I'm certainly no professional detailer, but I spend a lot of time on the exterior of my cars and always keep up to speed on detailingworld.....never owned a black car before, but my word does it take some maintenance!! (I'm one of those who can't walk away from the car after a drive without at least a quick spray detail!!)

However, with the vRS spitting out the exhaust my car always looks dirty!!! Arrggggghhhhhh I also find the black magic paint finish difficult to deal with on a drying/polishing level..Anyone else feel the same?

Yes, don't rekon I'll be buying a black car again any time soon! Black Magic looks lovely when it's clean and scratch free, which is approximately the first 5 minutes of ownership. Having the aerodynamics of a brick means that everything gets sucked in to the vacuum behind the car and adhered to the tailgate; frequently the backend is grey but the front and sides look fine. Popping some Miller's Diesel Ecomax in the tank helps cut down on the soot out the exhaust.

Black shows up swirl marks and scratches no end, and the chips look even worse thanks to the grey primer highlighting them. My bonnet is chipped to buggery, it looks hideous and requires a respray. Black really helps dust stand out too, I happen to live on A road and all the dust from the road is blown over the wall and on to the car, so even if I don't drive it after washing, it is visibly dirty within 3 hours.

I try to keep on top of things and the car gets SRP'd and EGP'd twice a year to try and keep the swirl marks at bay and make washing easier, but I am by no means a professional (or even an amateur). There's only so much you can do without machine correction. Prep it well, stick a good wax/sealant on it, such as Collie 476S and hope for the best really.

I rekon the paint is pretty soft, it seems to be a magnet for scratches. There is a bird stain on the bonnet (there when I bought the car) which has gone right through the laquer and the passenger side mirror has got spider webbing on top and the lacquer has worn through on the front, thanks to either hedges and/or insect remains.

On the plus side, it's not too difficult to get a deep shine out of, has some nice flake pop and means you don't have to colour code the door handles and rub strips!

Edited 30 April, 201214 yr by ckyliu

My bonnet too looks like it "stone chip" acne.....coming from an Alpine white VW I too will not be buying a black car again!!

VAG paint is notoriously hard, however you are right in that being a black car any minor scratches and gravel rashes stand out a mile.

I have tried polishing some imperfections out of mine by hand with not much success, the best types to use by hand seem to be the filler type polishes such as SRP or Poorboys Black Hole Glaze which temporarily mask things, rather than correct them

Having had a look on detailing world the consensus seems to be that for any kind of correction work you will need a machine polisher, elbow grease just ain't tough enough on VAG paint it seems :(

Come on, yes it's a bugger to clean but black is the best colour.

I wanted to quote BigJakk but the computer has decided this isn't on, anyway...

Everyone should do paint like Porsche, they have quite a few different primers instead of just boggo grey. So if you have a very dark coloured car you get black primer, if you have a red car you get red primer etc. Can't understand why other manufacturers don't do this, don't iamgine wouldn't cost all that much to do.

Come on, yes it's a bugger to clean but black is the best colour.

I agree, for about an hour or if you leave it in a garage!

I've just picked up a Yeti in Black Magic Metallic. Looked all glossy and sexy when collected it. But a 450 mile trip back in the rain there is now nothing Black or Magical about it. Hoping to give it a damn good clean this weekend. Also now starting to notice little scuffs and chips which is a little annoying. Hoping nothing a bit of elbow grease and T-Cut won't sort out.

All in all though, I love the colour and the Beast.

Don't use T-Cut - use a filling polish like Autoglym Super Resin Polish. Much less harsh on your paint. Top it off with a decent sealent or wax and then it'll be much easier to keep clean in the future.

In Halfrauds they have some fine abrasive polish for tiny scratches, worked a treat on my black magic then. then used Autoglym Deep Shine polish which is design for Dark cars. pops the colour up, boom!

Scratch X comes recommended by me......got surface scratches out around the door handles a treat with a bit of work

I used T cut, or started to yesterday. big mistake!

Was almost impossible to fully remove the haze it left, what's the best stuff to use to remove circular scratches from the previous owners over zealous washing? Looks like it was sponged down with water with grit / particles in it!

T-Cut really ISN't that bad..it;s abrasive so it will remove light scratches; you should follow up after it with a product like Autoglymn SRP.

It should't be bad, but I had a real problem polishing the haze off, it just stained the paintwork. I can still see the marks slightly today, that was after about 30 minutes polishing the rear wing around the fuel filler flap.

Another £45 in halfrauds, and a pile of autoglyms finest.

Tried using paint restorer to remove some really deep washing scratches, but I think it needs more time and patiuence than I had this afternoon. Have to say it looked fabulous given its age after I used the super resin polish, now just waiting for the wax to dry and then a final buff.

The last black car I had was a mk2 golf gti about 10 years ago and that was no bother to look after.the skoda seems to be a right pain but I do think its the best colour if its clean.so whats the best filler type polishes to cover imperfections and whats the best sealent or wax to use,Tried a few but nothing any good and all seem to fill the imperfections,stone chips with white ****.Any help would be good as I dont have a clue,must be a age thing.

Therein lies the problem; you can't fill the imperfections and stone chips! Best filler polish to apply by hand is Autogylm's Super Resin Polish (SRP) but be sure to top it off with something like Autogylm's Extra Gloss Protection (EGP, which is designed to bond with SRP) or a long lasting sealant/wax such as Colinite's 476S or Finish Kare 1000P (the former is better on dark colours), as SRP on its own wears off pretty quickly.

However, any filler polish is only going mask the swirl marks, it will not take out deeper scratches (which need abrasive polish or in some cases, machine correction) or stone chips. As has been mentioned already, T-Cut might help with some of the scratches, and Dover VRS suggested Scratch X.

I know of no way to take out the stone chips apart from a respray, but you could try coloured polish, not really read/heard much about how effective that might be. You could try some touch up paint and then polishing it down a bit, but that'll probably make a mess. At least it stops corrosion though.

I used some autoglym paint restorer, similar to T Cut but less aggressive. It seems to have softened the edges of the deep scratches, so they are less reflective and noticeable. I then used some super resin polish, and finally a coat of the Extra gloss protection, which I left on for about 45 minutes before the final buff. It's never looked better IMO, and the rain has run off it easily today.

Trick with EGP is to leave it on as long as possible before buffing. I know the bottle says an hour or so but Autoglym have said themselves that the longer the better, in fact if you have a garage they recommend to leave it overnight!

cheers ckyliu.took your advise and went for the Super Resin Polish and Extra Gloss Protection just need the weather to improve now,have you got any advise or top tips on using them.its a 57 plate car and the front end covered in very small stone chips,my old honda had 1 stone chip and I had her for 8 1/2 years so think vag paints are not very good at all really

Only have a few tips, I'm a noob myself. Having said that, the golden rule is don't use too much product, as it just goes to waste and you have more to buff off. Autoglym actually have videos on their website for how they recommend applying their products, they're worth a watch. I will warn you that SRP and EGP make a lot of dust, but they are easy to apply and remove. Don't get SRP on any plastic/rubber surfaces (e.g. body rub strips, window rubbers) because it's an arsehole to get off. Try to avoid applying either in direct sunlight, like all products (not too difficult on our shores...) Hopefully one of the veterans here can chip in with better advice, however:

The trick with SRP is to really work it in well, lots of elbow grease! Most folks recommend two applications for a better finish but I am far too lazy for that so my car just gets the one.

The tip with EGP is to apply it thin and leave it as long as possible to cure, 24 hours if you have a garage, but of course don't let it get wet/damp.

cheers ckyliu.took your advise and went for the Super Resin Polish and Extra Gloss Protection just need the weather to improve now,have you got any advise or top tips on using them.its a 57 plate car and the front end covered in very small stone chips,my old honda had 1 stone chip and I had her for 8 1/2 years so think vag paints are not very good at all really

Unfortunately you will not remove stone chips with polish, nor will it get rid of any scratches deep enough to "feel" if you slide your nail over......Most important part of car detailing is in the prep work.....decent shampoo and wash and a decent session with a clay bar first, then once the contaminants have gone then look to polish. Make sure with EGP you leave as long as possible (very minimum an hour; ideally 24 hours and use THE SMALLEST AMOUNT POSSIBLE......literally a few drops per panel.....many people recommend putting some in a spray bottle and misting the cloth you are going to use apply....one bottle should last YEARS.....be careful not to use too much as it is a pain to get off!!!

What is a clay bar?

Ooh yes I forgot about the clay bar, although I've found it can make some chips look worse! Clay bar is basically super tough and sticky blue tak, you rub it over the panel which has been sprayed in lubricant (detailing spray or diluted car shampoo) and it pulls out all the ingrained dirt that normal washing won't remove. Baked on insect remains, industrial fallout etc. Worth Googling to find a guide on how they work and how to use them, there are a few rules to follow otherwise you can make a mess of your paint. It well ensure your polishing the actual paint and not the ingrained dirt.

Edited 8 May, 201214 yr by ckyliu

I was amazed on my Apline White VW Golf just how much tar and spots clay removed, and it's as essential as a decent polish and wax as it preps your car for these stages....just be sure to keep the paintwork lubricated and it works a treat......does take time the first time yu use it but once finished you will notice the difference.....don't pay more than £10 for a bar IMO, and only use when needed ie not every wash/timed in with polish/wax