Ford/mustang shadow black paint

[TNMIKE46]

Just wondering if any of you fellow "Geeksters" own or have detailed a car with the Shadow Black color. This paint has extremely subtle barely noticable multi color metallic flecks in it.

In this case its my Daughters 2018 Mustang EcoBoost.

If anyone has experience with this color I'd be very interested in your go to products (sealant, polish, wax).

It seems this paint is very soft as it seems to chip very easily.

[Coatingsarecrack]

2016 shadow black GT. I coated with CP Cquartz 3.0. The gloss is amazing. Not a pro by any means but done a lot with the paint. PM me or just quote this with any questions.


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[TNMIKE46]

Grrrrrrr8 looking convertable. We also coated with CQuartz 3.0 (about 9 months ago) and yep a great shine. And then in the parking lot at her work one of the other employees (idiot) parked next to her backed up his Dodge P/U and cut too quick destroying the back side of the left quarter panel with his bumper. The local Ford dealer did a complete quarter panel replacement. Did a very good job and the paint job looks as original.

[Kamakaz1961]

I have a 2013 Mustang GT. The products that I use for compound is Menzerna FG400. For Polish I use Menzerna Super finish 3800 or 3M Ultra Finish 3000. I use my Flex 3401 with Lake Country hybrid Orange Pads for Compounding and Lake Country Hybrid White pads for polishing. For my LSP I use my PC7424XP with a 4" Red Lake Country CCS Pad for sealant or wax. That goes with the liquid waxes or the paste waxes.

I prefer wax over ceramic coats or sealants for my ride. I currently have Polish Angel Centurion on it. I will use Black Wulfenite for the maintenance spray wax. After the summer, I will probably use paste waxes...either Pinnacle Souveran Paste Wax or Vic's Red.

Either way, you can't go wrong this way. BTW BEAUTIFUL Stang!

[TNMIKE46]

Well my Daughter and I applied CQuartz 3.0 and the shine is pretty amazing but with any water beading left on it from rain, morning dew or if not wiped dry after washing (which almost never happens) there will be random water spots that have the dreaded minor etching.

[Coatingsarecrack]

Well my Daughter and I applied CQuartz 3.0 and the shine is pretty amazing but with any water beading left on it from rain, morning dew or if not wiped dry after washing (which almost never happens) there will be random water spots that have the dreaded minor etching.

You need to top with a sio2 sealant. It won’t affect hydrophobics but will protect from water spots. Reload is what car pros makes but a lot are not a fan. Black fire Sio2 seems to be popular. I really like Shine supply’s Clutch. Higher sio2 content than most toppers.

I have moved on to PA Cosmic and Also had a forum member send me some Kaikaze overcoat. Both these are pretty spendy but look and performance I think is best in market. Almost coating like by themselves.

Any of these or other toppers should help with spotting and etching.


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[LSNAutoDetailing]

Congratulations on the new Mustang!

Few data points on Ford paint. PTG readings come in at 3.5 to 6 mils. Secondly, the clear coat on newer S550’s is rock solid. Thirdly the hind quarters (above the tires, the part that sticks out the most) is the most susceptible to sand and fine particles beating and pitting the paint. Metallic paint will hide this, non metallic paint won’t.

I highly inspected my new GT/CA prior to purchasing. After 1500 miles of desert and canyon driving is, small pitting in the hind haunches that wasn’t there when I bought the car.


I re-detailed the entire car (3 step with coating... again) prior to my surgery in June and observed: , that when a DA is taken to them appear to change the shape to appear to be small fractures. In other words polishing seems to level the clearcoat and cause a weird anomaly. Again OCD stuff here.

Of course all of this is under LED lighting, and magnifying lenses to look at the abnormalities and the most susceptible areas of the vehicle…

When these spots were examined under a 3X scope, I noticed they were actually small little tiny pits, indicating that the are some form of sand putting, from a distance look like little tick marks when the light hits them, yet up close almost look like little water spots. You really have to be OCD to see them.

Thinking I had some weird anomaly in my paint, I then turned to my 15-year-old garage queen mustang, I noticed the same anomaly that I’d never noticed in all the years I’ve owned it. And red hides the defects better than white. Brand new white paint seems to reflect everything! Likewise I noticed the same thing in my wife’s seven-year-old red Honda Fit.

So after learning all this, what does this mean?
Put some clear bra in the front of the car to protect it from the obvious big crater rock chips that will actually remove paint from the vehicle…, Polish out any obvious swirls and scratches, put a good level of protection on the car from the elements, then drive the hell out of it and enjoy it. Patina and all.

But take my information at the top as pure data points when it comes to polishing and or compounding the car, my observations have been on the new S550’s you’re not working with a lot of paint, and the clearcoat is very hard. Metallic paint will hide everything, Clear enamel paint will show everything regardless of how much your compound and polish.




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