Attention All Black Car Owners

[Tonifyd]

how in the hell do you keep this car clean?
how in the hell do you keep it scratch free???
what's your method?
how do you wash it?
what wax do you use?
do you have your protection method to keep it scratch free?

My car is only about 3 weeks old, and has about 800 miles on it.
I specifically instructed the dealer not to wash it.
The first to touch my car was a professional detail.
I washed it once using the 2 bucket method.
A few weeks later the car was washed again by the same detailers.
A few panels here and there have light swirls under a light, but the majority of other panels don't show the spiderwebs yet.

It's to the point where I see a very light layer of dust on it, with a small stain under it, and if I rub it to see what it is, there's new microscratches!! how the fuck do you keep this damn car clean??

Fyi, the most detail that I've ever done to a car before was hand wash it at a coin wash, and swipe it with a quick detailer after. Hence I have no professional experience in any detailing.

I guess what i'm trying to ask is, besides the professional levels of detail that costs hundreds of dollars, what do you guys do to maintain the car swirl free?
please help!!

[MuttGrunt]

I see you're enjoying your new car!

If you think you're going to live in a swirl-free world even with proper maintenance, then you must also believe in the tooth fairy and the idea that women aren't crazy.

The goal isn't to have a swirl-free car, but rather to limit the amount of swirls and scratches on your finish which take away from its appearance. The longer you can hold off swirls, the better. The longer you can hold off major swirls and scratches, the longer your car looks like new. Everything you learn from the two-bucket wash, to proper use and care of microfiber towels, to applying wax/sealant/spray sealant/quick detailer is all focused around the same idea: mitigating risk. The more you do to lower the risk of causing defects to your finish, the longer it'll stay looking exceptional. If you don't believe me, just wait until your car is a few years old yet freshly detailed, and see how many people think your car is new.

You can't 100% eliminate risk, but you can reduce it greatly. The more you do to reduce risk, the better it'll look at the cost of exponential time, effort, and money needed to keep it up. This is why most people here on the board will choose to settle at some point. Personally, as long as my car is 90% swirl / defect free, I'm happy enough. That's enough to look better than 99.9% of all cars I see without having to go overboard in maintenance. Some of people might want to keep theirs around 95% or even 98% which would like better than 99.999% of cars, but with A LOT more time needed.

Lastly, keep in mind color plays a role with black being the easiest to spot defects on which means it's the biggest risk / biggest reward.

[Tonifyd]

Originally Posted by MuttGrunt

I see you're enjoying your new car!

If you think you're going to live in a swirl-free world even with proper maintenance, then you must also believe in the tooth fairy and the idea that women aren't crazy.

The goal isn't to have a swirl-free car, but rather to limit the amount of swirls and scratches on your finish which take away from its appearance. The longer you can hold off swirls, the better. The longer you can hold off major swirls and scratches, the longer your car looks like new. Everything you learn from the two-bucket wash, to proper use and care of microfiber towels, to applying wax/sealant/spray sealant/quick detailer is all focused around the same idea: mitigating risk. The more you do to lower the risk of causing defects to your finish, the longer it'll stay looking exceptional. If you don't believe me, just wait until your car is a few years old yet freshly detailed, and see how many people think your car is new.

You can't 100% eliminate risk, but you can reduce it greatly. The more you do to reduce risk, the better it'll look at the cost of exponential time, effort, and money needed to keep it up. This is why most people here on the board will choose to settle at some point. Personally, as long as my car is 90% swirl / defect free, I'm happy enough. That's enough to look better than 99.9% of all cars I see without having to go overboard in maintenance. Some of people might want to keep theirs around 95% or even 98% which would like better than 99.999% of cars, but with A LOT more time needed.

Lastly, keep in mind color plays a role with black being the easiest to spot defects on which means it's the biggest risk / biggest reward.

Thanks for the great reply! This will be a great intro to must OCD/anal people and letting them know what they're getting themselves into.

With that aside, now the questions..

With the amount of money, time, and stress that I've been through so far within the first 3 damn weeks of ownership, I'd gladly give up 100% swirl free.
Hell I think I'll even settle for 85 - 90%.

Even if I'd be willing to settle for less, the minimum that I'm looking to do is
1. wash the car with two bucket method at least every other week.
2. wax the car once a month?

Since I do not have a garage available to me all the time, the best I can do is use the coin wash late night when there's not many cars, so that I can use the two bucket method there. I can access a garage once a month, so that's when I can do a full wax.

1. two bucket wash
Is there a proper way for this?
sure, there are many youtube videos about this, but are there some extra details that I should know about?

2. proper care and use of microfiber towels
how could you do any more car for this besides washing them?
I bought a bulk pack of 36 towels are so, and I think I used the entire bulk with one quick detail wipe down, by using only one towel per panel I think.
AND I STILL GOT SCRATCHES!

3. applying wax/sealant/spray sealant/quick detailer
this I have no clue whatsoever. I've never used wax in my life.
I think there's a few things that people look for in waxes
a. mirror like reflection
b. deeeeeeeeep
c. wet look
d. ultimate protection

do you have a brand recommendation for such properties, or maybe a particular brand is a bit stronger that other brands in the above properties?

4. mitigating risk
please elaborate

[m3heaven]

What MuttGrunt said is 100% right. You're never going to keep your car 100% defect free. You're always going to have small fine scratches from wiping etc. I have Jet Black and I'm happy as long as I don't have swirls/cobbwebs.

Also don't use the Costco yellow microfiber towels...they suck.

[wuzupfoo]

Good luck I gave up after a year... swirls kept coming regardless of what I did, now I just use a car wash spot at work.

Im looking into getting a full on detail/paint correction after the track season is done.. for now as long as I get a wax/polish job every 2 months or so, it hides it enough for me to be happy

[Tonifyd]

Originally Posted by m3heaven

What MuttGrunt said is 100% right. You're never going to keep your car 100% defect free. You're always going to have small fine scratches from wiping etc. I have Jet Black and I'm happy as long as I don't have swirls/cobbwebs.

Also don't use the Costco yellow microfiber towels...they suck.

care to recommend a brand then? as well as where I can get them?
I planned on waxing the car this sunday, but I don't have anything !!

[m3heaven]

Check out chemical guys. Their warehouse/store is in Inglewood, CA and usually if you buy a bunch of stuff they hook you up with a discount. Even if you buy a couple of things just casually ask for a discount hahaha they're cool guys.

Also did you get my PM a while back regarding a detailer? I sent you info to one of my friends who does a good job. He detailed my car as well.

[Grail05]

I have an MR... and its a bitch to keep the car clean.

here's what i do...

1. Wash car weekly (semi detail) takes about 2 hours
2. light Wax every 6 months to get rid of the swirls and scratches.

if you do this it should be fine... but most people are having hard time washing it once a week. so if you cant do that...


here is where i buy my cleaning supplies.

http://www.chemicalguys.com/

[m3heaven]

Since it seems like you live in an apartment building like me....I like using CG's waterless wash ONE. It has clay and wax already in it so it's pretty cool.

[Grail05]

Originally Posted by m3heaven

Since it seems like you live in an apartment building like me....I like using CG's waterless wash ONE. It has clay and wax already in it so it's pretty cool.

i do but i have my own garage...

[rjd598]

Kinda off topic but why do some say the Costco mf towels suck? I have them but never use them more than once to dry the car

[tlp]

Dark colors are very High Maintence I hope your storing it in a garage.

This sounds like it may be your first dark car. It can take up to twice as much effort to keep it looking swirl free compared to a white car.

This is pure common sense & sounds obvious.

• Do not make any contact with the car surfaces unless washing or detailing.
• Do rub anything on it while the car appears to be clean.
• Do not use contaminated towels or rags. A rag the may appear to be clean can leave marks everywherre if it is containated with dirt or dust.

Good luck, I don't envy you.

[Darkstar752]

Originally Posted by rjd598

Kinda off topic but why do some say the Costco mf towels suck? I have them but never use them more than once to dry the car

They aren't as soft as typical online Microfibers as they're the bargain brand and don't have the higher level of quality. They will scratch your paint, it may not be apparent at first but they will accumulate and it will happen. I use costco for everything but paint and have some pretty soft ones that I only use on the paint.

[rjd598]

Originally Posted by Darkstar752

They aren't as soft as typical online Microfibers as they're the bargain brand and don't have the higher level of quality. They will scratch your paint, it may not be apparent at first but they will accumulate and it will happen. I use costco for everything but paint and have some pretty soft ones that I only use on the paint.

I cant say this isn't true because I'm long overdue for paint correction so I do have apparent swirls but I can't say that the condition has gotten worse. What other mf towels are out there that you can buy in bulk and are cheap? That's what lead me to the Costco ones initially because i don't mind buying bulk packs once they run out at that price

[Raz335]

JB is probably THE hardest BMW color to keep defect free. What others said is true, it will never look perfect. You just have to do your best to keep it looking as good as possible for as long as possible. It looks like you're taking the right steps. It's a lot of work to keep JB looking good, but when it's cared for properly, it can't be beat!

[templarklimek]

There are millions of people in the U.S. that are black and own cars. This is going to be a long thread.

[Tonifyd]

Originally Posted by m3heaven

Since it seems like you live in an apartment building like me....I like using CG's waterless wash ONE. It has clay and wax already in it so it's pretty cool.

this seems too good to be true!
you have no swirls??

[r_seng]

Simple, just don't drive it.

[Tonifyd]

Originally Posted by r_seng

Simple, just don't drive it.

I was waiting for a dumb response like that.

[m3heaven]

Originally Posted by Tonifyd

this seems too good to be true!
you have no swirls??

It's not perfect but I don't have any swirls or cobbwebbing of any kind. It just all depends how often you maintain your car and how dirty your car gets.

I still have "scratches" from wiping down the car and stuff.

[r_seng]

Originally Posted by Tonifyd

I was waiting for a dumb response like that.

I have a handful of friend's with black cars, pretty much impossible to keep spotless if daily driven. Just a part of being awesome I suppose?

[kasimmmmm]

my first car was black in color... I loved it when it was clean but I never bought another black car again, and wouldn't. I dropped a lot of money on detailing the damn thing!

BTW .... keep it out of the sun as much as possible

-kasim