[HoustonRed]

But just love it when clean. Last Sunday I washed/waxed it , it rained the same day. Everything is smeared up. Hate it!

[Dark_Knight_335]

Originally Posted by Myriad

Yeah, Space Gray was not my #1 choice when I bought my ca, but the color has grown on me especially coming from a dark green Mazda. The Gray is so much easier to maintain than my Mazda was, I can't imagine dealing with black.

HAHA, I actually hated it at first too, exact same boat. It did indeed grow on me, especially after swapping my grilles for gloss black and my wheels and painting the roof gloss black too

[lucas.kent]

Yeah, there's not much you can do to prevent imperfections on the paint; it's going to happen no matter how careful you are.

But it sure does look awesome when it's clean!!

[SilverII]

love my bsm.... clean or dirty

[whoosh]

My last two cars were black, and I have to drive on two miles of dirt road between my house and the main highway.

My new car will be white. I know silver would be better for my situation, but I already have two silver cars.

[gunnerxq]

Originally Posted by BenTrovato

I once went black, I'll never go back. I like perfection and black constantly shows me how imperfect a vehicle is

I know my car has surface scratches and swirls, I just don't want to see it everyday!

+1 I used to only like white and red cars now its only black for me.

[TheStigsTwin]

Originally Posted by SDeFranco1

That's why I went with Space Grey. Too much of a pain in the ass.

+1

loved the look of my black M3, but I live a less stressful life without that paintjob.

[sA x sKy]

A white car is a bitch to maintain too. My next car, F32 M3, will definitely be either blue or grey.

[bmwuser]

Black is the only way for me. Car, Truck and Motorcyle are all black. A lot of work, but the cleaning does not bother me. My garage is heated with cable tv so the winter weekends I spend most of my time detailing.

[kosinar]

I am not sure about Jet Black but Black Saphire I owned had almost no swirl marks after two years. I agree that washing and drying technique is crucial to avoid it. Always wash top half of the car first up to the half height of the door. Top of the car is where swirl marks are noticed the most. When you are washing whole car at the same time you are picking up sand particles from lower part of the car that is always dirtiest and scratching upper part of the car where scratshes will drive you crazy. Never dry the car with towel or anything that will touch it. Get a decent leaf blower and blow off all of the water with air. No water spots of any kind and no scratches.

[sammy_0559]

montego metallic blue FTW!

[djjasper]

Originally Posted by TheStigsTwin

+1

loved the look of my black M3, but I live a less stressful life without that paintjob.

Those 4 hours after a wash and wax are pure joy and pride, then the other 6 1/2 days of the week are just a slow accumulation of sadness and guilt. My 996 was my one and only black car ever. Space Gray was the only color on my list this time around!

[Sam335ix]

Originally Posted by djjasper

Those 4 hours after a wash and wax are pure joy and pride, then the other 6 1/2 days of the week are just a slow accumulation of sadness and guilt. My 996 was my one and only black car ever. Space Gray was the only color on my list this time around!

Man speaks the truth, I spend 50 bucks a month for car wash to just enjoy 4 days of a clean car.

[Drivaar]

I think the best solution is just not to look too closely -- no one else does either! And then you can enjoy the good look for a lot longer.

And honestly, for us to remember that we are looking at tiny scratches on beautiful, powerful, extremely luxurious $50K cars... Very very few are so lucky to have that problem.

[DaveL]

Previously owned 3 black bimmers and by the third I had learned to ignore all scratches/swirls and yes this is a talent!! Following the 3rd I purchased titanium silver and currently drive alpine white and never see a scratch or a swirl..Heaven. Enjoy the black while you have it for it is a fine looking color clean or filthy,It has that edge but the driver is it's slave!! Good luck and don't fret.

[rbocc13]

Originally Posted by RicheyBMW

I've given up and i'm just tired of stressing over it, washing a black car without getting fine line scratches or swirls is almost unavoidable. No matter how careful I am with washing, if i take one of those LED flashlights and beam it on my car i'll end up seeing new fine lines or swirls on my car. Of course, they can't be seen by the naked eye (you have to use a light) it still pisses me off.

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

Second that... and thats why my next car is going to be Slate Gray or if not a bmw w/e the other companies dark gray/silver is

[RicheyBMW]

Originally Posted by Drivaar

I think the best solution is just not to look too closely -- no one else does either! And then you can enjoy the good look for a lot longer.

And honestly, for us to remember that we are looking at tiny scratches on beautiful, powerful, extremely luxurious $50K cars... Very very few are so lucky to have that problem.

Yeah that's what I'm currently trying to do by not nit picking and taking a LED light around the whole car looking closely for imperfections and stuff. But it still sucks, I've talked with a few other members with black cars and all of them get minor unnoticeable but still there type of swirls/microscratches etc just from washing as well. Like I said, it's a battle I can't win, gotta give up on the perfect look and enjoy.

[Drivaar]

Originally Posted by RicheyBMW

Yeah that's what I'm currently trying to do by not nit picking and taking a LED light around the whole car looking closely for imperfections and stuff. But it still sucks, I've talked with a few other members with black cars and all of them get minor unnoticeable but still there type of swirls/microscratches etc just from washing as well. Like I said, it's a battle I can't win, gotta give up on the perfect look and enjoy.

Yeah, exactly. We can choose to manufacture problems that don't exist... but the thing is, there are often so many real ones to take care of too!

[matrix76]

I use micro-fiber mitt to wash it, shamois to wipe dry, and a micro-fiber cloth to shine it up= no swirl marks.

Love the BLACK

[gizmo335i]

If I would have bought mine new...mine definately wouldn't have swirls like it does....

[Envious Eric]

sorry to hear you have a crappy detailer who cant get swirl marks out from your paint. Try hitting up detailwerkz in texas, supposedly really good! or there is scottwax, or joshvette with ottmanndetailing.com

Both scott and Josh are outstanding detailers from their rep all over! scott is more of the the DD type detailer, where Josh is more higher end doing more correction jobs. Here is scotts facebook, his website is down http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000351694611

[Envious Eric]

on the topic of washing a black car, you are NEVER going to be a wash in without instilling some marring, thats the truth of it all. If someone tells you they went a year with zero swirl marks, they dont know what swirls are!!!! Anytime you touch the car, you will add some marring.

What do you do about it? plan on polishing with something like menzerna 85rd, or 106 with a black pad and keep the car at a more than suitable 90% perfect all year round! Wax monthly after sealing every polishing. Washing the car, use the sheeting method to get most of the water off first, then use forced air from either a compressor or a leaf blower to remove the water from the cracks. Spray a Quick detailer without the extras...no sealant, no anti-static, etc...something like meguiars last touch is awesome...spray it on before you dry the panel. This will help dry with less passes, cover up some light marring, and increase the gloss and slickness.

again, swirls are inevitable with black! better get used to it, otherwise it will drive you insane! I just cleaned up a new 6-series in jet black today...two steps and the car was back to 95% with just some RIDS left that there was no point in chasing. his plan...call me out more often to do a light polishing on compared to his white car!