ifreefly

What's the best wax for a black car? There are light swirl marks in the clear coat from washing etc and I haven't waxed the car since I bought it, any advice? I've seen some stuff at autozone that is "for" black cars. It's like a 3 step process or something, forget who makes it but it was turtle wax or one of the other main brands.

So what's the best? Is there any difference based on the color of the car?

NASTY ZO6

I don't want to give you a 'wishy washy' answer, nor do I want to start a debate on the forum. You will get a lot of different answers! Here is my 2 cents:

Any high quality, good name brand wax will do just fine.




Now, having said that, I personally only use Adam's Polishes on my black ZO6 and it looks great!

VetteVinnie

Between Adam's and Zaino, I don't think you'll find anything better. But you know what they say about opinions.

EDIT: The 3-step stuff is Meguiar's. I tried that on my '06 coupe. I personally didn't care for it. The amount of work for the 3-step process didn't do near as good as two coats of the ZFX+Z5 one step process.

What I like about Zaino is it builds up layers over time. The more layers you have, the more reflective and refractive it becomes. And it's very durable. A garage queen only needs to be polished once a year. A daily driver, twice a year. The rest of the time is just spray and wipe. I haven't washed the car since January. Just a dust, spray (Zaino Z6) and wipe (micro fiber). And this is only two coats of Zaino Z5 ('08 with 6500 miles):

emerica4601

go to any advance auto parts and try the new Turtle Wax 'BLACK BOX'. Has a bunch of applicants for all black cars. Used it on a friend's car and came out perfect!

jerseydrew

yeah the only three i would use is adams, zaino or poor boys. all three are fantastic.

Torched

Go to chemicalguys.com. I use their 50/50 great stuff.

Slayride

Like said above everybody has an opinion on what works best. I use Pinnacle Souveran from autogeeks who are a forum vendor and great to deal with . It take about 30 minutes from start to finish-very easy to work with.

LOSNSUX

Consumer Reports lists Black Magic as the best. I've never used it before but my supply of Meguiar's (which I've used for years - and was their top choice years ago when I got it) is almost gone. Meguiars's doesn't make the same wax anymore, so I'm also in the market for a new favorite. So, anybody have any experience with Black Magic?

VetteVinnie

The best compared to what? Just curious. It's hard to say it's the "best" if it's only comparing what you can buy at Autozone. Neither Adam's nor Zaino is on the shelf at your local auto parts store.

ifreefly

Anyone ever hear of Collinite's No. 845? The guy who did all my tint swears by it. I've never heard of it before.

slp223x

I have been happy with Tropicare I have only ever owned black cars and used it on all of them.

805Z06

Wax will give your car the protection and gloss. There are plenty to choose from, especially Zaino which is great and easy to use.

But wax will not remove light swirl marks. If anything, it might hide/fill in them temporarily. To properly remove the swirl marks, you need to use the appropriate polish with the right pad and technique.

You might want to check out autopia or autogeek forum for detailed information. Basically, you need a PC or flex polisher machine, with the right cutting pad and a specific polish depending on the amount of cutting needed to be done.

ifreefly

Hmmm... Well I don't think it's really anything bad when I said swirl marks, I don't know maybe they are worse than I'm thinking. You can't see them unless it's REALLY clean and you look really close. I'm just **** when it comes to my car lol. I'm a garage queen I guess lol. That and my z06 is the first "new" car I've ever owned and she's my baby. I'll see if I can get a pic with a flash and show but I doubt it will. I don't know anything about polishers etc. I bought one once and tried it and it left swirls so I stopped after about 10 seconds on one of my old cars haha

805Z06

You got it right. Swirl marks are not easy to see. They can be obvious if the car is clean and the car is in direct sunlight. Also another way to see them in under halogen lights. Most guys that are into detailing will polish under those 1000w lights.

The technique is very important. If you apply it wrong you can induce more swirls, marring, ect...
Polish has abrasives and it needs to be broken down properly. That's why it's important to have a machine. Since by hand you can't properly break down the polish.

It is also recommended to start with the least aggressive pad and polish. This can be done on a small test area. After that you can analyze your results in direct sun or halogen lights and see if you need to step up with a more aggressive setup.

Recommend products:
Flex polisher
Lake County pads: orange (med cut), green (light cut), blue
Menzerna polishes: Super Intensive polish, Nano, Po85RD
Each polish has different degrees of cutting...see link


Watch this video for a general idea on polishing...





Here is a link for general how to details
http://www.autogeek.net/detailingtips.html

This is just a start. There is tons of information to out there if you spend your time on the auto detail forums.

Rdgdawg

Meguiars... just washed and waxed our cars after a BRUTAL winter... BOTH cars look like they just came off the showroom floor. NXT will form layers, I wax my cars (and always have) every 2-3 weeks in spring, then about once every 4-6 weeks until November. This year, the minivan wasn't hand washed from Nov until last week, pressure sprayed it 3 times, all the salt, sand, etc. had NO impact on the paint and shine.

Had a detail biz right after college, Meguiars is the ONLY product line (although Turtle Wax Ice Clay is very good too) I've used in 15 years... and YES, pads make ALL the difference when it comes to swirl marks...

JiminVirginia

"Meguiars... just washed and waxed our cars after a BRUTAL winter... BOTH cars look like they just came off the showroom floor. NXT will form layers, I wax my cars (and always have) every 2-3 weeks in spring, then about once every 4-6 weeks until November."

I agree.

I was really disappointed in my last two batches of Zaino. NXT made my Z06, and my Mustang, look great.

Flareside

I'm a former Zaino user, but I could never really see the difference between their products and the other stuff I've tried in the past. The expense and work just didn't make a big improvement. So now I use NTX2 on my black Z. It's just as good as Zaino for me, it looks great, and it's easy to apply.

Curz

Im a Zaino fan. This is my routine about every 9 months. If it wasnt black it wouldnt be so extensive but I try to minimize the swirls. A fly will break its neck trying to land on your car after this.

Dawn Wash
Z7 Wash
Z-AIO
ZFX/Z-5
Z6
ZFX/Z-5
Z6
ZFX/Z-2
Z6
Z-CS
Wait 12 hours
Z-8
Z16 Tires

NASTY ZO6

http://www.collinite.com/ They've been around for years. I think it is more of a 'northern' wax...a lot of people from NJ/NY use it. I have never used it, but have heard that it lasts a very long time.


Wow! 24-48 hour detailing marathon!!!!

Katech_Zach

I'm a Zaino fan. My daily driver is black and I just hit it with some Zaino for the first time. It transformed the car.