Doing something wrong? Or is it inevitable
 

Had my black 86 pre-owned for 6 months now, it was given a polish before I received it so I assume the paint was in pretty good condition at that stage.

Over the months I've tried as best as I can to maintain the paint quality and minimise defects, but with summer approaching and the sun being out more often i'm starting to notice a fair amount of swirl marks/ hazing (along with frequent rock chips :/) Nothing too crazy and not visible in photos, but visible enough inperson to bug me at certain angles

I wash 1nce a week. My washing method has been 2 bucket, using a meguiars sponge that supposedly is non-scratch and non-swirl. I always pre-rinse my car before using soap. I always rinse my sponge before use and after each panel. I don't wash with swirl motions, just straight wipes.

After rinsing off the soap I dry the car straight away with a large meguiars drying towel, then i'll lightly go over the car with a megs microfibre to absorb the remaining water (My drying towel is usually too wet to fully remove the water after i'm half way through drying). I always machine wash my microfibres on their own before use, using the directions on the towels to maintain there effectiveness. When going over with the second microfibre i'm using almost no pressure, mostly just using it like a sponge to absorb the remaining water drops my drying towel couldn't remove.

I'll occasionally use a detail spray with my softest microfibre that is only used for detail spraying- and i'l only do it if the cars been recently washed but that's about it. On cloudy days the car looks flawless, but in direct sun I can see a fair few swirls.

My car is always garaged when i'm not driving it

Anything I can do better or is it just part of having a black car and I should invest in a polishing machine?


(Also I will admit when I first got the car I had little knowledge of car washing techniques and probably caused some swirling within the initial month or so until I read up on it and bought proper products. I don't think that little amount of time would have been the sole reason for my cars current condition however)

It's inevitable. Any time you're washing contaminants off using physical contact, it's going to induce swirls to some degree. If you're washing so frequently, maybe see if the foam cannon treatment is enough to have the car looking great without need for hand washing.

Black cars do tend to show their wear easier than most colors, it sucks but it'll make it easier to learn some nice correction techniques, if it's worth it to you!

it sound like you're trying to be careful, but it's important to remember that polish is a filler. it's filling in those swirls/scratches to make them unseen. eventually, you're going to wear it off, either through natural conditions you're driving through, or through physically touching the car with stuff.

it's just time to re-polish. typical steps are going to be to clay the car to remove contaminates, and then from the sound of the finish, i wouldn't even bother with a machine--the point of the machine is to create heat to fill in larger more visible imperfections, which it doesn't sound like you have.

i would use a microfiber towel by hand and apply a detailing finishing compound(neither a polishing, or scratch remover compound--they're going to be too abrasive for this), followed by a wax of your preference.

like dark said, any kind of physical contact can cause swirls. i think you are washing your car too frequently too. i know youre trying to take good care of your baby, but you might be over doing it. detail nerds even dry thier cars contactless with leaf blowers, i just got an electric blower one from the box store for ~150,use it for the yard too.

something i learned is the importance of the pre-wash. try spraying as much dirt off the car with just water before you even touch it. that way when you finally make contact, hopefully 80% of the abrasive dirt is off the car already. spray it with water, let it sit/soak/soften, spray it again all with just water

try to wash in one direction ie straight lines with the length of the car.


I apply wax with my fingers so I can feel the surface. takes some time but you will notice particles that might scratch the finish. again, straight wipes to remove the wax until the buff stage. cotton only. cloth diapers work well but check the threads with a lighter as sometimes they sneak in some nylon.

Thanks.

Yea I considered a foam cannon but thought it pointless in the end as my sponge is labelled as 'swirl and scratch free' and I maintain it to ensure it's clean of dirt before use. I think the main cause of the swirls is from my drying phase which i'd still have to do after foam cannoning ;/. They do look cool though

Didn't know polish was just a temporary filler. Or maybe i'm just getting confused with polishing and compounding as I don't know enough about machine detailing.

What compound would you suggest? Saw meguiars has a non-abrasive swirl x remover product than can be hand applied with a foam applicator pad. Main concern with hand application is if I do it and see no difference, always see mixed responses of some saying hand application is fine to hand application doesn't work because you lack the heat the machine provides

Yea I definitely do a thorough pre-wash, typically after washing a panel with my sponge it'll still look clean. I wash it off regardless

I wash it as frequently as I do since my state has been in home lockdown for 100 days and I have nothing else to do, and I live near the beach where there's a lot of sand and wind so after a few days of driving my car gets a thin layer of dust particles that I always get the urge to wash off.

The contactless dryer is something i'm definitely interested in- just worried about the noise level and whether it'll ruin my paint. (Dedicated car drying machines I feel are safe, more so regarding conventional leaf blowers which I own but haven't wanted to risk trying out)

Thanks but yea I do wash in single directions already :/. I use spray wax so nothing touches my car during wax application besides water

Black is a very different beast than other colors. It shows blemishes much faster than anything else, so a lot of what i use doesn't really apply, as i flat out refuse to purchase a black vehicle because of the paint maintenance. Other colors i can slack off more before washing!

I use wolfgang uber compound almost specifically for light touch up stuff, though i don't know how it would fare on a black vehicle. My boss exclusively buys black cars, and has an entire cabinetfull of compounds, pretreatments, cleaners, and waxes to use on them

If it's as lightly swirled as you say, a simple black-color specific wax should correct all of it in the short term. I don't believe there's any product or coating that can correct that permanently.

Good paint protection goes a long way in avoiding scratches. It makes wash maintenance easy, less dirt sticks to paint, and less agitation required to remove dirt.

The drying phase is where I am always paranoid about swirls. It doesn't take much to get between the towel and swirl paint.

I have a few specific drying towels, they're big. I fold them into 8 useable halves. Go over a section, fold and continue. The idea is to use clean sided towels as much as possible. A dry-aid can add some lubrication which can help too. I use towels when doing a ONR rinse less wash.

I'm pretty OCD when it comes to wash maintenance. I use two buckets, two wash mitts. Upper panel mitt, and a lower panel mitt. The rocker panel areas see the most grime so I tend to dedicate a mitt for those areas. Wash from top to bottom.

For drying I use a mini leaf blower which gets the car to about 90%.
Then apply a few sprays of hyper-seal around the car, and a few quick wipes it absorbs into the paint without hard buffing. Asphalt is probably the next worst color to black and I have somehow managed to keep the paint swirl free through ownership.

I would personally not bother touching the car if it isn't being washed. Detail sprays in my opinion don't give enough protection when removing dirt/dust from the surface. Mainly your cloth will pick up dirt, and can easily scratch.

Yea I haven't used my detail spray much in the last few months. I had meguiars ultimate detail spray and the only times i'd use it is after the car had been washed and waxed as another layer of protection.

I have 1 pretty big drying specific towel that I use but as I said even whilst flipping to dry sides it's usually soaked half way through drying.

I think based on what i've been told, i'll try fix the current blemishes and then for long term maintenance try a hands off approach.
Maybe instead of washing 1nce a week i'll wash 1nce every month and instead each week just do a contactless water hose down and buy an airdrying machine.

I knew what I was getting into getting a black car but I just love how it looks despite all this extra maintenance

Do you have dirt traps in your buckets? Higly recommended

i think you have polish and glaze mixed up. polish does have some fillers and oils but it actually polishes off a layer of clearcoat thats scratched and swirled. it comes back because this paint is SOFT and it swirls if you breathe on it.