Basic Paint Care Program for Phantom Black

[boss99er]

Hey guys, I just recently purchased my first black care. I'm immediately noticing that its a whole different ball game than my two previous silver cars as far as paint care goes. I searched around on here, and surprisingly there isn't much on basic care of Phantom Black. Lots of articles on restoration/correction though...which leads me to believe not many people know how to properly care for it. [confused]

Can anyone give me a basic paint care program along with the products that work well for you? I'm by no means a detailing expert (hence this question).

Thanks guys!!!

[boss99er]

Hey guys, I'd appreciate any help you can give me. I see Detailer's Domain is having a moving sale, so I'd really like to figure out what I need and place the order while that's going on.

Talk to my like I'm 5 years old, because that's about how much detailing experience I have.

Thanks in advance!!!

[jay508]

Everyone has their preference but here's the most used products in my collection for maintenance washes. Do yourself a favor and research the wash method.

Wheels - Sonax Wheel Cleaner Plus
Tires - Optimum Power Clean used in a Kwazar Venus Pro Compression Sprayer
Tire Dressing - Adam's Super VRT and Optimum Opti Bond (I prefer Opti Bond)
Brushes - Uber Boar's Hair Wheel Brush (rims) and Adam's Boars Hair 20" (tires), Wheel Woolies (barrels)
Wash - Optimum No Rinse (Excellent for hard water, ONR can act like a softener)
Wax - Optimum Car Wax (Spray)
Sealants - Menzerna Powerlock or Sonax Polymer Netshield.
Glass - Stoners
Drying Towel - Uber Super Drying

Once my sealants run out I'm going to start using CarPro Hydro2 which Detailers Domain doesn't sell unfortunately.

Also buy yourself a ton of microfiber towels.

[boss99er]

Thanks for the post!!! Can you give me a quick rundown of a detailing schedule? Something like:

Every week: ####
Once a month: ####
Twice per year: ####

I'm having trouble figuring out how often to do some of this stuff. Hopefully this question makes sense.

[jay508]

I slack sometimes but generally it's once every week to two weeks for rims, tires and wash.

Depending on the sealant you choose some can go 6 months others can go 2 months.

[boss99er]

Ahh ok. I usually wash at least once a week....depending on weather forecast. Please don't mock me for this...but what is the difference in wax and sealant?

[jay508]

A lot.

read up - http://www.autogeek.net/qude101.html

also - http://optimumforums.org/index.php?showtopic=892

[boss99er]

Ha ha, I figured! I'll read up tonight and let ya know if I have further questions. I assumed it would be easier to figure out a good paint care plan, but the problem is there is actually SO much info, and its so specialized that its actually hard to figure out on your own.

Thanks for the help!!!

[boss99er]

So, am I reading this right....you either use wax or you use sealant? It sounds like its either or. I'm guessing sealant would be better through winter?




A lot.

read up - http://www.autogeek.net/qude101.html

also - http://optimumforums.org/index.php?showtopic=892

[MarcWinkman]

I have a Phantom Black S4 and can say that it's a fantastic color, but it is definitely labor intensive to keep it looking its best. That said, I use a three bucket (wheels/tires, wash, and rinse) wash system with grit guards in each bucket. I use Adam's car shampoo for washing and use two mitts for same (one mitt for the upper two thirds of the car and another for the lower third). I'll clean the wheels first using Sonax Full Effect (still have a bunch of it, but it's the predecessor to Wheel Cleaner Plus) and a boar's hair brush and Daytona Speed Master). I wash the car from top down making sure to rinse the mitt off in the rinse bucket and rub both sides of the mitt against the grit guard in both the rinse and wash buckets before returning it to the paint. After washing the entire car, I rinse with a very gently stream of water from the top down to allow a lot of the water to sheet off the paint so that drying is easier. For drying, I saturate the entire car with either Adam's Detail Spray or Wolfgang Instant Detail Spritz (depending on what I have on hand) and pat dry with an Uber Microfiber Drying towel. I also use a waffle weave towel with some detail spray to dry the door and trunk jambs. Clean the glass with Sonax Glass Cleaner and hit the painted surfaces with some Wolfgang Deep Gloss Spritz Sealant and call it. This gets done twice a week.

Once a month, I'll do the above, but before rinsing the car, I'll re wash with a Nanoskin Autoscrub fine grade wash mitt and then rinse and then dry as above. I'll then polish with Adam's Revive on a blue foam final polishing pad (just enough cutting power to address any marring that the Autoscrub wash mitt may have caused and will also get some residual wax off the surface). After polishing, I'll wipe the car down with IPA, Menzerna Top Inspection, or Meguiar's #34 Final Inspection and then wax with Wolfgang Fuzion.

Twice a year, I'll do a major detail which is a wash as above, Nanoskin Autoscrub wash, dry, and then paint correction with a combination of Menzerna FG400 and Sonax 3/6, or if the paint isn't in need of a lot of correction, just some Sonax 4/6 then an IPA, Top Inspection, or Final Inspection wipedown followed by a coat of Wolfgang Fuzion for paint protection.

Keep in mind that since the car is black, and for some reason Audi's clear coat scratches relatively easily, scratches may happen with normal washing and drying. I don't recommend waterless washing or detail spray cleaning a Phantom Black car since you can grind dirt and whatnot into the car and cause some swirl marks that way.

[boss99er]

Wow, great writeup, Marc!

So the detailing spray is a bad idea on our cars, even with a good coat of sealant?

[MarcWinkman]

Wow, great writeup, Marc!

So the detailing spray is a bad idea on our cars, even with a good coat of sealant?

I'm not a fan of using detail spray to clean off dust if I don't have to. If, however, you absolutely can't help yourself and want to use a detail spray to clean up the car, I highly advise first using a California duster to VERY CAREFULLY take off the bulk of the dust that's on the painted surfaces before using the detail spray. When using the duster you want the threads on the duster head to be BARELY touching the paint and be sure to shake the duster out frequently.

[boss99er]

Thanks again for all the info!!!

[MarcWinkman]

Any time. Good luck with the new car!

[boss99er]

Thanks bud!


Any time. Good luck with the new car!