tonycard

what are the best products to detail a black car? I have a lot of surface scratches and spots from tree sap i think? what are the steps to make it shine like new again?
Also i have a dealer installed clear plastic bra on the front bumper that i want to remove? is there a certain process to do this or just rip it off?

LexusNN

iTrader: (5)

Black cars are tricky but try to buff it with wax and use a microfiber to wipe it off. If that doesnt work then you need to high speed it. That is a difficult procedure and it takes a long time. Best to just take it to the dealership and get it detailed. For the sap, use a clay bar or sap remover from any auto store.

sallydrive

Sorry, but not really.

Steps:

1. Wash your car, get most of the dirt off that you can.
2. Clay Bar your car to remove any embedded imperfections.
3. Polish your paint, use a DA with a compound. Or you can try Ultimate compound by hand, but it's better with a DA.
4. Use a good quality wax for black paint.

This isn't that detailed, but just the basics. You can search for more details.

Hope this helps.

LexyISF

I take it you're working by hand?

First you need to give the paint a full decontamination.

Start with a pre-soak with APC, you can spray it on your car with a pump sprayer. This will start to break down the crap on the paint, and also degrease it.

A wash with washing up liquid next is good. Being a strong wash, it'll continue with removing crap out of the paint.

Next, you can remove the tree sap with panel wipe / mineral spirits. Just soak the sap with a rag and it'll dissolve pretty quickly. You can use a pump sprayer if the car is absolutely covered in sap (or tar).

Rinse the car, then you can clay it.

After all of this, the paint will be smooth as glass, and extremely clean! Just after this the car will be looking better!

Now the fun part begins. The swirls..... You can try to remove them (hard work by hand), or try to fill and hide them. Removing them will always give the best result, but good luck working by hand! Good polishes to use by hand are Meguiars 105 and ultimate compound.

You can try and hide the swirls with a glaze, good ones for this I've found are p21s cleanser, Prima Amigo, And Clearkote vanilla moose hand glaze. I would still use one of these after hand polishing!

Last, seal in your good work with a nice wax. Plenty good ones, don't know your budget, but I'm a big fan of Victoria Wax Concours on my black IS F. It's a nice deep, dark, and wet looking wax, glaze oil heavy (will help with filling swirls), but it's truly a bargain for the price.

jfelbab

How old is the IS? How have you been caring for it? Do you have any tools like a DA or Rotary buffer? How much time are you willing to devote to it? What are your expectations? How will you be caring for it going forward? You should ask yourself, "How did these scratches and spots get there in the first place?" If you own a black car it can seem like just looking at it cross-eyed will cause marring. Maintaining a black car in showroom condition is like a full time job. Yet it is always easier to avoid marring that to remove it.

There is no simple answer to your question without knowing your expectations and ambition. For some, a tunnel wash and a cleaner wax is good enough. To others nothing short of perfection will suffice. Where do you fall?

If you want near-perfection you will need a DA or Rotary buffer and some pads and polishes & sealants. If you need to purchase these, you will be in the $250-$400 range. You can probably bring the paintwork on your IS to it's best in about a days time. Once you purchase all the materials you can repeat the process many times on many vehicles with little to no added cost other than your time.

If you don't have the time or ambition and still want near-perfection seek out a professional detailer. Generally around the same price but for a full detail inside and out.

If you just want your IS to look decent and don't mind some minor swirls and scratches you can hit it with a wash, clay and a cleaner wax. This will improve the appearance, mask some of the marring but not make it perfect. This will only take about a half a day and cost around $25-$50 for materials and products. Add to this manual process the regular use of a gloss enhancer, like Meguiar's Ultimate Quik Wax, that will hide many of the minor swirls and scratches.

If you would clarify what you want to achieve and what you want to spend, both in terms of cash and in your time, I'd be happy to list some specifics on materials and techniques.

tonycard

I bought it used but it was maintained well by the previous owner. it has been 6 months since last detailed and needs it. my budget is under 50$ and i am a looking to get it as clean as possible within that budget. thanks

jfelbab

Ok, so you can do a lot and if you want to remove swirls and minor scratches you will need to polish the paint. This is a painful, time consuming ordeal when done by hand. When you purchase these supplies be sure to grab a tube of Ben-Gay, LOL. (not joking)

Suggested products.

Washing:
1 bottle Meguiar's Gold Class wash
1 new Sheepskin wash mitt
1 waffle weave drying towel
2 - 5 gallon buckets
2 - Grit-Guards for the buckets

Wash the car in the shade when the paint is cool to the touch. Hot paint dries and leaves waterspots before you can remove the excess water. Check out this washing video for proper technique to avoid adding swirls.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-M2Cq0RNTs

Don't overlook the importance of this washing and drying process as it is the primary cause of swirling in paint, and black in particular is prone to this marring.

Clay:
1 - Clay bar kit. Meguiar's, Mothers or Clay Magic are fine.
1 pkg of microfiber towels.

Clay the paint after washing and also do this in the shade on cool paint. See this video on proper clay technique.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VD9Qc84vSyY

Polishing:
1 bottle of Meguiar's Ultimate Compound or SwirlX
1 pkg of foam applicator pads
1 pkg micrfiber applicator pads

Polishing is difficult work by hand. If you have the stamina, you can achieve pretty good results but doing it by hand takes ten times longer than by machine. I'd suggest, if you choose to do this, to attempt only a couple panels a day. Take you time and work small 2' x 2' sections. This may take a couple days in this method but you will get there.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2L74hQWMBg

If you choose to go the Cleaner/Wax route, I'd suggest these products:
1 btl/tin Meguiar's. Mothers, Zymol all make decent cleaner/wax products. Pick one and have at it.

These products contain a blend of wax/polymers and abrasives. They will remove some and fill other swirls so the appearance is improved. This approach will not remove the swirls and scratches but will make them less apparent for a while. As the fillers evaporate they reappear but if you use the Meguiar's, Ultimate Quik Wax every week or two after your wash they will be hidden again.

If you chose the polish then it is time to apply a wax or sealant. Which you choose depends on your taste. Sealants tend to be highly reflective and carnauba wax tends to yield a deep gloss.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcpOWr5Ku2g

Some OTC products I'd suggest.
Sealants: Meguiar's Ultimate Wax (liquid or paste) Meguiar's NXT v2.0
Wax: Meguiar's Gold Class Plus

Maintenance: Meguiars Ultimate Quik Wax

Do check out our forum sponsors as they offer kits and discounts that will help achieve your goal. Don't get too hung up on brands but pay particular attention to technique and process.

tonycard

thanks alot, ill let you know how it turns out!!

boostinsc

did anyone use ultimate compound by hand and got back good results?

vwynn

iTrader: (4)

its really hard to get good results doing anything by hand. Especially if your going up against a machine that turns 2000~rpm.

if anything youre hands are churning at 120 rpm so obviously no contest lol.

flektone

iTrader: (1)

You can do a pretty dam good job by hand. You wont be doing any correction but you can make your paint pop for sure. I picked this car up used about 2 years ago. Ive done all my deatil jobs by hand. Clay, Autoglym SRP which is a cleaner/polish/sealant. Then topped with AG HD wax. I maintain it with meguiars quick wax in between washes. From the 5ft away and especially on cloudy days the car looks friggin awseome! Just as good as a full correction detail. But of course close up in the sun you can see all the swirls and fine scratches. And trust me, this car has a sh#t ton of swirls and scratches

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

I pretty much swear by Meguairs products on my OB IS. Invested in a Porter Cable and it made my life so much easier lol. I wash with Classic gold or NXT gen car wash, clay bar, wash. then depending on how many steps I want to do, Deep Crystal polish, ultimate compound, scratch X, color X, and then NXT/classic/ultimate wax. and Voila:





two other black cars I've done with the same method

MisterSkiz

iTrader: (2)

Good Luck doing it by hand...from what I have experienced is that lexus has some pretty hard clear coat.

eyezack87

iTrader: (4)

Like Jim stated, be prepared to put a lot of time and to invest in some BenGay or IcyHot. Here is something I did in my early years before going pro. Took 2.5 hours by hand to accomplish 60% correction on half a trunk