Impossible dream of maintaining a black honda accord

[waxyboard]

Hi all,

I bought a new honda accord a couple months ago, it's black. I've read up all about microfiber towels, cleaning them properly, using all meguiars products, like the soap, and wash, and claybaring, etc etc... I even invested in an oribital buffer. But back to washing, I use the meguiars mitt, and two bucket method, going from top down, doing the wheels last where the most grime is likely to get on the mitt and start scratching.

No matter how many microfiber towels I go through to dry the car or how how gentle I am, I introduce new fine scratches in the paint every time. These are still too few to notice much, but could I be doing something wrong, or is it just life with a black car and possibly just soft honda paint/clearcoat? Sometimes the microfiber towels start to dry the car and when it's damp it is hard to move the towels on the car, so I feel like I'm putting too much friction and the towels are scratching the car.

The only thing I can think of is maybe my first set of microfiber towels got dried in high heat and maybe made them more coarse. My newer towels I only dry on low heat and of course don't use any softeners.

[Show 'N' Shine Car Detailing]

Just wondering why you're drying with microfiber towels? Unless others chime in, I've never used a microfiber towel to dry it. I've always used an absorber chamois. Others have techniques they use. So hopefully they'll reply.

[Murr1525]

Re: Impossible dream of maintaining a black honda accord

Using the Meguiars towels? Or other good quality ones?

Could use some white vinegar in the rinse to help soften.

[davey g-force]

Re: Impossible dream of maintaining a black honda accord

Hondas are notorious for their soft paint (not saying it's necessarily the case for your car).

Perhaps you could try using a QD to help your drying process by providing some lubrication.

[C8N]

Re: Impossible dream of maintaining a black honda accord

One test you can do is try pat drying with the mf instead of wiping to dry. If still inducing scratches, it is not your drying method. If that helps, then you can conclude that either your mf is of subpar quality or the mf was damaged in someway.

In addition, anything that touches your paint should be clean.
One problem I had with my black acura was that i was not rinsing the mitt free of grit.

[waxyboard]

Re: Impossible dream of maintaining a black honda accord

I was using the mcguiars waffle weave dry towels, I bought two. My take was these are just microfiber knitted in a way to absorb moisture better, so a regular MF towel would be fine in addition to the waffle weaves.

Maybe I will go with the QD next time. I mainly want to prevent the hideous water spots in addition to preventing any scratching. Last time I washed my car I didnt want to neglect my girlfriend and left it in the garage too long without drying and holy moley, last time I put her ahead of my car. Just kidding!

I could pat dry, I just didn't want any standing water, I obviously have hard water here.

[STRIFE]

Re: Impossible dream of maintaining a black honda accord

Maybe try a leaf blower, I find that once my vehicles are well waxed, the water just flies off when I blast them....you pretty much end up with very little water left to pat dry with a soft MF towel.
Some people roll their eyes regarding a leaf blower but I like it.
I usually follow up with some UQW

[Meticulous-Detail]

To reiterate what others have said, Hondas are notorious for soft paint, use a leaf blower or metro master blaster, use a very plush MF towel with detail spray to dry the remaining.

[C8N]

Re: Impossible dream of maintaining a black honda accord

This is what I do with my black acura.

I do the rinseless wash with the 2 bucket method mixed in with a little bit of Garry Dean's method.
Presoak with wash solution first and go by panel by panel. Clean the car with the mf wash mitt heavily soaked with wash solution and then use a damp (with wash solution) mf towel to lightly wipe off the heavy water. Since the damp mf has lubricity and I am wiping lightly, should minimize scratching. Then I use a drying mf towel to wipe off the balance so that there is no streaking. Should inspect your damp towel and drying towel often to make sure it is clean. If your damp mf gets dirty, use a new clean one. I grind the mf wash mitt against the grit guard in my rinse bucket really thoroughly and do the same in the wash bucket as well. If the wash mitt gets too dirty, use another clean one. Although the solution in my wash bucket is clean at the end of the wash, I was surprised to see some grit that has settled at the bottom. But that's why I use a grit guard on both of my buckets.

If you find your damp mf towel consistently comes up dirty, then you didn't do a good job of washing the car should should re-evaluate how you wash your car. Nonetheless, by the time my drying towel is used, the car should be free of dirt so that there is no grit/dirt to induce any scratches at this point.

The entire wash takes a little bit longer but I have not seen any new scratches or swirls on my car since using these techniques.

Hope this helps.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Impossible dream of maintaining a black honda accord

waxyboard, make sure you're washing and drying those Water Magnet drying towels after every use. In fact, for anyone else reading this, wash and dry these prior to first use and they'll work better for you on that initial use. But back to the issue at hand.....

It can be very challenging to maintain a black car, especially with scratch sensitive paint, at a very high level if that car is also a daily driver. There are a few things you can do to mitigate the marring you're seeing though. First, make sure to keep a good coat of wax on the paint at all times as this promotes the release of contaminants and makes washing and drying easier. When you do wash, after your final rinse take the nozzle off the hose and turn the water pressure down so that you just have a nice even flow of water at the end of the end of the hose. Do a final rinse with this steady, smooth stream of water and you'll sheet the vast majority of the water off the paint. After that, as you go to dry each panel first spray a bit of Ultimate Quik Wax (D156 in the Detailer Line if you prefer gallons) and dry that panel. You may find that folding your Water Magnets in quarters and keeping one on your shoulder will allow you to mostly blot dry a panel with one towel and do a light follow up wipe with that second towel on your shoulder. This way one towel picks up the majority of the moisture that's left and the second towel has to do very little work.

Doing this does seem to make drying a bit easier, and UQW has great hiding abilities so it should, in and of itself, help with your light marring issue as well. And before anyone makes a negative comment about using any product that might hide rather than remove defects, think about this: If you're working on very scratch sensitive paint, and the car is a daily driver, what would you rather do - buff it out every month or two, or do something simple and easy that both makes the paint look great and prevents you from constantly abrading away tiny amounts of clear coat? Remember, we're talking about a daily driver here, not a show car. While we all want our cars to look the best they possibly can, how much time and effort any of us is willing to put into a given car is up to the individual. We all have different goals, skill levels, etc.

[hemi]

Re: Impossible dream of maintaining a black honda accord

Are you sure you put the marring in ? Maybe you just washed the fillers out of the scratches that came from the dealership.

[ClearlyCoated]

Re: Impossible dream of maintaining a black honda accord

Try blot drying with water magnet towels. I usually follow that up with a Last Touch wipe down using one MF towel to wipe the LT across the paint, and another (drier) MF towel to lightly work the residual LT into the paint. I have a Royal Blue pearl Honda Accord, and while not as problematic as Honda Nighthawk Black pearl, this method works well for me and extends the time my paint needs a full correction.

[Detailing by M]

Re: Impossible dream of maintaining a black honda accord

Opti coat it! Problem solved.

[davey g-force]

Re: Impossible dream of maintaining a black honda accord

Although Opti-Coat will provide some scratch resistance, it can still scratch/marr.

[ffboy]

Re: Impossible dream of maintaining a black honda accord

I find flood rinsing useful, together with a quick detailer for added lubrication while drying. If it's really impossible (well, almost), i would just apply a glaze once in a while.