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My new to me 90 black convertible needs a good going over. Paint is mostly in good shape, but shows neglect. Anyone have tips for a black car? Anyone have experience with Griots's Garage products? Husband of a co worker is beyond OCD and has had a succession of Vettes and recommends. What can you tell me?
Get some cleaner & conditioner for the top cloth or vinyl. Give the body a good wash, clay bar, and wax. Clean and Rainx the glass. Clean all the interior.
Griots is good. Im a big autogeek.net fan. There is a whole car care section here on the forum.
Technique and detail of your work matters more than products. Meguiars is a solid choice for pretty much everything and can be bought basically anywhere. Walmart actually often has some pretty good products.
I live only an a few hours from Griots main showroom so I've been using their products for quite a while and am very happy with them. I must say in all honesty that any major name brand product is going to be just fine. The steps I use on my 95 are as follows:
1) Wash car using a liberal amount of Dawn dishwashing liquid rather than car wash shampoo in prep for polishing. The Dawn will remove all of the wax and any other grease on the surface along with the dirt.
2) Use a claybar on the paint. I've used both Griots and Mother's with very good results. I use Griots speedshine as the lubricant when I claybar. This is an important step because this pulls out little pieces of grit that get stuck in the surface of the clearcoat.
3) Use a random orbital polisher and foam pads to polish out all of the surface imperfections. All the name brand products have "polishes" in different levels of "coarseness". You use the coarsest one first to remove the scratches and then the finer and finer ones to remove the fine swirls created by the harsh one. Remember that what you are essentially doing is polishing away a very thin layer of the clear coat to the point where all of the scratches & swirls have been polished out. This is a step that you can spend 4 hours or 40 hours doing depends on your level of OCD LOL. A black car IS going to take more work than my green one and this is the step where that work is done.
4) Use a good quality wax to protect the paint now that it has been shined.
Last edited by Mr. Peabody; Apr 16, 2019 at 11:04 PM.
I live only an a few hours from Griots main showroom so I've been using their products for quite a while and am very happy with them. I must say in all honesty that any major name brand product is going to be just fine. The steps I use on my 95 are as follows:
1) Wash car using a liberal amount of Dawn dishwashing liquid rather than car wash shampoo in prep for polishing. The Dawn will remove all of the wax and any other grease on the surface along with the dirt.
2) Use a claybar on the paint. I've used both Griots and Mother's with very good results. I use Griots speedshine as the lubricant when I claybar. This is an important step because this pulls out little pieces of grit that get stuck in the surface of the clearcoat.
3) Use a random orbital polisher and foam pads to polish out all of the surface imperfections. All the name brand products have "polishes" in different levels of "coarseness". You use the coarsest one first to remove the scratches and then the finer and finer ones to remove the fine swirls created by the harsh one. Remember that what you are essentially doing is polishing away a very thin layer of the clear coat to the point where all of the scratches & swirls have been polished out. This is a step that you can spend 4 hours or 40 hours doing depends on your level of OCD LOL. A black car IS going to take more work than my green one and this is the step where that work is done.
4) Use a good quality wax to protect the paint now that it has been shined.
Thanks for the advice, beautiful Vette. Also, haven;t seen a UJM with a windjammer in a while. That makes me smile
From: Everyone needs something to believe in, I believe I'll have another beer. Wisconsin
Originally Posted by Mr. Peabody
I live only an a few hours from Griots main showroom so I've been using their products for quite a while and am very happy with them. I must say in all honesty that any major name brand product is going to be just fine. The steps I use on my 95 are as follows:
1) Wash car using a liberal amount of Dawn dishwashing liquid rather than car wash shampoo in prep for polishing. The Dawn will remove all of the wax and any other grease on the surface along with the dirt.
2) Use a claybar on the paint. I've used both Griots and Mother's with very good results. I use Griots speedshine as the lubricant when I claybar. This is an important step because this pulls out little pieces of grit that get stuck in the surface of the clearcoat.
3) Use a random orbital polisher and foam pads to polish out all of the surface imperfections. All the name brand products have "polishes" in different levels of "coarseness". You use the coarsest one first to remove the scratches and then the finer and finer ones to remove the fine swirls created by the harsh one. Remember that what you are essentially doing is polishing away a very thin layer of the clear coat to the point where all of the scratches & swirls have been polished out. This is a step that you can spend 4 hours or 40 hours doing depends on your level of OCD LOL. A black car IS going to take more work than my green one and this is the step where that work is done.
4) Use a good quality wax to protect the paint now that it has been shined.
After all you do to make her shine, I then always add a little hair conditioner to my bucket and wash again. The hair conditioner does what it does to your hair...makes it shine! I had a friend that used to use baby oil to make his car shine. He did this once. By the time he got home his car looked like a Chia-Pet!
No affiliation with these guys, but Adam's polishes has a series of 'how to' videos for car washing and detailing. Enough to keep you entertained for a couple hours :-) !
Like Fauee I like the Meguiars products for the paint. I use their Ultimate series. On the inside I use Griot's interior cleaner and Leather Care on the seats.
Autogeek has some really good videos as well.
I was always told that if your going to pay someone to detail your car, ask to see a black one they have done. If they can do a black car swirl free they know what the're doing.
Mr. Peabody keeps his cars immaculate. I agree with all he says except for the final step. Instead of a wax I use Rejex. It is a polymer sealer that increases the shine and protects the paint. It is very slippery and things do not stick to it. It goes on easily and wipes off easily.
On my 2000 convertible I got some white spots all over the car while driving. When I tried to wash them off the windshield nothing happened. Water, enamel thinner and lacquer thinner had no effect. I finally scraped it off the windshield with a razor blade. Then it was on to the hood. The white stuff came off with a wet cloth. I had used Rejex on the paint but not the windshield. The next time the glass gets it too.
Rejex can only be bought online. It is great stuff.
Clay bar the paint first. You may also need to go over with a Tar or Iron remover, like Gyeon.
At the age, I'm certain you will need a DA polisher and possibly a Meguiars microfiber pad set to start. You should do test sections to see what pad is needed to get the deepest/worst swirls out, then do the whole car. You will want to do this at the higher DA speed settings, 4-5. Change pads often, compound clogs it up. I use Jescar Compound but Meguiars has a polishing compound that you can find at Autozone, M105 I think?
If not the MF pad, then probably a Lake County Orange pad for the first pass to remove swirls with the compound. The first pass might introduce micro-marring (MF pad likely will, Orange LC may not) that you will remove with a 2nd pass with an orange or white LC pad and Jescar Finishing Polish. Then the paint should be pretty good for a DIY.
After that you can use a final polishing pad to apply wax at a low speed setting, or a spray on sealant, or a ceramic coating.
Never used this myself, but someone showed me his C-4 after he used DrColorChip to refresh the finish. Google it. His car did look great. I think he did the entire car.
As a follow up to my initial post the hook has been set. I bought a buffer, extra pads, Griots wax etc...
I clayed the car last night after a ball game timm almost 11 pm. I plan on spending the holiday weekend correcting the paint and waxing. Wish me luck
Detailing tips anyone?
