New Black Car; what's the best way to care for it?

[bbleous]

Hi,

I'm new to the forum and just to delivery on a Black Onyx 2004 Lexus LS 430. I've never owned a black car before but I do know when properly taken care of they are hard to beat for looks. But the flip side of that is they are the easiest to mess up.

There is some debate as to whether this color has a seperate clearcoat or has the clearcoat mixed in with the black paint. What I would like to know is 1) what are the steps that I need to take now to keep this care free of swirls and 2) what process should I follow (including what products to use) for maintaining the new car shine.

Thanks

[bretfraz]

to Autopia

It sounds like what you need now is to develop a process for car care. If high level detailing is new to you, the best thing to start with is a game plan for the long term. After you have developed that you can decide what products to buy.

I suggest clicking on the "Learn!" pic icon at the top of the page and read all the "how-to" series articles. This will give you a solid education of what to do and not to do.

I'd also highly recommend the Autopia Guide to Detailing, found here: http://www.bettercarcare.com/books.php
It's a veritable bible of auto care, from the basics of how to wash your car properly to maintaining your car's appearance to problem solving. Even those of us who have been doing this for decades have learned much from the guide.

Keeping your car looking stellar requires a commitment to and an investment in education and products. I think you will find most of us here agree that car care is 90% process and procedure, and the rest what products you use.

Good luck and happy car detailing

[bet993]

Originally posted by bbleous
What I would like to know is 1) what are the steps that I need to take now to keep this care free of swirls

Never drive it

In all seriousness, I have owned numerous black cars and currently my wife's daily driver is one. The truth is you need to get comfortable with the fact you will have some slight “swirl marks”, spider webbing, and/or marring (whatever you want to call them). If you can’t accept this fact you will drive yourself crazy and spend enormous amounts of time chasing the perfect surface. There is a good thread entitled “my love hate relationship with my black car” or something to that effect that is fairly current (there were post to it yesterday) where various black car owners talk about dealing with nonperfection. Don’t get me wrong, with the proper car your car will still look better than 99% of the cars on the road but don’t expect perfection. Reading this forum makes you think every car should be perfect with no blemishes, but the truth is there are going to be blemishes, especially on daily driven black cars.

Read up on the two bucket technique of washing. I empty my rinse bucket often to avoid adding back particles and dirt. Get some good quality microfiber towels for your various task. Some use the “pat dry” technique. Carnauba based products are your friend because of the filling and hiding characteristics and are more “forgiving” nature. That said the sealants are much more durable and carnauba based products do not last long on black, especially in warm climates. Many use a combination of the two. These are just some suggestions. If you do a search for Black Car you will finds hours of reading and suggestions on this topic.

[4DSC]

Welcome to Autopia, and happy reading!