Howdy

As I've put miles on my car, I make all efforts to make it look new again... by cleaning it - a LOT.

Its a 2006 997 with black metallic pant. Its got 35.5 k miles on it.

Teh car looks great at night, but during the day you really see a lot of bad stuff on it, like swirl marks.

And the main question I have: what is the best way to shine this thing up? What is the best polish / wax for this color of car?

I like the black metallic but it never looks as "deep" As true black.. not at all.

 

I don't have the metallic black but a few weeks ago i picked up an 08 Black aero. I spent 5 hours as follows.

Very detailed wash and dry. Meguiars wash, chamois cloth and microfiber for drying.
Meguiars clay bar the entire car to remove any contaminants.
Quick wash again and dry to remove anything else.
Meguiars swirl mark remover.
Meguiars polishing compound.
Meguiars gold class premium wax.
Turtle wax black box kit (Pain in the ***) helps bring out a little more shine.

After all was said and done the paint felt like silk. I still have a couple of swirls here and there so i'm going to do a second run next weekend of the swirl mark and polishing compound then rewax it. To make it go faster i'd recommend getting a wheel, doing it by hand will take forever.

 

I have basalt black as well (2007) and have found the perfect solution to getting rid of swirls. It's somewhat of a labor intensive process (14 hours), but it works and the results are amazing.

Mo Mistry (his company is Glistening Perfection -- he is on 6speed) sells all of the products you will need. Essentially, you will need to buy: clay, VRG (random orbital buffer), 2 different types of pads, 2 different types of polishes, wax and some really good microfiber rags.

Trust me when I say my car looked perfect after this process. Approximately, 1 year later (about 3k miles) and my car only has a few swirls here and there.

Hope this helps.

 

Good god you guys. You are hardcore.
3k miles on your porsche and it looked perfect? Well, shouldn't it look perfect after 3k? I mean, isn't it new?

 

If the car has swirls and needs paint correction, it might be worth it just to take it to a professional detailer for a few hundred smackers.

My car, basalt black, came with barely noticeable swirl marks in a few places when it was brand new. I just gave it to the full Zaino treatment (Z-AIO, Z-5, Z-2, Z-CS, Z-6, Z-8), and now the paint reflects like a mirror. All the swirls disappeared with the Z-5. Good stuff.

 

I have Basalt Black as well and am very careful with it. I would highly suggest getting it as good as it can be with the methods described above and then get a full clear bra put on the front at the very least. Black shows anything and the clear bra is the best solution to keeping the front looking great as stuff is picked up on the roadway. I did not have a clear bra on my last black P-Car (which was black) and I regretted it. My current one has a full front with full hood coverage, mirrors and rear fenders. Looks great and cleans up great.

 

3k in the last year...the car has 23k on it altogether.

 

Hi guys
Thanks for the tips
Yes Mine has a clear bra,
but the bra looks kind of rough. I wish I knew how to really get bugs off of it. I've tried many things. I also tried rubbing alcohol on part of it -- iread that can clean some very well. But it didn't on mine -- left a haze.

What are your guys' thoughts on one of those large car duster things? I use that sometimes and I've read they are very well liked... but I fear it might leave swirls.

If it does, is that terrible on my car or do I just swirl-remove it when it gets really bad?

I park in a horrible parking ramp where there is dust.

 

With black, swirls are just hard to prevent completely. Metallic is better than straight black, but still easy to spot the swirls under daylight or fluorescent light. Dusters do/will leave very fine scratchs on the surface, but as long as you hand wash the car yourself and not rub very hard, the scratches you create are super shallow and will be easily taken out with a porter cable and "final polish" type cream (ones that only buff out the finest of scratches). Clay bar is only good for taking out impurities from the surface of the paint, and does f-all to any scratches. If you use clay bars incorrectly, you'll be introducing more scratches, if anything.

Now, if you machine wash or go to assembly line type hand wash places, your swirl marks will be much deeper, so you'll need to use slightly more abrasive compounds to take it out.

I wholeheartedly recommend getting a porter cable though--hand polishing swirl marks is an absolute pain in the neck and takes 10x as long as using a porter cable.

 

SPF: what is a porter cable

I have black. It's tough to keep perfect ESP if a dd. I try. I clear bra'd the front, leading edge of the roof,rockers and behind the rear wheels.

I will be calling zaino for sure.

I also use Liquid Glass. Stuff is great and seems to protect the car from swirls and stains. I HAtE BIRDS!

 

Sorry, I was referring to random orbital polishers.



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