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Old 04-08-2021, 08:00 PM   #1
Eric.18RS
 
Drives: Chevrolet Camaro
Join Date: Nov 2020
Location: Texas
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Proper way to clean gloss black exterior parts?

How can i properly clean gloss black louvers and spoiler ? Thanks
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Old 04-12-2021, 03:22 AM   #2
Gunkk
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To keep gloss black looking good, you must never do things that cause swirls. If you're in a dusty part of Texas, you will find the square rump of our Camaros does you no favors. It really likes to pick up sand and dust. Every time I go to the beach, the car comes home with fine sand -- yes that famous quartz powder sand we have here -- on the bumper and tail lights. And it's a PITA to get it off without literally sanding the paint and swirling the crap out of everything.

So here are a few concepts:
1. THE MUSEUM RULE: The less you touch a thing, the longer that thing lasts.
2. Do things to minimize accumulation of dirt and grit in the first place. Then make it easy to remove the dirt and grit when the inevitable does happen.
3. Never, ever, drag anything across dry paint, clean or dirty.
4. When you do have to actually touch the car, take precautions to minimize the possibility that grit will get dragged across the paint.
5. Constantly ask yourself: "Is there another way I could do this without touching the paint, or touching it less?"

Self-Healing Paint Protection Film is the obvious best solution, since it physically stands between the world and your paint. Any swirls you do make will magically disappear before your eyes in the Texas sunshine. Sand? Grit? Dust? No problem! But PPF may not work depending on your spoiler and louver geometry, budget, or installer's level of masochism at doing a perfect job with little or no visible seams.


So here's what I recommend:

1. Apply a durable hydrophobic coating to the gloss black. Do NOT use a ceramic coating or the latest fad graphene crap. Ceramics are prone to water spotting. Reduced Graphene Oxide is marketing bunk. Go with a good product like Gtechniq EXO. Lasts for years (3-1/2 + in my case). There are a few other similar good durable hydrophobics around.

Why hydrophobics? Because by reducing the surface energy of the paint, they help prevent everything from sticking to the paint. When dirt or dust lands on the coating, it doesn't bond as well as it would to bare sticky clear coat. So a simple hose rinse will remove much more than you expect. Beading water is how you tell the coating is present. Water itself has relatively high surface energy, and can and will lift non-oily/greasy dirt off the car. If you look closely you can actually see the little bits of dirt hovering inside the beaded up droplets on top of the paint.

Follow that rinse up with a pressure wash w/ foam cannon. Gas powered pressure washers are best w/ foam cannons, but the better electrics can do it too.

Of course none of this removes grease or oil, which will require mechanical agitation (i.e. violating The Museum Rule #1 above). But physically touching the gloss black paint is going to be the very the LAST thing you do AFTER you get all the grit off. A 500 gram per square meter (GSM) edgeless plush microfiber towel is best here using regular car shampoo diluted per MFR's instructions. A fresh CLEAN water bucket. Not that dirty dishwater you used on the rest of the car.

If you have high dissolved solids in your tap or well water, a final pooling rinse with a $1 gallon of distilled water isn't a bad idea.

Do a no-touch dry with a leaf blower. Your goal: No towels ever touch the paint unless there's PPF in place.

If you need to remove tiny droplets that the leaf blower leaves behind, then use another clean 500 GSM towel pre-moistened with a finishing detail topper like Carpro Reload, Meguiar's Hybrid Ceramic Wax, or similar. Blot. Don't smear. Use as little pressure as you can get away with. The amount of pressure you have to apply to a towel to keep it from slipping under your hand while wiping horizontally is enough to cause swirls. So instead hold the towel by pinching thumb and forefinger at two corners (bull fighter style) and let gravity do the touching for you. Again: premoisten the towel to lubricate. Never do this with a dry towel or <shudder> California duster.


Tips for using detail sprays, bug-n-tar, and grease removers, etc. when some amount of wiping will be inevitable/required:
Never spray anything on the paint directly (or it makes a mess of everything you just worked so hard to clean!). Aim away from the car downwind and spray the rag directly to moisten it, then wipe the the damp rag on the car using an upward rolling motion to lift away what little if any dust may have landed on the paint in the few minutes during your blow dry. Fold the towel after every wipe. Every. Single. Wipe. You want swirls? Ok then don't fold it. No? Good.


You get the idea.


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Old 04-12-2021, 06:55 AM   #3
WhiteMale

 
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quality Car wash shampoo/detergent, rinse, chamois.

There's nothing more to it than that, it's separating you from your money.
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