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Paint Help

Denny1

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Devon
I have a Black Pearlescent, the paintwork looks terrible in the sunshine. Swirls etc. What is the best way to get rid or hide them. I don’t want to spend a fortune on waxing if it don’t work.
Hoping some others here may have a good answer.:)

Denny
 

afropelican

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Scotland
I feel the same - have the same black paintwork - shows up every blemish especially in direct sunlight.

If you just want to hide the swirls I'd suggest using Turtlewax Colour Magic Black or Autoglym Super Resin Polish as they are quite good at filling / hiding swirls and quite easy to apply. You also have almost no risk of damaging the paint with these.

Alternatively, You could go for a a full paint correction. I did a 3 step machine polish on my car - this took my friend and I a whole day to do though. If you've not polished before I'd get someone experienced to help you out with this as you can damage the paint.
 

afropelican

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Scotland
Also note: If you take your car to public fiver type drive through or hand car washes etc you are better off sticking to the Fillers ( Colour Magic or Super Resin Polish). Just as even if you had the car professionally machine polished these type of quick washes will likely inflict swirls back into your paintwork leaving you needing another paint correction.
 

SRGTD

Autocross Newbie
Location
UK
Owning a black car is a labour of love. I’ve had five in the past, and keeping them looking good does take a lot of time and commitment.

The old school method of using a single bucket and sponge to wash with and a chamois leather to dry with, or using one of the many hand wash set-ups with will inflict swirls to a car’s paintwork, and with a black or any dark coloured car, they’ll be particularly noticeable in bright, sunny conditions. As your car is currently showing signs of swirls, if you don’t clean your car yourself, or you don’t use - or intend to use - a safe washing technique in future, then a polish containing fillers such as Autoglym Super Resin Polish as suggested by afropelican is probably your best bet. You will need to reapply it every few weeks though to continue to hide the swirl marks.

If you already use - or intend to use - a safe washing method, you might want to consider getting the paint work professionally corrected so you have a good scratch free and swirl free base to move forward from for the future. However, as afropelican has said, it won’t be a good investment to do this if you then take your car to one of the hand wash places, as they’ll very quickly re-add the swirl marks you’ve paid to have removed!

A professional detailer will offer a range of services at varying prices that will involve decontamination of the paint work (remove iron and tar deposits and other surface contaminants) and correction/removal of the swirls and scratches by a number of machine polishing stages prior to applying a protective coating of a good wax or sealant. You should then have paintwork that’s in good condition, and it will be easier to keep it that way with a good washing technique. I invested in a dual action machine polisher a few years ago, and it’s paid for itself many times over, compared to what it would have cost me to get my car professionally detailed (I am OCD about my car’s paintwork, but fortunately enjoy car detailing ).

The key to minimising future swirling and scratching is minimal contact with the bodywork, so a pre-wash stage is worthwhile to remove most of the dirt before the main wash.
  • Pre-wash stage; Snow foam and pre-rinse to remove most of the dirt before making contact with the paintwork during the main wash. While the dirt is being loosened / soaked during the pre-wash, wash the wheels, and the difficult to clean areas such as grilles, door shuts, inside the filler flap etc. Rinse off any remaining snow foam prior to carrying out the main wash.
  • Main wash; Two bucket wash method using a good quality ph neutral shampoo and wash mitt.
  • Drying stage; with good quality car drying towels or a warm air dryer.
Lots of information on websites such as Detailing World on safe, effective washing techniques.

It’s also worth considering investing in some good quality detailing brushes for those difficult to clean areas mentioned at the pre-wash stage above, and if you’re as OCD as I am about your car’s appearance :), also consider investing in some wheel cleaning brushes that are suitable for cleaning the wheel barrels as well as the front face of the wheels. I’ve got a set of Wheel Woolies; they’re not cheap, but if they’re looked after they’ll give many years of good service.

Edit: once you get your car looking the way you want it to, ensure you avoid the VW dealer complimentary service wash when your car goes in for servicing or repair work. They use a very poor washing technique, which will add swirls to your paintwork. I always instruct them not to wash my car!
 
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Denny1

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Devon
Many Thanks for your very helpful replies. I’m going to get a local detailer guy look at it.
Then if I go for it will I will do my own wash. I will then use something on it to keep its appearance up periodically.

Thanks again
Denny
 

Denny1

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Devon
Seems this guy has a few bad feedbacks. Will give him a miss. One more question, if I use Turtle wax colour magic black, can I then put a good resin over that?
 

SRGTD

Autocross Newbie
Location
UK
I’ve never used Turtle Wax Colour Magic.

If you’re looking for a decent product to mask the swirls, I’d suggest something like Poorboys Black Hole glaze;

http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/glazes/poorboys-black-hole/prod_494.html

Then finish off with a coupe of coats of good quality wax, applied thinly (less is more with wax). Collinite 845 insulator wax gives a good few months protection, is easy to apply and buff off and is good value for money;

http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/wax/collinite-no-845-insulator-wax/prod_208.html

Remember, you’ll only be masking the swirls, so you’ll need to re-apply the Poorboys Black Hole and then add a protective (wax or sealant) later on top of this when the swirls become more visible again.
 

afropelican

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Scotland
I think SRGTD is more experienced than myself wrt detailling so the 'Poorboys Glaze' should be a good bet although I have not personally tried this. Collinite 845 is something I was already looking to try soon - I've heard nothing but good things about it.

Personally, I mainly have experience with Autoglym, Autosmart, Meguiars, Turtlewax, Halfords and Simoniz line of products having only gotten in to detailing last year. Most recently I have delved into the Meguiars Professional Range, the Carplan Trade Line Up and Turtlewax Professional Range.

So from my personal experience I have concluded that out of the above product line ups:
Autoglym SRP and Turtlewax Colour Magic are the better glazes from the brands mentioned above.

Autoglym HD Wax and Meguiars Liquid Wax are the better waxes especially in terms of ease of application. A good microfibre cloth goes a long way in terms of making the buffing process easier.


To answer your question about Colour Magic - yes you can apply a wax over it.
Although, TW is a coloured glaze so make sure you keep a set of cloths/applicators specifically for applying this as they will stain. For this same reason its best to wait a few hours after applying Colour Magic before applying your wax.
 
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