[gizmo335i]

Wish you could come to my house and do mine...no way I'll ever have enough time to do all that...

[N0OS3]

i know how you feel. I was gonna invest in a buffer and Zaino polish kit soon and buff the swirls out as best as i can, but i already know i'm not going to get it back to "Like NEW" finish...

Living in WA doesn't help either... your car gets dirty within a day no matter what precautions you take (i.e. car cover, ceramic brakes/rotors, garage kept, etc.)... and the dirt left on your car no matter how fine it is will leave tiny scratches and swirl marks... sucks man, but to have the best color, you have to put up with the worst luck.

[wrickem]

Throw out your LED flashlight and don't go looking for problems.

[Envious Eric]

Originally Posted by wrickem

Throw out your LED flashlight and don't go looking for problems.

hahaha, I was just talking to a friend about that as well..."why do you use a light to work, you cant see those defects without it anyway!"

[BremenBMW]

The hardest party about washing a black vehicle is the drying part. I have both a black truck and black E90; - I just washed the E90 yesterday, used 4' towels and there are still some streak marks that are just unavoidable. Its frustrating. I have never used a micro-fiber towel etc...I may have to try it. I was reading on the net that this one guy is using a Leaf Blower to dry his car...sounds corny but I might try that.

[gizmo335i]

The absorber

[Laid Black 335i]

Black is a PITA but seeing the car clean is what makes it worth having this color.

[deezofchuck]

haha this is awesome - people are just as frustrated as me - i don't feel as bad anymore - what makes it worse is that my JB is parked outside.....under a tree....sigh.

[mlifxs]

thanks for this thread.
Borrowed a shurhold polisher from a family member, thinking I'd try my hand on polishing my jet black 328i. No l think I'll just give it back and go buy a bottle of quick detailer instead.

[1QuikWS6]

I use a microfiber covered sponge/RainX Car Wash Concentrate when washing all my cars, & rinse the snot out of the car before washing to try and remove any/all abrasive dust. Have a seperate sponge that use on the wheels that is never used on the car itself, a DetailedImage wash bucket with the Grit Insert to ensure that any grit drops to bottom of bucket and is not picked back up on the sponge.

On my Black Trans Am I use a Porter Cable Polisher with Menzerna Intensive Polish, followed by Menzerna Final Polish, then 'Fire & Ice' Sealant/wax combo. Do this around 2X/year to keep it swirl free - but it's not a dd so it's easier to keep it looking perfect when it's only taken out on weekends to shows & such and then returned to the garage under a cover.

After every time I take the car out I go over it with Meguires Quick Detailing spray and all cotton towels before putting the cover back on...

My T/A is a 2000 with all original paint, and I get comments all the time about how beautiful/perfect the paint looks

[justwildbeat]

Oh man I've been there, but a clean and polished black car is striking. It's almost worth the hassle lol Definitely understand the pain of keeping it looking good though since everything will show up against it (dust, pollen, etc).

[Gig103]

Ugh speaking of swirls, I'm so pissed at myself, I left a nasty mark on my driver door because I was talking to my neighbor while washing and got careless. I had a sheepskin mitt and I was using it like a sponge. The elastic part that goes over the wrist left what looks like a buffer trail across the door.

[superdrive320]

Originally Posted by RicheyBMW

I've

Everyone is always talking about you need the "right technique" etc, that's true it minimizes it a lot....but you'll bound to get some on a black car because you're touching it.

I envy everyone who didn't get a black car

Monaco blue is just as bad, if not worse than black.

[MTV]

I hate black cars for this exact reason. They look nice when freshly detailed... but damn is it difficult to maintain.

I'm a professional detailer and I would never own a black car haha.

I just polished an SRT-10 Ram... here's a quick before and after for the sake of showing just how bad black gets.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

[Noncom23]

I can attest to the Quick Detail spray
with drying. I did it for the first time
last weekend and wow! It made drying
so much faster and easier. It just felt like I
wan't hurting the paint for once.
I used a waffle MF towel and spray
the towel before a swipe rubbing gently.
Leaf blower is next.
Nice thread.

[Laguna3]

I had to learn how to wash a black car.

What I do now is rinse to get most of the dirt off, pre-soap with foam gun, wash with 2-bucket method, water sheet rinse, then dry off with ONR spray and waffle weave.

I thoroughly wash the mitt and towels,then store them in a rubbermaid tote when they dry.

I also try not to wash too often, so I use ONR for touchups.

I would get another black car. You gotta learn to live it or else you wont enjoy owning it.

[2ndname]

What black car? Mine is Gunmetal...=P

[Surly73]

It might be worth mentioning that in a lot of cases the "swirls" are not actually swirls, but are mineral build up from your rinse water. When you're drying with a towel you never get all of the water off. There's a point when you wipe and it "looks" dry, but there were actually streaks which quickly air dried and they look like swirls. If you QD the car or wash it again you'll see them go away or change.

Ditto from a California car duster. When I use mine, it leaves trails of wax from what's embedded in the cloth and it looks like you just screwed up your paint. If you lick your finger and rub perpendicular to the "scratches" they rub right off.

Lastly, if a clean, properly cared for waffle weave towel is actually leaving scratches and your technique is good, the scratches won't be any deeper than your LSP - you don't need to machine polish them out. Try switching to another LSP and remember not to wash the car in direct sun. Among other things, the heat of the sun can cause wax and some LSPs to effectively "melt" again making them easy to scuff.

[Aced16]

Gotta love a fresh detailed black car though
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=680671

[stephano5]

Blacks a pain in the ass but I wouldn't give it up for the world

[smack]

I love both of my black cars and wouldnt buy another BMW unless it was black. It does help that I am a detailer and know how to maintain my finish.

Too bad you guys are not local to me in vegas....

[jzmundy]

I've had both Jet Black and Black Sapphire Metallic BMWs. My JB X5 would get swirls from breathing on it. My BSMs have been much easier to maintain, but still much more of a PITA than a TiAg, for example. Careful washing technique is key but, like was said earlier, you're going to mar it, period.