Crissy78

What is the best thing to use to wash the black car with prevent as many clear coat scratches as possible. I used a microfiber fuzzy mit but I still see some and also tried with a microfiber towel. Any suggestions on what I should buy for the washing/drying?
I used Gold Class wash. Thanks!

PetesTL

You're never going to avoid clear coat scratches, it's virtually impossible, esp. on a black car...no matter how careful you're are.

For washing, I use a special sheep-skin wash mitt from Griot's garage...it's very soft on the paint and lasts a very long time. For drying, I use a large blue microfiber drying towel also from Griot's.

Twice a year I use a random orbital polisher (also from Griot's) to remove as much surface scratches as possible and then use the Zaino polish system to get a mirror-like shine.

venom550pm

what zaino products do you use? Does the polisher scratch the clear bra? The people who installed my clear bra told me not to use any kind of cleaner wax or polish because it can scuff up the clear bra pretty bad.

prepreludesh

This thread link shows an almost mythical car detailer in the prelude world. His car was a Nighthawk Black Pearl color, so alot of your questions about the paint, he has them answered in this massively successful detailing thread. Check it out here:

http://www.preludeonline.com/f82/mcn...thread-224899/

In short: Washing the car and avoiding 90% of the scratches involves hand washing with a mitt and two buckets. one for rinsing the dirty mitt before dipping it in the suds bucket to reapply soap to the car. His method for clay-baring the paint and waxing it is also ridiculously detailed as well. Short story: don't rub or polish your paint with those compounds unless absolutely necessary, you're taking off a layer or two of clearcoat each time.

PetesTL

I use the regular Zaino Z2 polish and accelerator. The stuff about the clear bra is wrong......it needs to be protected w/wax or polish just like the rest of the car. It doesn't harm the clear bra at all....if anything it looks more smooth, shiny, and more resistent to permanent damage from bugs/tar after treatment.

CleanCL

iTrader: (4)

I'm a big fan of the Eagle One products after researching it a bit...

http://www.eagleone.com/pages/nanotechnology/

venom550pm

i know you can wax the clear bra, but they told me not to use any kind on the clear bra that will help take out swirls on clear coat. They said it can scratch the clear bra.

4G Express

Two bucket system is a must, I follow up with zaino as well on my cbp and it looks great.

prepreludesh

Umm, excuse me, but are you all not understanding the differences between polish and wax?

Polishes and Rubbing Compounds are a paste that contain abrasive elements inside of the mixture. A polishing compound has finer abrasive elements and is used to usually take the swirl out of clearcoats by effectively "grinding down" the clearcoat around the area you're applying it. A rubbing compound is much more aggressive. It is usually used for a freshly painted clearcoat to get rid of the "orange peel" effect which is when paint has millions of minute surface irregularities (feels like the outside of an orange) and the rubbing compounds abbrasive will usually act like a really really fine sandpaper that smooths it down to a smooth surface.

A wax is completely different. It will do its best to fill in surface irregularities that happen with normal wear and tear on paint by the road surface elements hitting the car and will leave behind a film that acts as a buffer to your paint much like a clearcoat. But obviously, it's not as expensive to re-wax a car every 6 months as it is to re-clear coat your car in that same time frame

Now as for a clear bra, seeing as how vinyl is not the same material as a catalyzed clearcoat, it wouldn't make sense to use a polishing compound on it, because it's going to leave millions of tiny abrassions all across the surface. If you can't see it in one application of polishing compound, you're going to see it with each successive one. If you put wax over top of vinyl, it'll eventually result in a buildup that will probably look yellowish or hazy after a while, because car wax wasn't designed to adhere to vinyl like it would be to clearcoat.

Crissy78

i am going to order from there later today, do you use the best of show wax and what do you use to apply?

PetesTL

Actually, I prefer to use Zaino polish (Z2). It was rated the best out of all the waxes/polishes out there. It has the highest durability and one of the best shines/reflectivity. Zaino can be used with any soft cotton or foam applicator.