Hello all. New to the forum. Love it. I owned a 2006 is250 for 11 years and recently traded it in for a black on black carbon package RC F and I absolutely love it! Eventually I will start looking at modding it but for now I’m just enjoying driving it... my question is where and or how to you keep your car clean. Do you wash it yourself or do you have a place you recommend having it done? I’m in the houston midtown area. My concern is swirl marks. Mine is a 2016 and surprisingly there little to no swirl marks and I’d like to keep it that way.

 

glad to hear you are enjoying your car, the v8 in it is awesome

if there are no swirl marks, i would go to a detailer and pay them to do a light clean, clay and light polish then coat with a ceramic coating

sounds like your picky with the car and dont want to worry about washing it ect.
if you ceramic coat it if paint in good condition the prep work will be limited before ceramic. they still will do a light polish swirl remove before ceramic but cost will be much much lower

once on you can have 2 years of peace of mind

 

Another happy ceramic-coated RCF owner here. It's not cheap but well worth it. The disadvantage is you always have to clean the car yourself and can't take it to a car wash whenever you're lazy because you must use the right cleaning products for it beside of the swirl marks that they put on. I use Car Pro for washing and re-finishing. If you want to keep your car like showroom condition all the time, it's essential that you have a second car for driving when it rains. The less you have to wash the car, the less blemishes you will put on it. From my signature below you see that I had 3 black cars. Thank goodness the RCF isn't. What a chore it was to keep them clean.

 

I enjoy washing my car. I can spend several hours detailing my car every week or after every drive and find it relaxing.

I use mostly Griots garage products. I use an orbital buffer from Griots to wax my car a few times a year.

Keeping my car looking immaculate is just a way of life. I have no fancy coatings or protective films. I do have some rock chips but I touch them up with paint.

I am also slowly starting to do my own maintenance, just did an oil change today. I will do the rear diff fluid in the next month or so.

 

If you've got a black car and you want to keep it looking nice, I'd strongly recommend a thorough decontamination and light polish, then have a clear bra installed on the front end (front bumper, fenders, FULL hood, side mirrors) at a minimum. That's the only thing that will truly protect against swirls and light surface scratches. By all means, have the rest of the car ceramic coated as well, but don't expect any miracles aside from some hydrophobic benefits. Feynlab (and a few others now) make a "self-healing" coating, but it's nowhere near as protective as a clear bra and it will cost you an arm and a leg to have installed.

Some good info in the detailing sub forum here, and tons of useful info at Autogeek and Autopia if you really want to go down the rabbit hole....

 

Ceramic coating is definitely the way to go. I got a really good offer to have it done but just haven’t yet because I know it takes a few days. I currently have a complete front end clear bra. My process is I never wash my car by hand or dry it with anything and only ever really use a local touchless car wash that also has a good spotless rinse. I normally have the cars exterior detailed by a local shop 2 to 3 times a year, once in the spring, once in the fall, and once in between. I use really good micro fiber towels and a quick detailer to carefully lift any water spots or anything else that may get on the car in between washes. Welcome to the club! Black cars look amazing, my ocd with keeping my car clean would never let me own one though.

 

On the topic of car washes, I've heard rumors that you shouldn't take your car to a regular car wash that runs your car through the tunnel because there is dirt on their machines from cleaning previous cars and it can ruin your paint, is this true??

 

Yes. yes it is....

 

Are you referring to the auto car wash where you pull in and line up your car on the rails and put the car in neutral while it walks your car through the wash and smacks your car with the brushes? If so, anyone who’s cares about their cars paint should probably never use one of these.

 

Yea, that's what I was referring to. I need to think of how I'm going to wash my car lol. My apartment doesn't allow us to wash our car, and all the car washes in the immediate area are the kind you described...lol

 

You can take it to a detailer or have a mobile detailing service come to the parking lot at your work for a hand wash...but you'll have to do some research to make sure you find a legitimate detailer and not just some kid making $12 an hour to wipe your car down with an old towel that's been used on 3 other cars that day. Sometimes you can sign up for a maintenance wash plan through them for a discount for buying in "bulk".

You can go to a DIY wash bay style place and just bring 2x buckets, soap, and a decent mitt...although some places have rules against bringing your own supplies. And don't ever, EVER use the brush wand.

You could do a waterless or rinseless wash, depending on exactly how strict your apartment complex is.

You could hand wash it at a friend's house.

But I would never take my vehicle through an automatic wash that makes any sort of contact with the car. I don't even use "touchless" washes, personally...

 

I use the pay and spray and bucket wash to clean mine. A pressure washer never gets all dirt off the finish after the car has been rained/snowed on. There is always a film of dirt left behind is why I bucket wash afterwards. I use some sort of detail spray to maintain the finish till I do my annual paint correction.

 

thanks for the tips, ill do some research, but im liking the sound of the waterless wash.

 

Waterless and rinseless washes are great for cleaning light to moderate levels of "dirty", but if the car is driven in rain or gets any more than a light-to-medium level dirty, a quality handwash is the way to go. Here's a great thread that will get you started in the right direction: https://www.autogeekonline.net/forum...-detailer.html

 

Protect your investment. Take it to a professional detailer on a regular basis. If you get great pleasure in DIY, find professional training for yourself. Be aware that the tools and equipment needed could set you back a few thousand. Another reason to use a pro who has already made the investment. Beware of YouTube videos and miracle product claims. The different products are essentially the same just rebottled and rebranded for different manufacturers. Technique is everything. One man's opinion.