Review: CG Black Light + Wax + V7 on Light paint

[Mc'lovin]

My eyes popped and my jaw dropped. Until this moment I can vividly recall how overwhelmed I was by the photos of this combo. And I just knew that the second I will have some time off university and all of the exams, I'm going to put the CG Black Light + v7 detailing couple to the test, with the addition of their much hyped 5050 wax in between.

I figured I'll share the results with you, as my car's color is on the lighter side (somewhere between turquoise and pearl green) rather than all of the dark colored cars I've seen in the other reviews. Will it have such a smashing effect on a light color? I'm a little skeptic, so it's up for you to decide.

Prep stage:


My prep-team.

My Suzuki was washed using the two bucket method, dried, sprayed with Iron X and then thoroughly rinsed, clayed, and was applied with Klasse AIO as pre-wax cleaner using my DAS6-Pro (similar or identical European version of the Griot's Garage orbital) and a white LC CCS polishing pad.

And for the stars of the evening:



2 coats of CG Black Light were administered by hand using a microfiber applicator – According to instructions, I waited 15 minutes from application until buffing it off, and another 30 minutes before applying the second coat in order to allow proper curing time.

I then applied 5050 by hand as well, letting it dry for 20 minutes before buffing, and finished with applying v7 using a microfiber towel.

What can I tell you? After seeing all those breath taking photos by forum members of their cars, I did expect a lot more. In fact, I couldn't see much of a difference in comparison to how the car looked like beforehand.
Look at the reflection in this photo:



Pretty nice, eh? Actually, I took this picture before I started washing the car that day... and it doesn't look that different to me than the after shots you could see further down. when this photo was taken, the car was actually a little dirty:



I tried to think whether the undesired result was due to:

1) My paint being in a very good condition (the car is only 4.5 months old and has been receiving excellent care since ) so there won't be any noticeable differences between the two situations?

2) Could this combo is simply not doing its charm on lighter cars?

3) Perhaps there was a problem with my technique?

4) Maybe a combination of all of the above?

Here are some after shots:











Don't get me wrong – the car looks great and I am happy with its appearance. However, maybe wrongfully, I expected a more deep wet looking shine.

So what do you think? Have any of you tried applying this combo (or a similar one) on lighter paints? How did it turn out?

This is my first review here… you're welcome to criticize it so I could learn better for next time

Many many thanks to all the forum members who patiently answered my questions when I was researching towards this project, especially silverfox, SON1C & BobbyG - You guys helped me a lot.

[silverfox]

While lighter colored cars are easier to keep looking clean, they often lack the same wow factor after applying the same products and techniques as their dark colored paint counterparts. I'm not sure two coats of BL gets you a better result but your order of applying the combo was correct. Applying Klasse may have taken away the effect of the CG combo but I have no way to verify that

[RoyalBlUE08]

sometimes people edit thier photos by using programs such as lightroom very slightly to make the photos look that much better.

but it also can be your paint color that makes it not pop out and look as wet as other cars and colors

[bl3ujay07]

While lighter colored cars are easier to keep looking clean, they often lack the same wow factor after applying the same products and techniques as their dark colored paint counterparts. I'm not sure two coats of BL gets you a better result but your order of applying the combo was correct. Applying Klasse may have taken away the effect of the CG combo but I have no way to verify that

I agree that light color vehicles do lack the wow factor after detailing. It makes a difference, but not like darker colored cars. Worked on my silver TL and although it looked a lot better in my eyes, most people did not even notice much difference.

I also used cg blacklight and v7 combo. I then tried bfwd and found it to be better for my metalic silver.

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk

[Dave'sDetails]

As a frequent user of cg bl. This product is best applied by way of a porter cable and lake country black pad. Put the pc on speed 3.5 and make 2 passes with the same hand speed and slightly more pressure than you would if you were apllying wax.

[Mc'lovin]

Everyone, thank you for your comments!

...I'm not sure two coats of BL gets you a better result but your order of applying the combo was correct. Applying Klasse may have taken away the effect of the CG combo but I have no way to verify that

Chemical Guys themselves advise to add a second coat of BL (by hand), so I'm guessing that was fine.
With regards to your comment on Klasse AIO - That is interesting, as this product performs as a pre-wax cleaner for a better preparation of the surface for the next LSP coats. If what you have written is true, that would be surprising to me (as I am a noob...)

[OhTwoGT]

With that type of paint, you're not going to get the type of depth that a darker car would get, but as far as application, applying BL by hand works just as well. I havent used either product yet but on very metallic cars this combo does wonders.