Products for black magic paint

[NeilH]

Hi,

What cleaning products do people use for black magic paint? I have heard Collinite 915 is good wax, am I right in thinking you polish before applying it? Any polish recommendations?

Thanks

[ChrisRs]

Hi,

What cleaning products do people use for black magic paint? I have heard Collinite 915 is good wax, am I right in thinking you polish before applying it? Any polish recommendations?

Thanks

ONLY if getting rid of swirl marks should you use polish before wax. I use a clay bar and then Swissol Onyx Wax

[FinerDetails]

Hi Neil

if you are working by hand you need a paint cleanser/cleaner to prep the surface ready for the wax.

Something like Megs Deep Crystal Stage one will work fine.

Apply one section at a time, work in straight lines, do not allow to dry and wipe off, do whole car, then apply wax as per instructions on said wax container.

Hope this helps.

Iain

[Flanno]

See the thread I answered 'I want my car to shine'.

If the car is brand new, and the paint is smooth you won't need to use a paint cleanser (e.g. deep crystal paint cleaner stage 1) or a clay bar. But as FinerDetails pointed out you probably will need something and dcp stage 1 is highly recommended and mild. Use scratch x for spot swirling/scratches. You can then move onto a pure polish. Meguairs deep crystal paint polish stage 2 is pretty good. As is 3M Imperial Hand Glaze which is great on a black car as it contains filler to hide swirl marks. Neither of these have any abrasives in them. Follow with a good wax (Meguairs deep crystal carranuba stage 3 or Blitz Wax are very good) but flavour of the month at the moment is Meguair NXT Tech Wax which last alot longer. I also hear good things about Swizzol, Zaino, Klasse, and Autoglym is pretty good too.

Important thing is to get the order right. All premium products will give you the desired effect if used properly.

Bare in mind, some products will combine some of these steps - autoglym super resin polish will combine the paint cleaner and polish in one.

While the latest autoglym ultra deep shine combines paint cleaning, polish and sealant protection.

wash

clay if paint not smooth

clean paint if needed (paint cleaner, swirl remover)

polish paint (polish, glaze)

protect pain (wax, sealant)

maintain (wax topup between washes)

[FinerDetails]

not wanting to contradict here, merely open discussions.

NXT contains cleansers, so using as the LSP will remove anything layered before it.

DC3 isnt very durable at all, and hazing has been found by its use. If I were using separate products, for the same money far better waxes are readily available, use Natty's, or natty's blue for example.

[Flanno]

Sorry but it won't even though to read about it, you might think so. Ask Mike over on the Meguiars forums and he will tell you the cleansers are so mild in NXT it is considered by them to be almost a pure wax. And lots of folks on there are now detailing with DC2 followed buy NXT. This is also the reason people are using NXT instead of DC3. It's more durable. Polymers generally are compared to caranuba. You should try it / research it before commenting but I do take your point that generally waxes with cleaning agents remove any glaze/polish gone before.

Here is the reply I got when I queried it over on Meguiars :

"For Protection I went with NXT Tech Wax instead of DCP Step#3 Carnauba, as I think it will last longer. However will the mild abrasives in the Tech wax remove some of the fillers/polish in DCP Step #2"

Answer

"To some degree probably "Yes", but probably not completely as the type and amount of cleaners in NXT is pretty mild, it's not a cleaner/wax by any means, besides that this product is very good at filling and masking light swirls. Just to point out, any wax on the market that actually works will fill and mask because if it's working it's leaving itself behind on the surface."

And if the OP is concerned, then use something like 3M IHG followed by 100% pure carranuba wax like Blitz but it won't last as long. Favourite over on autopia.org. Or try Klasse AllinOne or Augoglym SuperResin followed by Klasse Sealant or Autoglym Extra Gloss protection.

Which brings me to your next point. You statement about better waxes are readily available. I don't agree. Unless you have evidence. It's all in the application. There are no wonder products out there. If you apply any premium branded wax correctly I dare you to tell the difference. Most of the differences are in the way the photo is taken, light etc.. I only use autoglym and meguiars because they are readily available and work for me. And most recently meguiars as I just prefer the way it goes on/off. But like I said I met people who prefer other brands. You like Nattys. But where is the proof it is "far better". There isn't any. Of course Natty's may give bigger bang for the buck. I wouldn't know and value for money was not something I was considering.

Sorry if I am coming across as confrontational.

[FinerDetails]

When I said better, it was part of the durabilty sentence, and I was referring to better durabilty than DC3. My example given, being a paste wax has improved durability over the DC3.

I agree that appearance is difficult IF the preparation is correct - but as a professional full time Detailer I know the difference, and so do my customers.

[storm monkey]

ok, low tech and low cost, but I have found, on good paint, that a good clean up, using clay, cleanser, and a polish (megs and sonus) or a pre wax glase, followed by megs stage 3 wax, then a good coating of AG extra gloss protection (OK, I had a shelf of stuff that needed using), that you get an easy, deep and long lasting shine, and muck just falls off!

Phil

[ChrisRs]

A window in the weather and I 'Swissolled' the car today:

Apologies for the quality. I took it from the conservatory

[davenmp]

hot car, where did u get the silver door handles??

[Mr Grumpy]

hot car, where did u get the silver door handles??

The silver door handle shop.

( It's called e-bay, Chris keeps it bouyant by buying tat for his car:D )

[bryand]

...

Which brings me to your next point. You statement about better waxes are readily available. I don't agree. Unless you have evidence.

Flanno, you are sounding like an advert for Meguiars, who are simply one of many suppliers of good products.

I attended a Meguiars seminar last autumn, learnt how to use their products and acquired a set of them. Whilst I was pleased with their surface preparation stuff, I found their finishes weren't a patch on the Swissol Cleaner Fluid + Saphir wax I had been using. So better waxes are available, and at a recent Briskoda meet the finish on my car could be seen to be more pleasing than that of its neighbours.

Lastly, it might help the non-detailers on this forum if we avoided the acronyms that plague more specialist forums.

[Kruge]

Lastly, it might help the non-detailers on this forum if we avoided the acronyms that plague more specialist forums.

Agreed! I want to have a go at making my car look and (even more) sexy and uber-shiny, but don't really have any idea where to start. Reading some of the posts about detailing and waxing in here though gets my eyes glazing over in no time...