The Thomas J

I was having my car hand washed today as I always do & i noticed in direct sunlight that it has a lot of swirling. it needs to be compounded badly. Black is a real PIA, but I just love a black car.

I use a 2 system spray wax on my car, a color wax & then a polishing wax. Takes some time, but looks really great when it's done right. I haven't been able to do it since December. But i'll do it every other week, sometimes once a week in warmer weather. I think I may change my grill as well. Same grilljust a new one as the current one is beat up from rock chips.

LemonSqueezy

This should help. Also wax will only "fill in" the swirls to temporary give it that nice look.

AMGAffalterbach

For sure, great video too! Cutting and polishing is really what you need especially on black but as I've realized that results from paint correction and detailing, in many ways, is a temporary thing that will eventually reoccur or reappear in most normal situations since very few people have these cars as weekend-only garage queens - if you do kudos to you. Just remember there is always a finite amount of clearcoat on your car.

boardboy330

I use Wolfgang Deep Gloss Sealant. Works well and if you search there is a shoot out with all the name brands - Wolfgangs was one of the sealants still beading up after 4 months. It was also what most Mercedes owners on the DIY Cleaning forums used.

I went with the Porter Cable 7424XP. I didn't hear about the Flex until after I bought the PC. It works really well but I wish it had a forward handle. For the $80 I paid for it (on sale) I like it alot.

I will say, if you go Foam hexlogic...get pad cleaner and a few of the types you want. I bought the Green (for Mercedes) and never use it. I use the Orange for polish. Yellow for compound. The Blue is a glazing pad - but I don't glaze (Fills scratches). Black or Red for Sealant. I used Black last time. I also went with 6.5" pads...I think 5.5" would be a better choice. Get a backing plate to match (5").

BTW, that paint is on point. We have Ceramic Clear on ours...it's VERY hard to polish. I used V36 from Chemical Guys initially...barely removed anything. Menzerna was the way to go out the gate. If you have a C before the paint code (C040 for black) you have Ceramic Clear. It costs about $500 a gallon (enough to paint a car) so be mindful when correcting paint not to burn through.

The Thomas J

I gave it a nice car wash & did a 3 stage spray wax, the 2nd step being a color detail and the 3rd stage being a wet look color filler. It looks great! I will get it compounded & clay bared as soon as I know for sure the snow is over & done with. We are supposed to be getting another big snow storm in the northeast again this week.

ShinyHypnotoad

Great write-up AMG. Luckily my wifes car is white and you can barely see any swirl marks on there (even though they exist when you use a 1000watt light)

AMGAffalterbach

You'll have to post some pics Thomas! And thanks Shiny, black is really a terrible color when it comes to showing ever imperfection so you're lucky when it comes to your wife's car for sure. It's all about the distance rules. Some cars look great from 15 feet, some from 5 feet, and some you can only see imperfections when you use a 1000-watt light right up close - no clear coat is perfect so I figure you have to try to get it as near-perfect as possible and keep it that way for as long as possible.

The Thomas J

These are from last June right after I picked up the car. This was the first time I did the 3 stage spray wax.

The more you do it the better it looks.

AMGAffalterbach

Man that looks nice, and highlights what I love so much about black - when waxed and kept up properly it looks like it's still wet and nice. What is the 3 stage spray wax you do?

The Thomas J

THANKS BRO!

You know what;s great about those pics? It was a beautiful day, clear bright skies sunny for miles. Those pics were taken under a tree. If I took them in direct sunlight the shine would have been blinding.

I don't like rainy days, but when it does rain I love looking out the window at my cars and watching the water bead and slide off of them like a water slide. It's awesome.

AMGAffalterbach

For sure bro! Rain always leaves my cars dirty and me very angry about it haha, if you've noticed in any of my other posts I don't exactly like weather. Not a fan hahaha

kajtek1

I am new to this topic, but what strike me on the first look is that you don't like weather, yet you live in Colorado.
On the side note, the buyer of our 1998 E300 just visited us with the car last week.
The paint still shines. We did own the car for 8 years and the only job I did on the paint was clay on front 1/2. Did not have enough elbow grease to do the rear.
EDIT the impersonator note come up when I was typing but that still doesn't change my main way of thinking.
Just strange how much abuse moderators allow on this forum.

rodneypierce

Good thread. I'm a detailing addict. But on a black car that is a DD, it's a losing battle. One product that I can recommend is poorboys black hole. It's a glaze (ie: filler) but it will keep the car looking great if applied once a month or so, followed by a coat of your favorite wax and/or sealant. I prefer either Souveran Signature Series II paste wax, or colinite 845 to top the black hole with.

AMGAffalterbach

Good recommendation rodney thanks for that, you're right about a black car being a bad DD, every condition whether it be pollen or snow or rain will work against you. Still, nothing like the deep gloss of a clean and waxed black car.

Kajtek, out of the states I've traveled to, I don't see myself living anywhere else besides Colorado or possibly certain areas of SoCal, I also go to college here so I don't have much of a choice regardless, but I'll deal with some less-than-favorable weather a few days out of the year if it means I get to live in a state where everything else for me is just perfect (except for all of the people moving here recently, the same people that cannot drive in a straight line and love to drift into the shoulder lane and spray rocks all over my car).

rodneypierce

Here are a few pictures of mine shortly after I got it and did a full correction on it. It doesn't look this good anymore, but they can look amazing!!!




And believe it or not, this is the reflection in the door.

AMGAffalterbach

Like a mirror! Excellent job!