[Lmackattack]

Dave check out the Gloss Black paint job on my truck. You will have to buff these out next year after I put some miles on the truck. Pics are in my dimly lit garage but its like looking in a mirror when you are in front of it.

 

[blue-sun]

nice.

Be very careful with a black paint job, it WILL swirl, badly, if you don't treat it correctly. I suggest you order some high quality microfiber towels.

here's the kit I just ordered for the wash & wax day use coupon code "savebig" for 15% off. I think it's still good for a few more days (the code that is)

ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS use a clean towel when touching your car. Anything else WILL cause scratches/swirls in the paint. When any towel (or wash mitt) touches your car, go back and forth in the direction that wind would hit the car, never in circles (damn you karate kid!) With those few techniques, you'll keep the swirls to a minimum, if you're lucky. Black, while a super nice reflective color, is not very forgiving, unlike a silver car.

David

 

[Spud]

Looks good Trent. What kinda truck is it?

good stuff David. Dito on the black paint, looks so nice when you treat it well, but man it can look like crap if you're just a bit off. But Trent should be quite familiar with that I suppose, with the black 2 and all..

 

[AScheib5088]

are you serious...dont go in circles...shoot i have been doing that forever...good thing the paint on my car is shot anyways...and if you dont have a good towel it will seriously scratch the paint? wow glad to know i learned that now cuz in the spring i wanna paint my car black. does black really swirl that much?

 

[blue-sun]

are you serious...dont go in circles...shoot i have been doing that forever...good thing the paint on my car is shot anyways...and if you dont have a good towel it will seriously scratch the paint? wow glad to know i learned that now cuz in the spring i wanna paint my car black. does black really swirl that much?

circles = bad.

same as bad towels. A teery cloth towel (like a beach towel or a bath towel) with the looms/loops are really bad. Car's paint it fragile in a sense that it eally doesn't take much to put in those fine scratches/swirls.

For example, here are pics of Joe's car (mr2urbo12) from when I detailed it last summer.

Here's what it looked like when I started. notice the small scratches in every which way

Now those scratches are lessened alot with the buffer

Then finally the paint is smooth, mostly swirl free, and clear.

Darker colored cars (black, brown, navy blue, forest green), when scratched have more of a contrast with the scratches/swirls. Those small scratches reflect the light and stand out against the dark colored car. A lighter car (white, silver, gold) while may be as swirled as the dark one, but the light reflected on the surface of the paint is similar in color to the paint itself, and much less noticable.

Here's a pic of a black blazer (tcengel's) notice the swirls and the contrast against the black

I looked, but I don't have a good swirled light car pic on my site to show you. . .

www.autopia.org <--- go there and read. It's a detailers site, much like this is a MR2 site.

Sorry Joe and Tim for bringing your cars up.

David

 

[Lmackattack]

Dave do you wax the car in straight lines. I always go in one direction to keep swerls to a min. I am letting the paint dry for a mounth or so untill I install the parts on the truck. It has 3 coats of clear so hopefully it will completly harden by then and resist scratches a little better?

Spud its for a 1965 Macl semi truck.

it will resemble this truck but it will have a red frame

 

[Spud]

oh thats right, I remember those pics now. Awesome

 

[blue-sun]

Trent,

I use a polisher/buffer when I wax. The head oscilates, and I tend to go in a straight line. It's not all that critical with the machine, but by hand it is.

David

 

[Lmackattack]

I hope all this black paint will ever need is a light buff once every year. I will ask you about those cloths/towels before I wash it for the first time. I wash the race rig at the start of every weekend then use a duster to keep it clean and free of dust. PITA to do a 70' tractor trailer. Luckly the race rig is white and will hide durt easy. Im dreading the day I have to wax it !!!

 

[blue-sun]

oh man.

i'd charge you like 750 to wash & wax something that big.

I'd easily spend like 100 in supplies alone to do it! wow!

 

[Lmackattack]

oh man.

i'd charge you like 750 to wash & wax something that big.

I'd easily spend like 100 in supplies alone to do it! wow!

it cost between $60-$70 dollars just to have it washed and spray waxed. It takes on avg about 30 mins just to do that. the rims take 2 hours to polish and I could only image how long to wax it by hand. I will let you know some day...LOL

 

[blue-sun]

Trent,

Check your email bro. . .

David