What's your take on Black?

C

cetbal800

New member
Newbie here and found this great forum. My question is I have a black BMW and want to know what is the best product out there that will bring out the black in a deep gloss shine. I've seen at car shows 2 exact same black cars and both owners used seperate polish/wax but one black looks wet but doesn't have that deep gloss that brings out the black color that the other did. What is your recommendation.


My second question is what is your proceedure and products you use after wash/claybar/HD Cleanse. What Polish and Wax do you use. I don't mind paying alittle more so price is not really an issue. Thanks.
 
IMO Souveran paste is the best wax for a black vehicle. The depth of the paint afterwards is amazing. However, Natty's Paste Wax does an excellent job also, but at a fraction of the cost.

I mainly use Poorboy's products for wax, polish, sealant, and scratch removers. I've found that they work very well and are priced very reasonably.
 
After washing and claying I would recommend polishing with either Poorboys or Menzerna by PC. You'll probably need something along the lines of SSR2.5/SSR1 or IP/FPII depending on how old the vehicle is and what kind of condition the paint is in. After the polishing is complete nothing at all beats Clearkotes RMG and Souveran for black, all in my humble opinion of course.
 
The real trick to black is your preperation. It will show any swirls in the finish, so if you want it to look it's best it shouldn't have any defects at all. Any good carnauba will give you a nice liquid depth, you have to experiment a bit to see what you like. Souveran is great, Nattys is great, I'm starting to gain favor in #16 (might be hard to get if you don't already have some), and I've heard good things about WG sealant (better durability too).

For polishing the Poorboy's SSR's have never steered me wrong. Make sure you work them down all the way and you won't have any problems.
 
I had a black BMW that had no metallic in the paint. I have to say that was one of the hardest cars I have ever cleaned and had to keep clean, was one of the biggest reasons I sold it.

I played around with 3M, Wolfgang's, Zaino, Four Star, P&S Car Care Products, all of which did great jobs, but still showed some smudges on the finish no matter what I did.

When I brought Poorboys line up I was hooked on the product. I started with a wash and clay, then using SSR1 with a cutting pad on the PC, then P-w-C with a polishing pad. I then followed up with a paste wax. My cars are garaged cars so durability is not always the issue, so I would normally skip the sealants.
I did at one point use UPP sealant and topped with paste wax, that gave it a real wet look, however it also had a some what oily look to me and I could see over a week time a smeary look with the regular use of my CA duster and S&W routine.

What I found for that car, was regular use of P-w-C and nothing else seemed to keep the car looking clean, shinny and smudge free for the most part and no effects with the CA duster and S&W
 
Thanks for the recommendations. Because I'm a newbie to this can someone explain what "#16" is. I think I'm going to try the Pinnacle Sovereign. Should I use Sovereign the first step after claybar or it should be after a polish (say Poorboy SSR). Everything will be done by hand as I don't have a Polisher.

So if I'm doing this correctly, my steps should be:

1. Wash
2. Claybar
3. Swirl Mark (if necessary)
4. ie. Poorboy SSR Polish
5. Pinnacle Sovereign
--or should number 4 and 5 be reverse--

If I want to put additional coats, should I alternate step 4 and 5 or two coats of polish first and the 2 coats of wax afterwards.

The car is an 2004 but swirls are beginning to show. Sorry for my newbie questions....
 
Your step 4 & 5 are pretty much the same thing. Poorboy's SSR's to remove marring.

#16 is a Meguiar's paste carnauba wax.

FWIW, as far as bringing out the shine, gloss, etc.; the prep you put into the finish before a wax/sealant will far outweigh the product you decide to use.
 
The folks have given you some good advice. I'll add mine...

For the deepest, glossiest shine on black, I would use a glaze prior to the Souveran. My favorite is Meguiar's #81 (Pro hand polish)... but there are others that are also good.

An alternative to that is to apply and remove a coat of Liquid Souvern... let it set overnight and then apply the Souveran paste.
 
Thanks for all the help. Didn't know how much detail goes into detailing. :eek As far as prep work is key to any shine...I'm assuming you're talking about claybar and cleanse (sorry newbie question I know).
 
For prep we're talking, initially anyway:
Clay
Heavy Polishing (Only if needed)
Light Polishing
Chemical Paint Cleansing
Seal or Glaze (Depending on how well you did in the other steps)
Topper wax (optional, but it helps so much).

At first you'll get a so-so finish, this is when you should use the Glaze. As you get better at defect removal and gloss enhancement you can start to use Sealants to increase the durability of your finish. My biggest piece of advice is to read everything you can on Detail City, it helps a ton in learning about products and techniques. Also, keep practicing and you'll learn what you like and what you hate, this will help you be a better detailer.
 
I really like Zymol's Carbon wax for black.

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So Sealants are usually applied before the wax. I would have thought the other way by applying the wax to get the shine and then top it with the sealant to "seal" in the wax due to the fact wax doesn't last as long.

btw..the bimmer above looks great.
 
Sealant is alway before the wax, the wax is a topper for enhance the shine from the sealant.

Nice look BMW I'm not much of a Zaino fan but that car looks great!
 
Beemerboy said:
Sealant is alway before the wax, the wax is a topper for enhance the shine from the sealant.

Nice look BMW I'm not much of a Zaino fan but that car looks great!
Click to expand...


Thanks guys!

It is Zymol not Zaino.

One can definately see a more high end look with this wax on this M3. I am putting a layer on every time I wash it.
 
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