New to detailing and excited to learn

[dbow]

Hello,

I recently bought a black ram 2500 pickup and learned just how hard it is to keep black paint clean! It has some light swirl marks in the paint and I have read using a little poorboys black hole and then collinite 845 might be a good way to hide the marks for now. My question is, am I trying to do something way out of my experience level? Is there a glaze and wax that would be better for me to use?

Thanks,
dbow

[Dan Tran]

First off,

Welcome to the “Thunder Dome”!

“Black is not a color. It is a full time job.”, as someone had said.

Depending on how crazy you want to go depends on product selection. Knowing what I know now and taking into consideration that paint is thin; I would prefer to do the occasional all-in-one polishing process.

Simply for the fact that I enjoy the act of polishing out cars (often). And eventually overtime, it will be refined and get better and better.

As far as skill level, never say it is out of your experience level. ANYONE can learn. Some may taking longer than others. But it is achievable.

I’ll stop here (for now). Others will be chiming in with their thoughts and comments.


High-End Paint Correction and Opti-Coat Ceramic Coatings * Portsmouth, NH (https://www.thebuffingmoose.com/)

[PaulMys]

Welcome to AGO, dbow!!

Using the PB black hole, and 845 should not be beyond anyone's skill level. Unless you have the brain of a gnat, don't be worried. Lol

If you just have "light swirl marks" as you say, there is no doubt these products will help to "mask" the swirls. All you can do is give them a try and see if they work to your satisfaction.

But........ Why not remove them?? Grab yourself a DA polisher (check the threads on the new Griot's G9!) and some pads.

One of the biggest misconceptions for newbies is that a polisher is somehow hard to use, or will damage your paint.

With a good polisher, pads, and a great polish/AIO, anyone can get great results as a beginner.

And............ since you are now a member here, you can ask ANY question about the entire process. This forum is COMPLETELY different than other forums.

You will get all of your questions answered by guys (and gals) who share the passion. And ALL of us started from square one. :)

[Hermes1]

PaulMys makes some good points. Besides the very helpful people on this forum who are so willing to help, YouTube is another source with tons of detailing related videos.

[MarkD51]

Welcome!
Two great products you mention. Both will hold you very well till you learn some more.

[lovenhim]

I will add my imput. You can learn to do this like I have. I am legally blind and the folks on here helped me a great deal and walked me through the process. Go for it and enjoy.

[dbow]

Thank you for all the replies! I have had my eye on a polisher so I will look into the one mentioned above. I want to eventually remove the paint defects but I would be pretty mad at myself if I caused more damage in the process. I have it in my mind that it is easy to polish too far, but maybe I’m wrong?

[Wknd Dtlr]

Where are you located? Maybe someone on this forum that is close to you could get you started and show you the ropes. I would gladly do that if you lived in my area. The array of choices these days for detailing is mind numbing. What you need is a simple process to start out and then you can determine how far you want to take it.

[Coatingsarecrack]

Thank you for all the replies! I have had my eye on a polisher so I will look into the one mentioned above. I want to eventually remove the paint defects but I would be pretty mad at myself if I caused more damage in the process. I have it in my mind that it is easy to polish too far, but maybe I’m wrong?

Long as you keep polisher moving hard to damage paint. I have some defects on my hood so probably going to wrap but decided to hold my g15 (Griots long throw) in place for 20 seconds with correcting cream and no damage.

This was my 1st Polish. Watch a few videos and with the info from these fine folks here you’ll have no problem polishing


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Eldorado2k]

1 of the most important things, especially with a black vehicle is don’t try to do anything in direct sunlight/on a hot day... You’ll wind up easily discouraged not to mention exhausted. Lol.

[SWETM]

If you are not ready yet to go with a polisher. The Poorboy's Black Hole Glaze and Collinite 845 is a great start to get the paint glossy and protected. If it where me I would look at the Collinite 915 Wax. It's more carnuaba and for being a carnuaba wax it has a good longevity from it. If you drive in the winter with road salt and grime from the roads. I would look at the Collinite 476s as a long lasting LSP or Jescar Powerlock Plus. 845 is also great but IMO the more carnuaba in the other 2 Collinite waxes 476s and 915. Gets you either a little more depth with 915 and both more carnuaba and longevity from 476s. Which I especially like on the black paint. If you had have a white paint the 845 gives you a great look from it in a crispy shine.

Eldorado2K brings up an important thing to work in the shade or on a cloudy day or garage. I will ad it's important or more easier to work in those conditions with whatever color of paint you have.

One thing that I also see as a very important to get dialed in before you polishing your truck. Is to learn how to do washes without getting more swirls and scratches. And also a great drying technique for the same reason. Here you can go with different methods to reach the same goal. Keeping your awesome finish looking amazing for as long as possible before you need to be doing a new polishing. Also when you are doing the next polishing you don't need to be useing as an aggressive combo that you useally needs to be doing the first time. Invest in some great products that you with a great method can reach this goal. Some products can be a little more expensive and some you can get a lot of your bucks for. Look into others threads or start your own thread. What did you do today, in regards of detailing is a great thread where you can see what products others has used when doing their maintance or polishing and everything else that has to detailing to do. Show and Shine has a lot of great threads in it that you see what methods and techniques they use. 2 bucket method and rinseless washes and waterless washes is the methods to use and then they have different kind of methods in them selfs LOL.

Also if you do apply Black Hole and a Collinite wax. Do a thorough decon with both chemical decon and mechanical decon. The chemical decon depends on what kind of dirt and contaminants you have on the paint. The first time I would have access to a tar remover and iron remover. To help you get the tar and tree sap and rubber spots and the iron particals and industrial fallout off the paint. The mechanical decon step is to use a clay bar or clay alternatives that you get the topical contaminants you have on the paint off. You can also use a paint cleaner by hand to deep clean the paint a little more. Then you apply the Black Hole and the wax/sealant of choice.

/ Tony