, etc. especially on dark cars.