ObsidianRX

My better half has an Obsidian/Parchment 3RX. Since she's not into taking care of cars at all, I all but begged her to buy a light metallic color. Since the black one was "the prettiest," all my efforts were in vain

Anything other than a careful hand wash is going to either not get the car clean or introduce flaws into the paint, or both. It's not a question of if, just how bad.

Needless to say, I'm doing my best to keep the car from looking like it's 10 years old in 6 months, and she's under strict orders to never let the car come within 50 feet of an automatic car wash

I also made her a "no wash" sign that's stored in the glove box for her to put on the dash when the car goes in for service.

Even with hand washing keeping a black car looking good is problematic, especially if you''re like me and don't have a lot of free time and experience with paint correction. That said I'm doing my best to keep the paint sealed and to find the 2 hour blocks that it seems to take to get the car washed, dried, and vacuumed. And of course the car has visible dirt/pollen on it within minutes, and looks like hell again within 2 or 3 days.

But for that few minutes, the GF is right. Obsidian is "the prettiest."

Good luck OP.

sightdev

I had few dark color cars long time ago but it is impossible to keep it clean. I do recommend professional detailing to preserve the original shine. There are different types of detailing; first time I had done was on a 2005 RX. Detailer recommended $350 type which guaranteed shine for years [don’t remember how long] and it really did shined and beaded water for years without any waxing. I was really impressed so I had another car [spare] done which still shines after 5-6 years. I have only waxed the car once but the paint looks like when it was new and this is a 7 year old car. I am planning to get the same treatment for this RX next spring.