Mazda clearcoat question.

[Aurora]

Hey guys! I remember reading that the clear on Mazda is relatively hard. I have a black six. How hard is to keep marring-free? Looks like most of my fine scratches come from my pre-autopia days, but it`s hard to say. I`m hoping my current ways haven`t added too much.:nixweiss Scottabir, I know you have a black six as well. What do you think? I`m looking to get a PC, but I might be better off trying to hide it. I had awesome results with 1Z, just got through the whole car with a not so complete rubbing. I realize it hid more than corrected, but it is looking glossy! Any commets? Anyone.

[imported_Yosemite Dan]

Nice car, I got a silver 6. Like any black car keeping a daily driver mar free is gonna keep you awake at nights, that`s why i got silver. Good luck.

[whosyourbaba]

I have a mazda rx-8 in black. The paint is so hard to take care of. been looking at autopia for a week or so. I know doing things by hand is hard to get away swirls and scratches in my clearcoat from the winter and dealer. I just bought a PC, and learning how to use it on some other cars, then going to to use it on the rx-8. I dont like the hand results very well since black shows everything. Ill post what happens when i use my PC

[Aurora]

More Mazda folks! I never even took a second look at any mazdas.Now I`m loving them all.(Maybe not the MPV). Welcome to the forum, `BABA. I`m new myself, but this is great forum with friendly people as you`ve already seen.

[whosyourbaba]

yea, i am a member of the rx-8 one, but they dont offer much detailing advice, so i came here. Its so awesome here, i had to learn by myself and some friends telling me what to do.

[jimmybuffit]

I `take care` of a black 6 for a young neighbor. I get to see the car almost every day. He takes very good care of it, now that he has learned the tricks and tools.



After we took care of the swirls and scratches, the 6 recieved the Klasse Twins, 3x SG, and a monthly S100 topper. This car shimmers...



I don`t recall that the clear was `hard`...



By neighbor, I mean at work. His car is almost always parked in front of my shop, next to my 12 year old Black Miata. Great advertising!



It`s a black thing.



Jim

[! apmljv]

I got a black 6 as well!!! (I also own a midnight blue Protege5)



I haven`t yet get a chance to detail the 6 yet, but I`m about to do some full detailing on the 6 in couple weeks (summer starts). Though, this is what I`m about to do with it:

1. P21S Car wash

2. Clay

3. DACP with PC

4. AIO

5. SG x 2 or 3

6. P21S Carnuba Wax



Picture taken by my camera phone:

http://textamerica.com/user.images/66/IMG_378066/T304013112060.jpg

[imported_Yosemite Dan]

If you really want to make your 6 look pretty get rid of the chrome mustache and get a sport grill. JMHO.

[! apmljv]

Oh Yea, the whole front bumper and grille are going soon.. :D

[scottabir]

Honestly it appears my clearcoat is extremly SOFT. I know it is black but it does not take hardly anything at all to buff out scratches or put them in. even the lightest pulling of a towel (MF or otherwise) results in micro marring. The only way I can dry the car is to blot all water up-NO pulling of the towel.

The 1z polishes with a PC hide/remove swirls extremly well for me too, but I have been using #82 or #9 for the best resuts.

I personally like EX-P topping the #82/VM for a great look on the 6. if I go Carnauba topper I like the look of TS the best.

Hope this helps.



Yosemite- I am wondering if the `04 "moustache" will fit the `03...I like it a lot better with it painted to match the car.

[Aurora]

I appreciate your help guys.Scottabir, thanks for the reply and recommendations. EX-P, huh? I`ll have to give it a shot as well as their polishes as my lighting is horrible and their stuff is good in the sun.

Yeah, the chromed front end doesn`t look good on this car. I`d like to eventually change out the sport grill if a good aftermarket one becomes available.

[scottabir]

no problem :up

[Accumulator]

Originally posted by scottabir

Honestly it appears my clearcoat is extremly SOFT. I know it is black but it does not take hardly anything at all to buff out scratches or put them in. even the lightest pulling of a towel (MF or otherwise) results in micro marring...



This is interesting...the clear on our silver MPV is *hard*. I wash it with BHBs, use a CWB, let it get *very* dirty between washes, etc. (basically, I abuse it compared to most of our other vehicles :o ) and still no marring to speak of. If I treated our other cars like that they`d need repainted. I`ve only polished the (entire) MPV *once* since we got it a few years ago (and yes, I can see marring on silver ;) ). The clear on the MPV seems quite a bit harder than that on our Audis (and that`s saying something); when I`ve had to remove an isolated scratch it was a *lot* of work. Perhaps this is like Subarus, where the clear on some colors is noticeably harder/softer than it is on others :nixweiss

[imported_Yosemite Dan]

accumulator: I noticed that my silver 6`s clearcoat seems quite hard too. Very little marring that I can notice. As well I used to have a silver Legacy GT that I didn`t really take care of (leased) and marring was minor on that car too. Maybe lighter colored cars tend to have harder clearcoats.



scottabir: No reason why the `04 grill wouldn`t fit the `03. Wait for the Mazdaspeed 6 to come out hopefully next year. The grill should look awesome on that as well as the front bumper.

[Scottwax]

My Dad has a black 1999 626 and I polished the you-know-what out of it around Thanksgiving. He washed it a few times a month and used Quikshine on it after washing about once a month. When I got my PC in April, I used it on his car to remove some of the minor cobwebbing I couldnt get out by hand in November. After washing it, I was suprised how good it still looked. It had been 5 months since it was last waxed and I didn`t notice much degradation in the finish considering the passage of time. I`d say if you use proper washing techniques, the paint should stay pretty much mar free between waxings.