Flat black

[attentiontodetail]

I'm detailing a 69 mustang that is painted yellow with painted flat black hood and deck lid. Can that be waxed with the microfiber finishing wax? How about clay bar? I've heard that polishing flat black can increase the gloss on flat black. Is that the case? Thanks in advance.
Eric

[Murr1525]

Re: Flat black

Yeah, it would add gloss.

Not sure what is best for flat colors. I think there is one or two 'matte waxes' out there, but don't know how they work. Have to be careful with any cleaning/polishing, etc because just the applying can add gloss to the surface permanently.

[Xzotik]

Re: Flat black

Good article and video, including Barry Meguiar, fyi:

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/car_tips&id=8770554

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Flat black

The best thing you can do for flat paint is to not touch it! Be extremely careful even washing it, and never put a buffer to it, never attempt to wax it with traditional liquid or paste waxes, etc. You will start to put a shine to it, and you most likely will not do so evenly. The good news is that flat paint rarely shows swirl marks due to the very lightly textured surface and it's inability to reflect light. But if you get a noticeable scratch, you're stuck. You can't polish out the scratch because you'll create a shiny spot.

This past January at Barrett-Jackson in Scottsdale there an incident of vandalism with several of the vendor's display vehicles, including a matte gray Aston Martin Vantage. The key scratch was very deep and the owners tried to touch it up with a bit of touch up paint, then they rubbed the area with nothing more than a quick detail spray and a microfiber towel. What they ended up with was a dark line from the touch up paint, surrounded by a semi gloss "halo" from the friction of the microfiber towel. It looked worse than the scratch alone would have.