Paint Shine Concept.

[RABVET]

About 12 years ago I used the following process on my red Corvette with outstanding results:

1. Polish with Menzerna Final Detail (severlal applications).

2. Re-polish with 3M Imperail Hand Glaze.

3. Two coats of P21S Carnuba wax.

4. Occasional quick gloss enhanser wth Zaino Z6 for maintenace.

Being away from cars for some time and now I'm curious if there is a better combination I should be considering?

Curerently have a black Corvette with oustanding paint quality; however, do notice some fine swirls and fine lines in certain lights and at certain angles of view.

I can only assume a lot has changed in the last 12 years in that discipline?

Thank you,
Rabvet

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

A lot has changed since then. What are you looking for specifically?

Menzerna is a great place to start for products.

[hernandez.art13]

Are swirls possible to take off by hand? (Never tried it)

[RABVET]

[QUOTE=smack;851605]A lot has changed since then. What are you looking for specifically?

The red car was new so had minimal micro scratches to start, thus why the process I used worked well ------- now the car I have now has a 10 year old "high end" black paint (base and clear) with lots of micro swirls and lines visable only at certain lights and angles of view; otherwise has an amazing showroom gloss which I assume is due to the many coats of clear?

I'm looking to first remove or reduce the fine micro lines without compromising the clear coat gloss and maximize the paint presentation by subsequent hand glaze followed by the best wax currently available.

Car is a "garage queen" and not subjected to every day dirt and subsequent car washing.

I know using a glaze tends to hide swirls somewhat, but is quickly removed with car washing. ------ I do not wash this car so that is not a factor.

The glaze process is fine, but it doesn't really remove swirls (just hides them a bit) ---- I want to first remove them if possible ------ but again, not at the expense of dulling the clear coat!!

Willing to put the hours in ------ but prefer to do everthing by hand.

I know black paint seperates the men from the boys !!!

Hopefully I answered your question OK ?

I certainly apprecate your help,
Rabvet

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

Since the car has micro swirls in it I use a dedicated polish such as Menzerna SF4000 on a white polishing pad to remove them instead of filling and hiding them with a glaze.

For a wax I just just used BlackFire BlackICE with incredible results. This is what I put on my black garage queen and I highly recommend it.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/product-reviews/63301-review-blackfire-blackice-wax-you-have-been-waiting.html

You should also pick up a machine. It does a much better job and is a lot easier on the body than doing by hand.

Black paint is only for the serious enthusiast and should be treated as such.

-Mike

[Fishincricket]

"Prefer to do it by hand" used to mean "don't want to burn my paint" or "don't feel like investing a daggum fortune in keeping one car in tip top condition"

If this isn't the case and you'd just actually prefer to do it all by hand, then bear this in mind- anything that can be done by machine can be done by hand, it just takes as much as 100x longer and requires more skill that the modern machine option.

So, YES, you can do it by hand.

HOWEVER:
IF the first bit of critical thinking applies to you, here's a few things you should know:

1. The modern day Dual Action Polisher (DA) is kind of a mix between a rotary (read "paint burner if used improperly") and an orbital (read "wax spreader, doesn't fix scratches"--- this machine is able to achieve professional quality results without much fear of damaging paint. There are several tutorials here by Mike Phillips that can explain further, I apologize for not linking to them as I am on my phone currently.

2. These machines, pads and compounds are pretty affordable, you could potentially have everything you'd need to restore that black garage queen to pretty much new for less than $300 (give or take)

[yakky]

You can do it by hand is just like you can walk to South America. With enough ambition, anything is possible. You can get ok quality DAs for under $50 now. No reason to do it by hand.