quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:
Bigdeal, do you still have that beautiful F150?

Of course. It just keeps doing everything I ask of it which makes replacing it silly.

I take both cars to a touchless, brushless car wash to knock the crud off and keep a protective coat on them every couple weeks, depending on weather.

2 - 3 times a year, I wash with dawn dish soap and microfiber cloth, drive dry, blow dry, and microfiber wipe dry. Then a good Rejex coat is applied and allowed to cure in cool cover.

Works very well. We do not have show cars, but very nice daily drivers.

https://www.meguiars.com › products
Meguiar's® Deep Crystal™ Carnauba Wax, A2216, 16 oz., Liquid | Meguiar's

https://www.google.com/url?sa=...ra9EAmri3uWuRE9GC8SF

quote:

Originally posted by Oz_Shadow:
You are beyond wax. Time to buff.

I like Meguiars Gold car wash and either Ultimate or Gold wax. Easy on and off.

Agreed. Going to needed a good buffing job first. Then do regular upkeep. Black is a constant challenge but nothing looks better when properly maintained.

quote:

Originally posted by Aeteocles:
I'm gonna check out the Meguire's Ceramic Hybrid Spray wax.

I use it on the new truck because the flat front catches every bug in the county. I put the first coat on very heavy and wiped it with a wet microfiber towel. It took about 2 more normal applications before I noticed the bugs came off easier.

It does not have a lot of shine. It does bead water. Pollen still sticks to it.

quote:

Originally posted by scratchy:
2 - 3 times a year, I wash with dawn dish soap...

You don't want to do this. Dawn is way too harsh on the plastic or rubber trim. If you want to strip any previous wax or compounds off the paint surface to start over, use Isopropyl Alcohol on a microfiber cloth and carefully wipe down the paint.

For those of you who want a simple and durable finish on your paint, try this...

After washing and correcting the paint, apply a good 'sealant' and let it cure per the manufacturer's instructions. Then lay on a heavy coat of P&S Beadmaker, and buff off. Give Beadmaker a few hours and watch the shine and depth magnify. Then use another coat of Beadmaker after every wash as either a drying aid or on the dried paint. Beadmaker will layer with each new coat. After a few coats, this stuff is slick as can be and is great at keeping things from sticking to the surface. It will also, as the name denotes, cause any moisture to bead and run off the surface. Best of all, you can get it everywhere, its inexpensive, and its stupid proof.

I use this methodology on my old Ford truck and water will literally fly off the paint as soon as the truck moves. It also makes removing those horrible lovebugs easier in the summer.

After almost 15 hrs of paint correction.

Oh ceramic coat and front windshield tinted as well.

Black cars, the hot high maintenance beauty queen of the automotive world. I love the color but after years of obsessive labor the next vehicle I get will be a boring light color.

Yep. My last vehicle was black, and after sweating and swearing over it trying to keep it looking pristine, I eventually lowered my standards for what I considered to be "good enough" in vehicle appearance. Plus I swore that my next car would be light colored.

However, when I went to buy another, I found a smoking deal on a dark gray one, and wasn't willing to pay extra just for a lighter color. So I still have a dark car, but also still have lower (e.g. reasonable) beauty standards, so no more sweating and swearing here.

I just bought a dark grey metallic SUV and I'm going to let others clean and wax it for me.

quote:

Originally posted by sigspecops:
Black cars, the hot high maintenance beauty queen of the automotive world. I love the color but after years of obsessive labor the next vehicle I get will be a boring light color.

Silver is by far the best color for hiding dirt and always looking clean....However, it also has a lot of metallic in it and doesn't last as long as other colors.

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:
For those of you who want a simple and durable finish on your paint, try this...

After washing and correcting the paint, apply a good 'sealant' and let it cure per the manufacturer's instructions. Then lay on a heavy coat of P&S Beadmaker, and buff off. Give Beadmaker a few hours and watch the shine and depth magnify. Then use another coat of Beadmaker after every wash as either a drying aid or on the dried paint. Beadmaker will layer with each new coat. After a few coats, this stuff is slick as can be and is great at keeping things from sticking to the surface. It will also, as the name denotes, cause any moisture to bead and run off the surface. Best of all, you can get it everywhere, its inexpensive, and its stupid proof.

I use this methodology on my old Ford truck and water will literally fly off the paint as soon as the truck moves. It also makes removing those horrible lovebugs easier in the summer.

Just had the hood and roof repainted from heavy metal water spots over the years and some rust around the windshield, put in a new windshield and seal as well on the 03 Eff Juan Fiddy.



Now need to get it protected from Mother natures wrath!

Had the Interior reworked as well, the change after 18 years of use is amazing, looks brand new..



Not Bad for an oh tre'

quote:

Originally posted by sigspecops:
Black cars, the hot high maintenance beauty queen of the automotive world. I love the color but after years of obsessive labor the next vehicle I get will be a boring light color.

I had a black Ford Ranger when I got out of bootcamp..spent hours keeping it clean and looking great.

I learned my lesson. My truck now is silver-hides dirt well.

I use Nu-Finish.

Curious. Just heard an ad for this stuff:



I use and like 303 Aerospace Protectant Spray but this product is new to me.

Anyone use it? Thoughts? This guy seems to like it https://www.autogeek.net/303-g...eview-and-guide.html

I've used it on a blue car and a white car.
No issues. It doesn't attract pollen like the meguir's hybrid ceramic spray.

My bottle's half empty and it's been used on five times. I'm going to top off my daughter's car with it today after a wash. I'm waiting for my detailer to answer if I can use this as a top coat on a ceramic coating.

How much time and elbow grease you got? I don't have a surplus of either these days.

For all intensive purposes I've moved past wax and to ceramic spray on coatings. For easy application and durability, after looking into it, one name kept coming to the top - Turtle Wax, particularly Hybrid Solutions. I started with their Ice Seal & Shine (still a very solid product and it uses carnauba wax, so it might be a bit shinier), but moved to their Ceramic Spray (green label bottle) in combination with the wash (blue label bottle) for durability.

How well does it work? Well, its been about 5+ months since I did the ceramic spray, and washed more recently with the carwash, and water/rain is still beading up nicely. It might not be quite as brilliant as it was last fall (vehicle parked outside all winter), but a fresh spray application should make it quite nice. I also use a Mother's Speed Bar 2.0 before fresh applications...good tool.

I really like the multi-component, easy, fast system. And the spray-0n ceramic can be done in about 30-45 minutes depending on the size of the vehicle and how detailed you are.

Now if I had a Ferrari or high end Euro exotic, I'd probably pay for professional treatment, but for easy/fast application of off-the-shelf, I'm liking the TW.

Couple vids:



Link to original vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_r_AXaUeTIQ



Link to original: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYxKQwZah1s

Boss

So, with the long weekend, I get most of my first pass done yesterday afternoon/evening on my main driver. I washed it really well/thoroughly with Mother's car wash (no wax), using a new Mother's Speed Clay 2, and then applied the first coat of Turtle Wax Hybrid Solutions Ceramic Spray. Took ~ 4 hrs. all told. Ran out of daylight, so still have to do the door sills and a little bit of the bottom trim. The Ceramic requires at least 24 hrs. 'cure' time, which will be over the next couple days.

Plan is to wash with the TW Hybrid Solutions Car wash, apply another coat of the Hybrid Solutions Ceramic Spray...mainly for durability. Then probably a 3rd coat of TW Ice Seal & Shine or perhaps the new Graphene Pro Flex Wax (still looking into these two). I already have the Seal & Shine on hand...it would be the 3rd Layer, and with the carnuaba wax content for a just a smidge more gloss/shine.

As I won't have to Speed Clay again, and it already got a really good washing, I expect the next couple rounds will be ~2 hrs. to wash and wax. These should have the vehicle covered until I re-do in the fall prior winter kicking in.

Cheers and happy Memorial Day,
Boss

Wow! Good for you! That's a lot of work.
Let me know how the TW spray ceramic works.

I was lazy today.

I gave my car a bath with Gyeon Restart Wash and finished off with a topping of Sonax ceramic spray wax.

I was even lazier on my daughter's. I just foam gunned her car with some Meguiar's Hyper-Wash and ran a mitt with my leftover Restart Wash over it and rinsed it off and told her to take it on the freeway to dry.

Only spent an hour.

Yeah, I finished last night around 9pm...my arms were a bit wore out.

I've been pleased with the TW Hybrid Solutions Ceramic Spray + the TW HS wash. Water was still beading up fairly well since applying it last fall and prior to this fresh coating. As I say, I like it's part of a full system of TW products, and they have really good durability ratings. Also about as easy to apply as it gets short of paying someone else to do it. I also like you can apply to just about anything...glass, plastic, wheels, etc. Much like RainX on the windows. No getting that white strip on your black trim etc. The Clay Bar 2 definitely smooths things out...right after apply the ceramic, it's super smooth.

I'll have to look into the graphene a bit more...

$.02 worth,
Boss