Best products to maintain a black car

[trailblazer295]

Hey everyone

Been awhile since I've been on here. My old truck was on it's way out so ended up getting a new one. It's a 2009 Ford Explorer Limited. This how she looks when I got it home yesterday. That paint overall is in pretty good shape considering it's 8 years old and never been rustproofed. I have clay and UA spray, previously I was using NXT 2.0 wax on my metallic red paint. To date I've always waxed by hand but am considering buying a Meguiars DA polisher for this baby. I'll probably have lots of questions as I get back into the swing of trying to keep my ride looking good. Also what do you recommend for leather treatment?

[ffboy]

Re: Best products to maintain a black car

Looks real good for an 8 year old vehicle, for your paint finish, I would use Gold Class Car wash (for weekly or as needed car washes), Ultimate Quik Detailer for dust removal, followed by Ultimate Quik Wax too. I would also consider proper car wash methods-2 bucket with grit guard, high quality (clean, soft) car wash mitts, wash from top to bottom, rinse followed by flood rinse, pat dry usimg good quality plush microfiber drying towels to minimize any chances of inducing micro-scratches on that good look on your SUV.

As for the leather treatment, depending on the overall condition of your leather, you can use leather sealer system if you want to protect your leather from some dirt or other elements (a 2 step process/kit), you can also use the more "traditional" kits like the Gold Class Leather Cleaner followed by the Leather Conditioner. If your leather is relatively clean, you can use the all in one leather care products like Gold Class leather cleaner and conditioner or the Ultimate Leather Balm, sort of like your in-between full leather detailing.

For vinyl surfaces, you can use megs protectant (either the natural shine one or high gloss finish one), or ultimate protectant.

For general interior maintenance (leather, vinyl, some hard surfaces, rubber, except fabrics), products like megs interior detailer or ultimate interior detailer will do nicely.

[trailblazer295]

Re: Best products to maintain a black car

Thanks, for a daily driver it's in great shape, the seats are in good shape and was cleaned by the dealer I bought it from. Not to shabby for 187k on the clock. The challenge will be keeping it this way.

What you recommend in terms of a wax will NXt 2.0 make the black look it's best or will a different wax be better?

[ffboy]

Re: Best products to maintain a black car

Thanks, for a daily driver it's in great shape, the seats are in good shape and was cleaned by the dealer I bought it from. Not to shabby for 187k on the clock. The challenge will be keeping it this way.

What you recommend in terms of a wax will NXt 2.0 make the black look it's best or will a different wax be better?

You could approach it in these ways:

You could apply either a pure polish like deep crystal polish or show car glaze (these contain polishing oils to add more depth most beneficial on dark colored cars) or cleaner polish, similar to pure polishes but contains a small amount of paint cleaners. Consumer products like Ultimate Polish, will do some mild cleaning while adding that depth you want.

You can also try Black Wax before applying NXT 2.0, Black Wax is a Cleaner-Polish-Wax, it has more polishing oils than cleaners. So it can be classified as a Polish-Cleaner-Wax.

Another way is to apply a Carnauba Wax on top of NXT 2.0, but I suggest trying it out on a small panel for you to gauge whether the improvement in the is enough for you. Again, its personal preference. You can apply on top of NXT 2.0 pure wax like Deep Crystal Carnauba Wax or Mirror Glaze Hi-Tech Yellow Wax (M26). If you have Gold Class Carnauba Plus, you can also try that.

Or finally, you can shift to Ultimate Wax (more depth than NXT 2.0 and durability), or Gold Class Carnauba Plus (still good durability but definitely gives the most depth).

[trailblazer295]

Re: Best products to maintain a black car

My nxt is probably half empty at this point so I don't mind reserving that for use on my parents metallic paint cars and buying a different wax for myself. I'll look into the ultimate wax and gold class. Might try the gold class for summer and might use ultimate wax in the fall for surviving winter with the salt and other **** they put in the roads. Unfortunately Canadian winter in the city is not kind to cars.

I appreciate the tips, I'll post pics when I finally get a chance to clean it up. She wasn't perfectly clean when I picked it up with recent rain and the test drives can see the dirt marks from the tires. But overall the paint isn't bad few areas that are scratched but I think I can diminish the looks of it.

[Blueline]

Re: Best products to maintain a black car

Looks to be in nice shape. Congratulations. Try Ultimate Wax (I use the paste) and I am very impressed by it. Seems to last long and makes the black look great. As for interior leather, I generally don't use anything, other than a warm water on a cloth wipe down. It never gest very dirty anyway. (no kids or dogs) Not a fan or believer in leather conditioners, since it is automobile, coated leather and impenetrable. Occasionally if I see a particular non Meguiars product on sale, I pick it up for my interior just because I like the leather smell. One word of advice, get it rust proofed if you plan to keep it. In addition to my new car, I have black 06, rust proofed every year, (Rust Check) and the thing looks practically new.

[trailblazer295]

Re: Best products to maintain a black car

That's first thing on my list to do is getting it rustproofed. I plan on doing it in the next few weeks, a location near my parents does the best job my Dad has ever seen so when I will be able head to visit for the weekend I'll be making an appointment to get that done.

[greg0303]

Re: Best products to maintain a black car

Ultimate Paste Wax, with a coat of natural wax on top, like M16 (if you could get one) or Gold Class Carnauba Plus, would look really good on your car's paint.
The other option would be a hybrid wax, which offers natural/synthetic characteristics, like M26 Hi-Tech Yellow Wax.

For a black paint car washes I recommend Ultimate Wash & Wax followed by Ultimate Quik Wax or Gold Class Premium Quik Wax (it offers high gloss but no hydrophobic polymers, like Ultimate Quik Wax). This combo works really well.

[trailblazer295]

Re: Best products to maintain a black car

I've only ever used liquid waxes, how does the paste compare? How little/much do you use by comparison?

[greg0303]

Re: Best products to maintain a black car

I've only ever used liquid waxes, how does the paste compare? How little/much do you use by comparison?

This article covers the topic:
http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums...lMVze5e9mmF.97

The protection period is the same for paste and liquid version of the same wax.
Ultimate Liquid Wax will not stain exterior surfaces, but the paste version will do so.

M16 Professional Paste Wax is very hard to remove/wipe-off if a layer is applied too thick.

[Blueline]

Re: Best products to maintain a black car

M16 Professional Paste Wax is very hard to remove/wipe-off if a layer is applied too thick.

Unfortunately it is impossible to find. I would gladly wear my arm out rubbing a thick application off, if I could find some. UW is a good, but not perfect alternative.

[greg0303]

Re: Best products to maintain a black car

Unfortunately it is impossible to find. I would gladly wear my arm out rubbing a thick application off, if I could find some. UW is a good, but not perfect alternative.

I still have a few cans of M16 left for sealant/wax applications. I usually use Ultimate Paste Wax as base and then M16 on top. I really like that combo look-wise and it offers pretty long protection period.

[ffboy]

Re: Best products to maintain a black car

I think you will like Ultimate Wax, I only have the paste version of it though. In my experience, in paste form, Ultimate Wax goes on a lot easier and thinner than the NXT 2.0, plus it's easier to remove. And I feel that a thin coat of NXT 2.0 liquid has the same look as Ultimate Wax paste.

In terms of overall gloss, Ultimate has a deeper, more crisp look vs. NXT 2.0's thicker, more candy coated look. Durability, Ultimate Wax definitely wins.


I believe you should give Ultimate Wax a shot. Who knows, maybe that's all you'll need for the look you're after.

[trailblazer295]

Re: Best products to maintain a black car

Thanks for the tips guys, I'll keep an eye out for some UW wax. Unfortunately being winter not sure when I'll get the chance to detail it.

[Blueline]

Re: Best products to maintain a black car

Thanks for the tips guys, I'll keep an eye out for some UW wax. Unfortunately being winter not sure when I'll get the chance to detail it.

It is not cheap. Look for it on sale at Canadian Tire occasionally. Especially in the spring.