We all know the advantages and disadvantages of getting NBP, but is anyone seeing the scratches from a towel on their car? And can they be waxed/buffed out because its seriously starting to irritate me and my car is going to get a scratch fixed soon so I figured Id let the shop take care of it. When I had my car serviced and I took the free car wash they offer, they used a squeegee (however its spelt), the same ones you wash/wipe you windshield off with at the gas station.

 

Let me answer your question first by saying that I am extremely anal about having a clean car. My favorite combo is black on black. Notice what color my car is.

My neighbor is just as bad if not worse then me. He has two black/black infiniti's, he hand washes them as much as possible and he has scratches (light) on his car.

My last car was a 03 Volvo S80, black/black, the car was like a mirror, it had scratches (light).

I've used the Klasse twins with P21S as a topper, I've used the Zaino product line, along with just about every other kind of wax or cleaner you can imagine. I've got a porter cable buffer, I am a detailing nut. I've had eight year old cars that some people thought were new.

I don't think it's possible to own a dark color car without getting these swirls on the car. You can buff them, you can hide them, but they're still there and they're going to come back.

I've previously been leasing cars so it didn't bother me as much, I bought the TL and I knew that the swirls would drive me crazy, so I got silver.

Personal choice, nothing beats a clean, shiny black car, nothing.

Dave

 

If I start using that squeegee, it will prevent the swirls from recurring no? And what product would u suggest for me to hide these swirls as much as possible?

 

My '05 NBP TL is my third black car and I've come to the conclusion that despite how hard you work to keep your car swirl/scratch free, it's pretty much impossible to keep the finish perfect. I polish using my Porter Cable a couple times a year to remove swirls/light scratches, wash my car very carefully, and use high quality microfiber towels when drying and waxing. Swirls and slight scratches always seem to come back eventually despite all these efforts. I can only imagine what my finish would look like if I used "shop towels" or let the dealer wash the car like most people do.

 

Ugh....I wash mine like twice a week...This black is hard to keep clean...I use the Maguiars polish...it helps it a lot!! You can buff out the swirlies...and every 6 months you should detaill it... Oh and the squegee helps...

 

Yep, those swirls are probably some of the most annoying things ever. I wash my car about once a week and no matter how good it looks from far away, as soon as you get within a couple inches you can see the swirls. I am interested to know what exactly this squegee thing is you guys are talking about.

 

I second this statement so much that it was one of about 5 reasons I traded my 05 NBP in on a 06 ASM. My analness had me spending too much time trying to keep the NBP clean. I don't have a garage.

 

Yup I would have loved to get a black on black, I knew I couldn't do it. BTW the squeegie is called a water blade. The most important thing on dealing with things that clean your car is to keep THEM clean. If you get a little piece of dirt in drying towel, guess what, it scratches your car.

Dave

 

That's what my dealer did the day I took my ABP in for the 1st service. I told them not wash it and they did. Scratches all over the ass end.

 

You should not use a regular towel to wash or dry your car. Try getting a big microfibre towel to dry your car & some small one's for detailing. Also, a microfibre wash mitt would be good too. Remember to use 2 buckets when washing your car. One bucket for the soap & the other for the rinse. If you can't use 2 buckets, then make sure you rinse off the wash mitt before you put it back in the soap bucket every time. I would only use the water blade on the windows only, especially on a black car.

The Klasse twins are a great combo & worked well for my NBP car. I am currently using Meguiar's products for each stage of cleaning, polishing & protecting the paint w/ my porter cable. The Megiuar's Speed Glaze #80 does wonder's in removing swirls. It's a cleaner & polisher, so just make sure you seal the paint w/ a sealant or wax after. Your better off removing the swirls, than hiding them w/ fillers.

 

Lol I didnt know what the proper name for it was, you know how you go to a gas station and they/you clean your windshields with that thing with a rubber tip, thats what they use at the dealerships. Im gonna invest into one of those after I get my car detailed.

 

The water blades don't look like the thing they have at the gas station- they are "clear", not black.

I bought one and you still have to follow up with a towel so I don't really see the point.

 

I use the Absorber Chamois to dry of my TL......I usually lay it on the car and drag it from one side to the next, not putting pressure on the body of the car not causing any fine scratches to the clear coat. After drying the car I like to wax it with Mothers clay bar, Mothers seal & glaze, and Mothers 100% pure carnuba wax. This how I achieve the wetttt!!!! look.

 

I use a leaf blower to dry mine. Pain in the ass, but worth it!

 

LOL RVC is taking car cleaning to a new level

 

This is how I kept my last black truck free of swirl marks for the entire 3 year lease . . . . . . . I only ended up with a few clear coat scratches that were not very noticeable . . . . . . . I've seen too many friends use towels to dry their cars and not notice or care about how many swirl marks they end up with . . . . .

Not sure about the best way to cover them once you have them though . . . . .

 

I've heard some people saying they do this. My question is, do they have filters on them? I would be afraid that dirt or dust or something would be shot into the paint.

 

Argh, Ill ask my friends body shop to buff it all out. Anyone know how much that porter buffer will run you? And is it fairly easy to use and apply?

 

I feel your pain if I had money to throw away I would trade in my black Tl for a white one, but I don't so I've try everything to keep it without swirls, but it's hard to do and they always seem to come back!

try out different products and see wath works for you, I recomend 3M for dark color vehicles did wonders for my ride, good luck do the best you can and don't drive yourself crazy over it, it's not worth it...

 

one thing i found that's great to use when washing the car is a grit guard. It's something that fits into a 5 gal bucket, like a mesh that lets the dirt fall to the bottom of the bucket keeping the sponge or mitt out of the dirt.

autogeek has it with or without the bucket.

The Porter cable is very easy to use and hard to screw up. check out www.autopia.org

Dave

 

A bit off topic here but can anyone please tell me wat NBP means lol sorry lol new at this Furom kind of things jus boought a TL sorry guys to throw you off there lol

 

The main point is to get most of the water off before drying. Just make sure the blade is clean and soft.

Dave

 

I feel like everytime some money is saved up its time to spend it lol . Im trying to put on the Aspec kit and get my scratches fixed from that hit and run and now in dire need of a good detail. The best though is when you go to the dealership to pick up your car and its the cleanest it will ever be and doesnt have a single scratch on it. How much do you think a new outer body will cost? Hahaha.

 

What 3M product Vin? By the way, did you paint your whole grille black or did you remove it and put black mesh, cant tell by the avatar. Car looks hot but black as night Thats what Im aiming for thought haha

 

I thought so too. but then I bought the PC and used it. Here is the thread I put all the writeup on how to use it Zaino with system. However with any system the process will be faily same but different products.

https://acurazine.com/forums/wash-wax-23/how-use-zaino-system-pc-321871/

Also see the pics when done;

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1307817

NBP gets very dirty but properly kept cleaned and waxed, nothing comes close to it. If you want minimal scratches and swirl, stop getting it cleaned from car washes. Invest some time and sweat. Get good towels, MFs and wax / polishes and use it.

 

Can someone please tell me wat NBP Means plz

 

It's Nighthawk Black Pearl (NBP) on the TL.

 

Most swirls and light scratches are the result of improper washing techniques and wrong equipment. Visit the Wash & Wax forum and check out the sticky. As far as correcting defects, the majority of surface defects (swirls, light scratches, etc) can be removed by machine polishing. There are numerous threads regarding swirl removal and polishing.

 

you can make your own "grit guard" by cutting an old piece of eggcrate diffuser used in generic office light fixtures into a circle to fit the bottom of your wash bucket.

Also if you do your final rinse with no nozzle and med flow of water so you can rinse the body with a sheet of water it will leave way less water to dry off than if you leave your car covered in beads of rinse water .......so you have less drying

 

JoganJani -

I noticed you have a clearbra on your TL. Do you still wax your car the same as you would if it didn't have the clearbra on there? (i.e. - wax the areas where the clearbra rests on the car)

Thanks!

 

Nighthawk Black Pearl

 

I use a blower to get most of the water too, it really helps getting the water out of not possible to reach spots and takes care of most of the drying. I can use one towel instead of 3 different ones and I hardly get drips from those hard to reach places.

it doesnt have a filter and im not too worried about shooting dust at the car, its just a small hand held one. not like an industrial sized gas powered blower.

then i just run a towel over it after to get all the water off.

most hand wash places that do a really good job will use compressed air to get the water out of all the places you cant reach so that when you drive away, it doesnt drip all over the car.

 

Yes I wax polish and buff as it is a clear coat. I am very carefull not to get any fax builtup on the seam though, where bra ends and paint begins. I've learnt that the hard way. While claying I put a lot of clay on the border and was a pain to get rid of it. So while waxin, claying , wiping I make strokes from Bra to Paint and not paint to bra.

 

Shouldn't this be in Wash & Wax forum?

 

Yeah your right......I guess the Mega Moderators pick and choose which threads they want to lock down.

 

Yeah, all these questions are answered in detail in the wash & wax section.

Here are a few threads specifically for black car maintanence:

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...ighlight=black
https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...ighlight=black
https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...ighlight=black
https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...ighlight=black
https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...ighlight=black
https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...ighlight=black

 

I think lembowski has a vendetta against me from a previous post. Oh well lol.

 

It leaves a lot less water on the car to soak up with towels. Cuts drying time by alot. Especially important if you're working in the sun as you can dry the entire car without worrying about water spots from drying sections.

 

We use one of these

 

No vendetta, just pointing out that there is a forum on this site devoted to cleaning our vehicles. Your question would be better answered there. Answers wouldn't be "well this is what I do", answers would come from individuals who detail cars or run detail shops for a living. You would just get a better quality answer there.