Paint scratches ridiculously easy on black truck

I've seen two new Porsches in at work in the parking lot with lots of swirl marks on them (both black). Just one of the things you gotta deal with owning black painted vehicles.

 

My sky silver paint has been excellent thus far. Very very happy I picked it over MGM.

 

To be pedantic, I might add to make sure it's a dual action, rather than random orbital. You don't want to end up with a useless wax spreader like this https://www.walmart.com/ip/10-Random-Orbital-Buffer/39881400

I have your tried and true Porter cable with Menzerna products (FG400 kicks ass) and a multitude of different pads and I can get 99% of all trail pin striping off my buddy's truck and did major paint correction on my wife's former black car and my black former black car.

 

Agreed, I should have been more specific. With the Griot's I have found it really is pretty much impossible to make a mistake.

I respectfully disagree. Swirls happen for a reason and it really is a matter of how much effort you want to put into minimizing or eliminating them. Often many light shaded paints will have just as many swirls as the darker paints, they just do not show up nearly as much. Silver is the best color for hiding minor imperfections. I have a black Tacoma and 2006 MINI that has a black roof. Recently I buffed out the roof of the MINI and since I had not buffed the two year old Tacoma at all I worked on a small section of one of the doors where I knew I had some minor scratching. The FG400 took the scratches right out and really cleaned up the rest of the area I worked on. I am overdue to "correct" the paint on the rest of the truck but I am encouraged that when I do it will look very nice.

I have also worked on a relatives car that had some scratches and paint transfer from a grazing blow that resulted in a $2000 estimate from a body shop. Some scratches were too deep to eliminate completely but overall the finished product looked better than the other side of the car that had not been hit but had no paint correction done to it. $50 in product and the relative pocketed the rest of the insurance money. She was quite happy. And the car was a light shade of paint, a beige color.

 

@ACEkraut

Here's the before of a black civic door that I did years ago

and after



This is was with Menzerna super intensive polish + Yellow pad, before FG400 came out (bonus: my old xj in the back)

 

I had a 2007 black Civic. Talk about a nightmare paint color.
Nice work btw!

 

Yep, that's my wife's old 07 civic coupe she had before we got her a new rdx a few years ago. It also had the crows feet on the hood and was repainted under recall.

 

Yea, our Civic made several trips to the Honda dealer for warranty paint work. Great car other than that.

 

I refuse to wash the truck alone. My wing man(woman) holds the sprayer hose away from truck, Cannot let it touch at all, I have some marks (bad) under the mirror from where I've hung the hose a couple times.. Also WASH bottom to top RINSE top to bottom DRY top to bottom entire top first, middle second and bottom last. But ya, this paint is very soft...

 

I have the same issues... Swirls for days...

What products do you guys use to hand wash the truck? Soaps, touch ups, waxes, etc.?

 

Dont bother trying to remove swirl marks by hand no matter what a product claims. As others have mentioned, use a polisher

 

I had none until the dealer gave me a "complementary" detail job. Now got swirls for days!!..

Good tip on using leaf blower to dry truck..nice.

 

I take it to them clean as hell and demand NO CLEAN!!!

 

My 2nd gen was black. Loved it cuz it was stealth ... now I'm all bout the MGM Terd gen !!

 

Ditto. Never let the touch my truck. Not gonna let them touch my 4Runner either.

 

I know each to their own, but when you're washing bottom to top, you're dragging dirt up the cleaner parts of the car. The general consensus among professional detailers is wheels/tires, then top to bottom.

http://www.drbeasleys.com/blog/2011/05/14/how-to-wash-your-car/

 

Hahaha... First Toyota you've owned, huh? Paint is not their strong point.

 

You can hide them with a glaze. It's temporary as it fills in swirl marks and will last longer after you wax/seal, but yes, you won't actually get rid of them unless you do paint correction with a dual action polisher.

 

I was waiting for this.
Im talking pressure wash only (wash bottom to top). If you wash top to bottom all the water runs down dirty paint. (Also so you know what you've already washed)
Washing siding on a house is the same logic.
NEVER let water get on dirty paint 1st
Always wash bottom to top and ill go around again top to bottom before I rinse.

 

Yer just looking too closely man, just back up and take a deep breath. All is well.