Detailing help for a black car

[Chad Dickson]

I have a 2014 black mustang that has some minor swirls that I would like to remove. What are the best products to use? I have a porter cable polisher and would also like to know which pads should I buy? Thanks in advance for your help.

Chad

[Looch10]

You will need about 3-4 orange light cutting pads for your car. As for products to remove the swirls you have lots of options. I have a bottle of M205 to try on my black truck. If the swirls are light enough then M205 should work. You could also try HD polish. They have some really good products. Hopefully someone with some more experience can chime in for you.

[Chad Dickson]

Thanks for the reply. I was thinking of using the Meguiars M205 and the M26 but wanted to see some others thoughts.

[74 thing]

Buff and Shine 5.5 Inch Flat Foam Pads (http://www.autogeek.net/buff-and-shine-5-inch-flat-foam-pads.html)

Buff and shine pads are my go to on soft black paint (not sure what yours is). I am able to correct some pretty nasty stuff with an orange pad then switching to a blue one to finish. Always do a test spot to see what works for you. M26 looks great on black very reflective!

[High Caliber]

You will need about 3-4 orange light cutting pads for your car. As for products to remove the swirls you have lots of options. I have a bottle of M205 to try on my black truck. If the swirls are light enough then M205 should work. You could also try HD polish. They have some really good products. Hopefully someone with some more experience can chime in for you.

PC 7424xp go with Lake Country ThinPros, 3-4 orange and you may need to step it down to some white polishing pads just in case. With M205 or a Pinnacle Advanced Polish it should finish out nice with the orange. Black is hard because as you know you can see everything. Always do a test spot and look at your results adjust from there. It's best to start "test" with the least aggressive method which would be using a LC ThinPro White and your polish of choice.

[TTQ B4U]

I have a 2014 black mustang that has some minor swirls that I would like to remove. What are the best products to use? I have a porter cable polisher and would also like to know which pads should I buy? Thanks in advance for your help.

Pics will help as minor is a relative term, but I'll cover both that and moderate.

Lots of products will do the trick. You have All in One AIO product options and 2-3 step options too. Too many to list, so I'll cover a couple basics.

HDSpeed is an excellent AIO for minor swirls. Will easily tackle light swirls. Will even tackle moderate ones when combined with the right pad. Finishes great with little to no dust and also offers long working times for stubborn areas. That last part is key that not all products offer. Has a decent sealant properties that will allow you in a pinch to do the job and wait with protection enabled if you choose to apply another Last Step Product (LSP) at a future time.

The above is a good scenerio for many as you may not bust-tail all in one day and bring what you have to 100% on the first go-round. You might actually find that putting in 4hrs in one day and revisiting the paint at a later date for another pass is worth it. I did that with my own car. Went from 8k miles as a pre-owned car 6 months old at about 90% to 95% then recently I brought it to 99-100% corrected. Minimal efforts on each one really. Big time saver as I don't have an 8-10hr day to kill all at once.

The other option I'll keep real simple as the products are stellar and available Over the Counter (OTC) and that's to use 1-Meguiar's Ultimate Polish, 2-Meguaiar's Swirl X or even 3-Ultimate Compound if/where needed. Doubt you'll even need it. You can then top them with Collinite #845 as a very durable wax, Meguiar's own Ulitimate Wax or even Menzerma Power Lock. ALL are very good top quality products.

I listed them 1-2-3 in order from Light to medium to moderate in terms of cut. Use the lightest cut/polish you can to do the job.

Pad wise here too start out with the minimal size. Green is great for AIO like HDSpeed. You won't likely need more than those two. Megs U.Polish, try a white pad and see how it does. May find it does a great job. If you need to go green or even orange if it's really needed.

For arguments sake if you NEED to use an orange pad, you'llyou'll likely need 5-6 total. 1 for the hood, 1 for the roof and trunk, two for each side and use one of them left for the front and rear bumpers. Point is you will want to keep them clean/fresh through either changing to new ones or cleaning them as you go. Same deal with white. Now if you do a 2 or 3 step process using separate products you might get away with 4 white ones.

For LSP's you can get away with 2 black, blue or red pads. I like black as they cover a range of products but something like a very thin Collinite does well with blue or red even as you're just looking to spread the product evenly and thin.

Lastly, I will toss in my new go-to which is Chemical Guys Blacklight Glaze/sealer. I LOVE this stuff and would encourage you to try two coats of it after you polish. AWESOME depth and so easy to use. Top that with your LSP and be prepared to be WOW'd! (See my avatar (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/http://i1379.photobucket.com/albums/ah133/PDQS4/OY6A4906_zpsnyx8xt4f.jpg)) or other shots I've posted showing it on my black Audi (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/http://i1379.photobucket.com/albums/ah133/PDQS4/P1020036_zpsdwvxxso2.jpg).

Hope my long winded post proves helpful. Looking forward to the pics.

[Jaretr1]

Here is a kit to consider that has everything you need:

Wolfgang Hydro-Tech Swirl Remover Kit (http://www.autogeek.net/wolfgang-scratch-remover-kit.html)

[Cabrio]

Here is a kit to consider that has everything you need:

Wolfgang Hydro-Tech Swirl Remover Kit (http://www.autogeek.net/wolfgang-scratch-remover-kit.html)


Great kit - I'm a huge fan of Wolfgang products. Not sure if you will need the uber compound. Also, as others already mentioned, you will need more pads. Echo what pdqg says about black light. After checking out what he did, I gave it a shot on my black car and...yeah...it was a definite wow!

[2011 Kona Blue]

I have a 2014 black mustang that has some minor swirls that I would like to remove. What are the best products to use? I have a porter cable polisher and would also like to know which pads should I buy? Thanks in advance for your help.

Chad

I like Chemical Guys cutting polish. I've had excellent customer results especially with black cars. Orange cutting pad.

[TTQ B4U]

Can't edit the previous post and somehow the links were messed up:

"Lastly, I will toss in my new go-to which is Chemical Guys Blacklight Glaze/sealer. I LOVE this stuff and would encourage you to try two coats of it after you polish. AWESOME depth and so easy to use. Top that with your LSP and be prepared to be WOW'd! (See my avatar (http://i1379.photobucket.com/albums/ah133/PDQS4/OY6A4906_zpsnyx8xt4f.jpg)) or other shots I've posted showing it on my black Audi (http://i1379.photobucket.com/albums/ah133/PDQS4/P1020036_zpsdwvxxso2.jpg)."

[custmsprty]

You can get great results with this combo, HD Adapt to Polish and HD Poxy for your LSP. That's about 2 coats less work than 2 coats of Blacklight (which severely lacks in the longevity department) and then topping the BL with an LSP.

With Adapt and Poxy that's a two step which should take you about 5-6 hours and the results are amazing.

This car is a 2014 and had never been "professionally" detailed.

Black 370Z before Adapt and Poxy:

http://i1075.photobucket.com/albums/w421/custmsprty/Z06_zpsv67jj9gi.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/custmsprty/media/Z06_zpsv67jj9gi.jpg.html)

After Adapt and Poxy:

http://i1075.photobucket.com/albums/w421/custmsprty/Z04_zpsedli1eya.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/custmsprty/media/Z04_zpsedli1eya.jpg.html)

http://i1075.photobucket.com/albums/w421/custmsprty/Z05_zpsw5hkxdei.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/custmsprty/media/Z05_zpsw5hkxdei.jpg.html)

This Z took me about 5 hours including washing, wheels, tires etc.

Adapt $20.99

3D HD Adapt (http://www.autogeek.net/3d-hd-adapt.html)

Poxy $14.99

3D HD Poxy - Montan Wax & Sealant (http://www.autogeek.net/3d-hd-poxy.html)

This is a very economical two step system and these products are very user friendly.

[Paul A.]

Both pdqgp and cstmsprty have given you 2 options that will give you exactly what you need!

[Cabrio]

Both pdqgp and cstmsprty have given you exactly what you need!

:iagree: ever since I saw cstsprty's original post, I've wondered if the neighborhood had to post a sign by the house stating "warning - sunglass zone - beware of intense reflection".

[custmsprty]

You can find my write up here:

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/show-n-shine/98953-2014-nissan-370-z-griots-g21-hd-adapt-7-hd-poxy.html

I address pads etc.

[custmsprty]

:iagree: ever since I saw cstsprty's original post, I've wondered if the neighborhood had to post a sign by the house stating "warning - sunglass zone - beware of intense reflection".

Thanks Cabrio.

I have severe back and neck issues so I have to keep this stuff down to a minimum. I could barely move for 3-4 days after all the bending down on the Z. If I could even remotely approach this as a full time gig I'd have to have a lift for sure.

So for me it's about finding the system that will do the best job in the least amount of time.

I have a lot of great products from AG and they are all top notch. But for ease of use and cost investment it's HD /3D for me all day long when it comes to polishes. And Poxy is a great product for the price. I'm not saying I don't have other sealants that aren't amazing, but most are 30-40% higher cost. I can do an entire vehicle on average with less than 1 oz of Poxy when machine applying it.

Whatever products I use I try to stay within the family of that product group when doing a job. So if I were to use my WG Polishes I'd top with WG 3.0. Same with my Blackfire products.

I have yet to find any polishes that wipe off as easily as HD Polishes.

A few years ago I was a huge fan of CG Blacklight. I used on a few clinets balck and darker colored cars. The longevity just wasn't there.

I have a full free bottle of Blacklight for whoever wants to pay the shipping costs.

PM and it's yours.