New 2021 Acura RDX Black

[jeffb]

My wife just retired and we purchased a black RDX. She had been driving a black BMW sedan that I coated with Blackfire SiO2.

Thanks to this forum I have learned much and purchased a GG9/ with 5” backing plate (a year ago) and had success and was very happy with results of detailing my son’s car with Blackfire One Step, topped with Blackfire hybrid wax.

Researching on forum, there are many thoughts regarding black paint. Since this is a new car, garaged and not driven everyday, my thought was to use the One Step and Hybrid topping again, as it has held up very well.

However, I always wanted to try a Ceramic or Graphene and perhaps with a new black car, this might be the time?

Any insights or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thank You,

Jeff

[dgage]

Welcome to Autogeek Online!

Black definitely requires more vigilance and being careful with how you care for it.

With it not being outside 24x7, you might not need a longer lasting ceramic and may want to go with a ceramic sealant that is easier to apply and you’d apply every few months. Griots Ceramic 3 in 1 is one that gets good reviews and would be easy to apply. If you wanted to do a ceramic coating, there are a ton to choose from with CQuartz UK 3.0 being one of the most popular, it may not be the absolute best (not sure if there is a best) but it works very well and has good longevity (2+ years).

And of course with a coating, you’ll definitely need to wash it carefully so that you don’t induce swirls. When I wash, I use multiple towels so that only a clean towel ever touches my car. When I’ve washed a section with a towel (or multiple sections with multiple folded sides), it goes into the dirty towels bin. And make sure to care for your micro fibers well with a dedicated microfiber wash and don’t use fabric softener.

[Rsurfer]

Congrats on your new Acura. Acura's paint is much softer than your old BMW. I would go with a paint sealant like Blackfire or even Souveran paste wax. Souveran will make your black paint look like someone poured oil all over it.

No matter how careful you are, you will instill washing/drying swirls. You will probably need to polish out those swirls at least twice a year and that's the reason I'm not recommending a coating.

[The Guz]

If you want to try a coating then try one. That is the only way you will know if it is for you.

[Coatingsarecrack]

I felt no wax, sealant, sio2 spray made my black Mustang look as nice. Looked like it was encapsulated in molten glass. I used Cquartz UK 3.0


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[jeffb]

Thanks all for your replies. Will most likely use CQuartz 3.0 UK or Blackfire Pro Ceramic.Black.
If Car washed and clayed and a prep to remove oil. Would I need a polish before the Ceramic?

Read that I can use Gliss or a SiO2 after Ceramic.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated?

[dgage]

Thanks all for your replies. Will most likely use CQuartz 3.0 UK or Blackfire Pro Ceramic.Black.
If Car washed and clayed and a prep to remove oil. Would I need a polish before the Ceramic?

Read that I can use Gliss or a SiO2 after Ceramic.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated?

Claying has a habit of marring the paint so I'd recommend a polish before you put on CQuartz UK 3.0. Plus, you won't be doing much to the paint for the next year or two so even with a new car I'd recommend a polish to make the paint look its best for the next couple of years. If the paint is in pretty good shape, Essense is a popular and good polish. You should use CarPro Eraser prep right before applying the ceramic coating. I used to think Essence was a primer for CQuartz and you could go straight to CQuartz UK but The Guz informed me that CarPro recommends a prep wipe before applying CQuartz UK 3.0.

Adding Gliss or a topper is another discussion on its own and some such as The Guz (an expert/experimenter with tons of coatings) doesn't like to top and MASK the underlying coating. So while you can top, I'm not sure I'd recommend it. I didn't actually top but I did use CQuartz SiC for another layer of ceramic, which is a silicon carbide based coating and gives me the slicker surface I was going for while giving a little more protection. But if you wanted to use a topper, I might recommend Elixir as Gliss and Reload are sometimes problematic to install without streaking or other issues.

[Bruno Soares]

Gliss works great as a topper for UK. As long as you apply it when applying UK it’s a piece of cake to use.
I used SiC last week (I’ll write about it tomorrow) and it’s a lot more finicky than Gliss. Apparently it will last longer than Gliss but who knows, it hasn’t been out that long.

[jeffb]

Am going to use CQuartz UK 3.0. The paint on the new car looks good with few swirls.
Should I use Essence or Essence plus before ceramic?

Thank you

[The Guz]

Am going to use CQuartz UK 3.0. The paint on the new car looks good with few swirls.
Should I use Essence or Essence plus before ceramic?

Thank you

Essence. Essence plus is not meant to be topped with a coating.

Or you could use any finishing polish. It doesn’t require Essence.

Don’t forget to get some Eraser.