MarcHarris

Paying a pro can get you potentially better results in less time than you can do it yourself, but it doesn't solve the long term issue of having a nearly perfect looking car. Only proper maintenance and washing techniques can do that. This is why it's so incredibly important to have a good two-bucket wash method with Grit Guards down pat.

Covering and concealing swirls temporarily can be done, and this is the direct purpose of "glaze" products; to help hide light defects.

Because you have a great DIY mentality and like the pride of working on your baby and enjoy it, you should start researching Dual Action polishers. DA's are the way to go as with changes in the last 10 years, you can often get the same amount of cutting power that traditional rotary polishers had, while having a better finish; all while being much safer for your car. DA's don't create the same amount of heat which greatly lowers risk on "burning through" your clear-coat. A machine like a PC7424XP, Griot's Professional Random Orbital (really a DA), or the Meguiar's G110v2 are the most popular choices on the market.

You may be new to it, but if you're feeling like you're getting good results, you're on the right path.

A truly black vehicle might be more challenging, but I'm willing to bet it'll have a similar clear-coat to your HUGE truck. The reason people feel black is hard to work on is because it shows everything. In reality, I think it's the perfect color to work on as there's no questioning your results. If you're doing things right; you'll know.

Shine has a lot more to do with the amount of defects in your clear-coat rather than the contamination on your clear-coat. Claying every 6 months is fine to keep her ultra smooth, but depending on how you maintain her might only be needed once a year. The biggest issues you'll have to fight is the amount of swirls and light scratches, which occur on all colors, but are easiest to see on black. Keep in mind these are basically very shallows scratches.
Rather than light coming through your clear-coat and reflecting off the base-coat and looking incredibly deep and wet, because of light scratches and swirls, light is refracted at the clear-coat before it can even hit the base-coat. The scatters the light which leads to less clarity and therefore less depth and shine. In addition, the light is further refracted when it's coming back off of the base-coat and through the clear-coat again. In many ways, any defects double the loss the gloss and clarity.

While this is important to learn and see, keep in mind you've likely NEVER seen a completely and properly polished out vehicle, which tells you a lot about the potential many colors have.


In the end, if you care for your baby, she's going to look great without a doubt. But if you find you have light swirls and scratches, and want to get rid of them, it'll take a bit more work and a different approach. Just was always, the most important thing is how you maintain and wash the vehicle in order to prevent defects from the get-go.

BA Mustang

Well I won't be cleaning the mustang thursday. Broke my left pinky yesterday

MarcHarris

sorry to hear.

BA Mustang

Going to the an orthopedic doctor tomorrow to make sure I didn't do more damage to it. Hopefully it will heal before it gets too cold, I really want to clean it up good.

BA Mustang

Well got around to cleaning it today, and all I can say is wow. It looks absolutely amazing. My arm is killing me too.