Black Tacoma, Scratches?

My Black 06 tacoma looks like it is scratched everywhere when you look at it in the sun close up.. Is it suppose to look like that? I have only had it for 2 weeks..

 

Check in with mShu7 , he is the TW detail expert, he will give you some tips. Send him a PM if you can't find him on line.

 

Black is a tough color. I had a black 97. Twice a year (usually in spring and fall here in NE) I would use meguiars three step process. Basically, it was a paint cleaner, a paint polish, and wax. Took lots of elbow grease between the cleaner and the polish. For wax I used Gold Class by meguairs. Seemed to give me a nice deep shine.

I still due this process on my 09. Did it this past fall on my silver 09. This time, I incorporated the clay bar into the mix. By far, best thing I could have done.

I have tried swril reducers and have yet to find them adequate in comparision to the the 3 steps. Extra work for minimal gains. If you have some real defects, try scratchx by meguiars. Not a miricale worker, but does a good job for what it is.

I would:

clay
scratchx (if needed)
paint cleaner
paint polish
gold class wax

If you wanted, you could throw a coar of NXT 2.0 on over the Gold Class after a day for some extra protection. But not needed. Perhaps 2 coats of the GC for good measure. Also, always use a super soft towel and pads while working and make sure they are clean. Microfibers work nicely.

Use a decent car soap. Just not dish soap. This should give you the best look you might be able to get w/o using something more abrassive and that gets sketchy if you don't know what you are doing. Just go slow and be thorough with the cleaner and polish. The less shortcuts there he more "wow" you get at the end. Good luck!

 

A used black truck is especially tough, becuase it doesn't take much abuse (automatic carwashes, lack of proper care when cleaning, drying, etc) to give it a haggard look that is hard to reverse.

Whatever you use, i would make sure it is mild as possible and clear coat safe.

Good luck.

 

Check out autopia.org forums. Tons of helpful info. My 2000 black taco was the same (swirls + spiderwebs). Sounds like your paint needs machine polishing.
After reading alot, I purchased a random orbital polisher, couple pads, couple polishes and did the polishing myself. Came out fantastic- +/- 85% corrected with some of the remaining deeper swirls still there.
Whether you polish yourself or have a detailer do it, afterwards stay out of automatic carwashes, and change the WAY you wash your truck.

Black is very unforgiving, but looks great when polished and waxed.