wax & shine on Black Glass
 

Hey guys,

wanted to get your input on what wax / shine cleaner to use on Black Fiberglass?

Getting anxious to pull the bad boy out for the season and want to get it shining!

thanks,

Roscoe,

You will most likely get all kinds of answers on this. I have had good luck with Mother's products as well as Giroits, Turtle Wax, and some of the other higher end waxes and shines.

Ron

I like Meguiar's G18216 Ultimate Liquid Wax. Leaves no dust residue or white crack/seam when removing. Also seems to cover the myriad of ultra fine scratches you see in the sun at certain angles.


For overall cleanup and scratch removal I use 3M Perfect-it (Machine Polish #3) PN 06068, 16oz (Finest grit they make) with a 3M PN 05733 Perfect-It 8" Ultrafine Foam Polishing Pad (Blue)
Buffer set on lowest speed.

Preparation of the surface is the key to any detail job. My order of paint prep is as follows:

1. If doing a ground up paint correction, I first wash the surface with Dawn dish soap, besides thoroughly cleaning it also removes the old wax,sealants, etc from the paint.

2. Evaluate the paint for swirls, marring or scratches. If the paint still feels rough using the "baggie test" (place hand in a plastic bag and run your hand over the paint) it should slide effortlessly without any drag. If it is smooth you can move onto step #4, otherwise see step#3.

3. Using a quick detailer, or even a quality car wash as lubricant use a clay bar over the entire painted surface. This will remove the fine embedded dirt and contaminates from your paint. You will be amazed how much junk is still removed after washing alone. Rinse after the clay bar treatment and dry.

4. You've already evaluated the surface for defects, if you have defects in the paint now is when you can polish the paint using a light or heavy compound to remove those defects. If you have a random orbital the process is easier and faster, but it can be done by hand.
Some people use a mixture of rubbing alcohol and water lightly misted on the compounded surface and then wiped off to remove the oils from compounding. It's an added step, but not totally necessary to the finished product.

5. Now you are ready to wax or add a sealant, which is your choice. I prefer a quality wax that doesn't leave a dust and removes easily. For a car that see's a fair amount of driving and outside exposure I like the Collinite 845 wax. It works very well on any color paint, doesn't cost a fortune and lasts for month's. Have fun, take your time and you will be pleased with your work. I've added a link covering the use of Collinite wax, plus the same site has lot's of tutorials on the whole detailing process.


https://www.autogeekonline.net/forum...ndary-wax.html

Look into www.chemicalguys.com. They’re very helpful if you have questions. I’ve never used products that are as high quality as they produce. Hands down the best but not widely recognized since you can’t buy them innormal retail. Be sure to follow the steps above but add a clay bar to the front end of the process to get the debris embedded in the pours of the paint out. If done correctly you should have 4-5 hours in this process. The results are spectacular. Be sure to check out their Black Light glaze for black. Truely amazing stuffbut call and talk to them about what you’re doing!

I use https://www.zainostore.com on my black car.

Wax
 

Rosco, if your body is Blk gloss gel Cote I would go to West Marine and get 3M or Starbrite compound and use Collinite paste wax....last a very long time on boats and for extra gloss use a detailer like Mothers. I have a orbital buffer you can borrow I’m near Freehold
Jon

This is my regimen as well, except I would advise to do strip wash with harsh soap, clay bar and wax once a year. For materials I use the Turtle Wax Ice products. After clay bar I use 2 coats of Turtle Wax Ice Paste. After that I used the Ice detailer (but any detailer will do). After a few water washes then follow up with the Ice liquid polish which helps refresh the wax. If you do that you should get at least a year of frequent driving, two for a garage queen.


My Cobra was British Racing Green and it had just as well been black. It showed dust like crazy.

After two of the cycles I started getting "microscratches". These don't show except in reflected light with dark colors. So after two cycles of the full wash/bar/wax I had a pro detail and started again. I've seen too many people "burn" through the paint when using the orbitals. Unless you're experienced leave the detailing to a pro. A couple of hundred bucks to a good detailer is better than a $5K+++ paint job.

Another thing that is getting lots of exposure these days are these so called "quartz" coatings. Too new fangled for me, I prefer to stay with tried and true. Like the old saying goes "Change is good, you go first".

Your right there Tony, We use Permagard on our Jets and Turboprops. Slipperier than Teflon coating and even good quality masking tape won't adhere to it. Pricey though @ $400 per 8oz, and you have to be a certified applicator to apply it. I must say it is the shiniest stuff I've ever seen once done though.
https://www.permagard.com/aviation

For my BLACK CAR......I've used Chemical Guys 4 step polishing compounds with a buffer and Meguiars quick detailer with a very fine micro fiber cloth when I wanna turn heads

http://www.clubcobra.com/photopost/d...er_buffing.jpg

thanks everyone... you've given me some ideas...

CSX 4133,

I like your advice, same I got from my friends on the svtperformance forum.
However I lean towards claybar use on my cars every time - I don't feel it's that much extra effort, and I always seem to pick up some grunge in the clay. I LIKE the Collinite Wax idea, and probably will pick some up for the next detailing session.

Still patiently waiting for Cobra weather in the Buckeye State. (SIGH!) :(

Bill

Everyone here have great way's to detail their Cobra's. There isn't to much to add to the cleaning part (Clay bar are best). If your car has been painted in the last 10 or so years, you more then likely have base coat, clear coat. So your dealing with your clear, and not the actual paint. I believe there is still nothing better then hard paste Carnauba, for the final coat, do small section's at a time (half fender, half hood, Wax on, Wax off ;) READ the can, to make sure there is nothing but pure Carnauba, no added ingredients (cleaners, Silicones, etc.) You wouldn't believe how many company's add their own little touch (chemical's) to pure Carnauba wax's. I've shown cars for far longer then I care to admit. Hope this help's, this is just my $.02. Cheers Tom. P.S. There's only one thing better after a tough day, then waxing your Cobra, and that's DRIVING her? It? :)

A quick add to my last post, after your done with your car, you think ;) (in the garage) take it out in the natural daylight, and ask your better half to go over the Cobra with you. Trust me she was the harshest judge I ever came up against, from any car show :)

What CSX said--I use the same regimen, same wax. I don't have a black Cobra (mine's Malachite Green, not quite as bad as black when it comes to showing swirls), but had a black Jag VDP and it was a pain to keep looking great (but REALLY looked great when it shined). Even bought most of my stuff from AutoGeek, but also use Griot's. One tip on the Collinite--a little goes a LONG way. You don't need much, and the more you put on, the more you need to buff off. It's like Brylcream--a little dab'll do you.

You're getting a lot of great answers for fiberglass PAINTED black, but you're post stated "Black Fiberglass". Is this Black Gelcoat?

I think they are different animals.
I saw a car at a show 2 weeks ago that had a beautiful red fiberglass body, the owner informed me it was not painted, but it looked very good.

I have tried these and the results are magnificent https://poorboysworld.com/.

And get you self a set of detail guardz before you start any cleaning and polishing.
These will keep yanked cords and hoses moving smoothly and from coming off the ground and scratching your paint.

https://www.thedetailguardz.com/coll...-insert-2-pack

Some good info here.. Now I just need someone to actually do it for me :LOL: