Sometimes i hate black

Ok 2 question here..

I have a black SS, and my first question is, i hand wash my car, i am very careful about cleaning, i try to get a new brush after a few cleans, i always wash it off, and spray it each time i re soap it, anyways, i have ALOT of little fine scratches that u can see really good at night, should i like wash it like REALLY good, and wax it, or should i get a place to buff the car.

Question 2:

When it comes to black cars, drying is important, ive used all the crap, microfiber.. dry towels. There good until i use it for a few swipes, the towels doesn't dry it, just smears it. I seem to get better result from a lint free, SOFT body towels.. any suggestion..?

Thanks!!

Best thing I have seen to dry a car without scratching it is a California Water Blade. Works great and wont damage anything. Google it. Buffing and black can be dangerous, you need to know a good buff man or swirl city here you come.

That California Water Blade, does it make it dry when u go over the car? Or just wipes off like the sitting water puddles. I can see me having problem where the car isn't straight, like where the body curves.

It dries the car completely. And you are correct, like near the hood scoop, it has problems. Other then the hood scoop, I can get the entire car dry with this product. Been using it for around 2 years now without a hitch. For the hood scoop I use a lint free cloth and dry. I don't wipe, I just push it on the water and let it absorb it.

Get a guzzler from autogeek.You wont be unhappy.
Get the car buffed by a quality detailer,that will remove the swirls not cover them. Check around a good detailer has a reputation that follows him.

I use these...

http://www.autopia-carcare.com/son-dwdt-2.html

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Originally Posted by Mr. Luos

I use these...

http://www.autopia-carcare.com/son-dwdt-2.html

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yep got one of those,griots garage waffle weave,and meguiars water magnet.all work great.or just get in the car and go as fast as you can and dont stop,that will dry her off.:yup:

If you are rubbing the paint with anything it will scratch it.

Leaf Blower no touch:yup:

i bought that water blade.. and its good for the smooth parts only, my opinion, it wasn't worth $20

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Originally Posted by slikws6

If you are rubbing the paint with anything it will scratch it.

Leaf Blower no touch:yup:

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Only if it's dirty in the first place.:)

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Originally Posted by slikws6

If you are rubbing the paint with anything it will scratch it.

Leaf Blower no touch:yup:

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dont't rub,drag and dab

To each there own, my water blade fucking rocks. And will not scratch the paint in any shape or form. I only paid $12 for my blade. Will never look back.

Does anybody have any experience with mr clean autodry? I dont believe it works thats why i dont buy it, but has somebody use it?

stay away from mr clean autodry

best thing to dry a car is an ELECTRIC leaf blower

+1 on the leaf blower , there's no rag or wipe type cloth that can dry this good and dry all the gap area around tail light,trunk gap,hood gap
at first i thought (f**king crazy) but just try it!!
Drys so fast no water spots on wheels or anywhere!!

My CLK500 is black. I swear by my chamois, as I have been using it on black cars for years. Yeah it is old technology, but is still the only drying tool i've seen that WILL NOT leave scratches or swirls on a black car.

Like it was said before... to each their own. Cars scratch, that’s just life. Just seems worse on black. Most scratch occurs then you're drying the car. So here is my tip. Watch a pro and study how they do it. I've got to watch some great "detailers to the stars" here in the LA area. They charge stupid amount of money. You never see them using the water blade. (I've got one and thought it was cool) Check out Jay Leno Garage (website) His guys have the best tools and again no blade. What I got from them was your always dry along the body lines. That way if you do scratch, the light doesn’t reflex as bad and the scratch is less noticeable. Also a good coat of wax will take the scratch and you can buff it out later. A pro also told me to learn good technic. The best tools arent going to help if you have bad form. I know we don’t drive show cars but more ever day drivers. So take some of this info with salt. My last few cars have been black and yeah it sucks to clean more often but so what. If you love your ride you'll make the time. If only I took car of my health as well I do my car. haha

I would never use a waterblade or Cali duster on my car. Only waffle weave microfiber towels from Autogeek here. Great for prevention. For correction why not buy a Porter Cable rather than paying a detailer to do it? I have one and it works.

california car dusters are AMAZING

I have PC too, works great. Plus the Cali duster because I work close the freeway.

This guys uses the blade too. Not a scratch on the car, FLAWLESS paint. Picture doesn't do justice but he has won many car shows. Like it rolled off the factory floor.

http://i343.photobucket.com/albums/o...1/Image041.jpg

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Originally Posted by slikws6

If you are rubbing the paint with anything it will scratch it.

Leaf Blower no touch:yup:

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Originally Posted by TRANS-DAD

+1 on the leaf blower , there's no rag or wipe type cloth that can dry this good and dry all the gap area around tail light,trunk gap,hood gap
at first i thought (f**king crazy) but just try it!!
Drys so fast no water spots on wheels or anywhere!!

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Just curious on what kind and how powerful the leaf blower is you guys are using?

Leaf blower makes sense but at the same time, if you don't have a dust free area that your blowing your screwed. Then you will be doing it twice, once to dry, once to get all the dust that you blew onto the car, off. I will stick with my blade, so far so good. But opinions are like assholes, everyone has one and they all stink :lmao:

Well i am now using the blade on the area i can, and wiping the other areas off..

What can't you get at? I can do the ENTIRE car except for the hood scoop. I can do the entire spoiler, fog lights all that good shit. Well I can't get my grill I guess but I don't really worry about my grill, I use a lint free cloth like my hood scoop.

Detailing experts on the Autogeek forum pretty much share my view on the waterblade. (but I'm sure none of them know anything right?)
http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/...html#post14764
http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/...squeegees.html

I tried the waterblade once. I threw it in the trash after using it once.

PEOPLE ARE ON CRACK, if you think the Waffle weave will beat the blade. Wiping a towel (don't care how soft it is) compared to wiping with rubber is not going to be any better. Mine has not left one scratch, and had it recommended by MULTIPLE detailers. You guys can do what you want, I will do what I want, I have 2 trophies (granted not 1st place, a 3rd and 2nd place) at car shows. That Z06 has won numerous times (1st place) I think it works just fine. Not a chance in hell of scratching a car unless its filthy to begin with. I have used almost everything except the Waffle Weave but looks just like other shit I have used before. Only thing I would try that I haven't is a blower, but howdy dust, not my cup of tea considering dust scratches paint.

The blower I use is a echo 190 mph and it has a ext on the blow tube.
I just remove that ext and the tube is only a foot long.


Also you just washed the car and the ground is soaked so the dust is at bay.

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Originally Posted by blackSS01

PEOPLE ARE ON CRACK, if you think the Waffle weave will beat the blade.

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Are you a professional detailer?
Care to explain why they tend to recommend NOT using the blade?


Use what you like.
I refuse to use the blower, the cali duster, or the blade on my paint.
Sonus waffleweave towels. And you guys have seen my car.

I myself do not detail cars. I have 3 buddies that do though. Well only 1 does now, since the other two moved on to better things. Like I said, I have not used the Waffle, but used things just like it. Granted they may be a little different, and did not work as good as I can work the blade. Your car does look good Mr. Luos, I will not deny that. And on to the blower, wetting the ground sounds like it could work, thought about that last night. Might give it a try, you never know.....

The waffle weave towels...

Get them from autogeek, or get the Sonus ones from autopia.
The ones you can get at VatoZone aren't really any good.

I am painting my car black next month.

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Originally Posted by Sarge91

Ok 2 question here..

I have a black SS, and my first question is, i hand wash my car, i am very careful about cleaning, i try to get a new brush after a few cleans, i always wash it off, and spray it each time i re soap it, anyways, i have ALOT of little fine scratches that u can see really good at night, should i like wash it like REALLY good, and wax it, or should i get a place to buff the car.

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It looks like a lot of people are answering question 2 for you, so I will address question 1.

Are you really using a BRUSH to wash your car? What are the bristles made of? Hopefully, not plastic. In my humble opinion, a brush will definitely leave tiny scratches in the clear coat. I use a wash mitt that has a very deep nap and is made from cotton. That way, any dirt it happens to pick up gets trapped in the nap and doesn't rub against the paint. I also don't use a lot of pressure when washing the car so I don't inadvertently grind something into the paint.

There are some good tips on Zaino's web site for washing and drying cars to avoid scratches. www.zainostore.com They are a sponsor of this site.

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Originally Posted by Y2KPewterSS

I am painting my car black next month.

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Liar.

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Originally Posted by Y2KPewterSS

I am painting my car black next month.

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:lol:

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Originally Posted by Mr. Luos

Are you a professional detailer?
Care to explain why they tend to recommend NOT using the blade?


Use what you like.
I refuse to use the blower, the cali duster, or the blade on my paint.
Sonus waffleweave towels. And you guys have seen my car.

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I'm with Mr. Lous on this one. You must have never owned a Black car and used a water blade. The blade is dangerous. It will leave a ton of vertical and horizontal scratch's.

Come on, ask me how I know. Plus don't you just love how when your drying your car and all of the sudden you hit a brief dry spot and it rips the blade right out of your hand. Yeah that's all fun and games when you have the all gummy blade, but what about the first gen blades that had the plastic on handle. Yeah its about just as much fun as all the scratch's you put into your car from using the damn thing.

Stick with what Mr. Lous said. Use either the Sonus waffle weave towels, or 100% USA cotton towel such as Fieldcrest.

My brother got me into using a lambskin chamois. Get it nice and soaked and it dries the car very well. No streaks or water spots.

the only thing that will 100% not scratch your car is a leaf blower, not only does it dry the car but it allows you to get into all the little crevices(sp?) that towels cannot get into. I dry the car as best as possible with the leaf blower than use the large microfiber drying towel. Never had a problem, however, no matter what you do, you will ALWAYS get some swirl marks.

Someone can correct me if im wrong but i was told that the only true way to minimalize swirl marks is to NOT wax the car, only glaze it.

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Originally Posted by basballny2

the only thing that will 100% not scratch your car is a leaf blower, not only does it dry the car but it allows you to get into all the little crevices(sp?) that towels cannot get into. I dry the car as best as possible with the leaf blower than use the large microfiber drying towel. Never had a problem, however, no matter what you do, you will ALWAYS get some swirl marks.

Someone can correct me if im wrong but i was told that the only true way to minimalize swirl marks is to NOT wax the car, only glaze it.

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DO NOT TO USE A GAS POWERED LEAF BLOWER! I've heard they spit oil drops out with the air. Electric ONLY!

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Originally Posted by basballny2

stay away from mr clean autodry

best thing to dry a car is an ELECTRIC leaf blower

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Originally Posted by svt_eater

DO NOT TO USE A GAS POWERED LEAF BLOWER! I've heard they spit oil drops out with the air. Electric ONLY!

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please read the whole thread

Someone can correct me if im wrong but i was told that the only true way to minimalize swirl marks is to NOT wax the car, only glaze it.[/QUOTE]

I believe that a glaze fills in swirl marks and you should wax over the glaze.

As long as the car is clean and your using good cloths and not a cleaner wax it should be fine to wax.Some waxes have the ability to fill slight swirls in also.

I checked out a waffle weave, GRANTED it was a autozone one, that Mr. Luos says stay clear from, but THAT fucker would not beat a blade, hands down. It was corse as hell, never touch my paint in a million years. I will not judge all waffle weaves on this one because of Mr. Luos expertice (spell?) in the waffle weave but to anyone out there DO NOT BUY THE SHITTY AUTOZONE WAFFLE WEAVE.

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Originally Posted by basballny2

please read the whole thread

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I just wanted to make it clear because some people can think, "why use a electric leaf blower when I already have a handy gas one in the garage."

I use the good ole air compressor with a trigger nossle for removing all the water out of the tough spots (mirrors, trunk lid, door lettering, marker lights and so on). Then I use a shammy to clean up the rest. However when time is a concern the drive fast as you can thing works fantastic...

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Originally Posted by tiny47

I use the good ole air compressor with a trigger nossle for removing all the water out of the tough spots (mirrors, trunk lid, door lettering, marker lights and so on). Then I use a shammy to clean up the rest. However when time is a concern the drive fast as you can thing works fantastic...

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The drive fast as you can is certainly the most fun!

I use the absorber,its very soft and washable.

I always used a water blade on my black camaro and had good luck. Used it to remove most of the water, then finished with a 100% cotton bath towel. Never put any scratches in the paint with that technique.

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Originally Posted by drummer52910

I always used a water blade on my black camaro and had good luck. Used it to remove most of the water, then finished with a 100% cotton bath towel. Never put any scratches in the paint with that technique.

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For towels, I've heard that Fieldcrest high quality towels were best. Just beware of any stitching in towels as that would cause scratches.

i use a absorber and finish it off with microfiber towels i get complaments all the time

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Originally Posted by Y2KPewterSS

I am painting my car black next month.

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oh man, that made my friggin day! :lmao:

OK shoot me now but this is my process

Wash it up, squeeky clean

Silicone waterblade off large somewhat flat areas--Windows spoiler parts of hood etc
Biggest thing i have noticed with the blade---make sure it is clean, small particles will stick to the blade and that will cause scratches... thats why everyso often i go rinse it off just to be safe...

Microfiber towel off the rest

i usually try to meguires gold wax the thing afterwards too

First time i did this i had it sitting in the garage afterward and when my dad got home later that night he looked over and noticed right away "wow thats the cleanest i have seen your car in awhile" so it worked for me

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Originally Posted by prentice

I use the absorber,its very soft and washable.

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Originally Posted by tcondra

i use a absorber and finish it off with microfiber towels i get complaments all the time

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I used the absorber for a while.

Until I met Goose. And he yelled at me because of it.
It will swirl your paint. Too smooth, nowhere for the little dust particles to get trapped in.

Sonus microfiber waffle weave towels are worth EVERY PENNY!
Also, to avoid swirls, use a sheepskin mitt. It helps because of how thick it is. The crap you are cleaning off your car can get stuck inside most mitts...the wool/sheepskin ones it gets stuck, but it gets stuck in deep.