Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Aesthetics Cleaning my black car

First of all plan on spending the WHOLE day on your black car :p Seeing that its neglected you must:

1. wash the car
2. clay bar it (thanks APT )
3. Mequiars body scrub
4. Mequiars #7 glaze polish
5. Mequiars Gold Class*
6. Mequiars #20 polymer sealant**

*Gold Class seems to work real good on black or dark colored cars. I detailed a 2001 Sebring last weekend and although it was brand new, the Gold Class made a difference!

**I added this "extra" step because if your gonna neglect the car why not protect/seal all the work you did

Good luck with your BLACK car, you'll need it and when your done you'll have the sharpest car on the block Oh yeah, one more thing, when your done with ALL the steps, rinse the car down with water and dry off with cottten baby diaphers. This helps all the steps to "settle" and will rinse away any thing left over, if theres anything I should say and will even out your cars appearance, trust me this makes things look better with the finished product

Shifty, you only use Dawn once, the first time to purposely remove any old wax. It is not bad for your clear coat as it is rather mild. Once you do your prep work and apply your wax, dish soap is unnecessary unless you want to apply more wax every car wash.

Nick,
What you have is good. I would get some Meguiars #9 or 3M SMR or Perfect It II. You will notice a difference. It's worth a trip to AutoZone.

Aaron

My steps
1. Mequiars #00 Hi-Tech Wash
2. Mothers Clay Bar (2x year)
3. Mequiars #2 Fine-Cut Cleaner (2x year)
4. Mequiars #9 Swirl Remover (2x year)
5. Mequiars #26 Hi-Tech Yellow Wax (2x year)
6. Mequiars #20 Polymer Sealant (2x year)
7. Mequiars #34 Final Inspection (after every wash)

NOTE: I like Mequiars but would try Zaino if I could just "pick it up" and the local body shop store.

Okay, I will try and find the 3M Perfect-it II... do you have a part number for the 3M by any chance? in my steps listed here, between which 2 steps would I use the 3M???
1) Dawn wash
2) clay bar
3) Wash with car soap
4) Meguire's Crystal Polish
5) Meguire's Gold Class

Thanks again for all the help!!!! -Nick

3 and 4.

http://products.mmm.com/us/auto_marine_a...4glV6DM2N2CHHbl

oops! must have missed the part number... just waiting for a nice day or two to do this now.... -Nick