carrerapete

I can see how that will really help; thanks for sharing that tip!

LonnieR

On advice fron Eddy Fiuza (who is one of the best detailers in the country-or atleast Florida-) www.fiuzasautodetailing.com, I purchased the double filtered one through Costco. It was a little on the costly side ( about $570) which is less than the manufacturer sells it for. It came with a extra set of resin (worth about $100) and the resin should last with about 800 gallons of water going through it. It depends on the mineral content of your water as to how many washes you will get. What's also nice is the unit is mounted on a sturdy metal stand with wheels. It is really worth the extra cost.

Hammer911

I bought the CR Spotless from Costco. Nice part about buying from them is the package includes a replacement set of resin, worth about $100.

ECS Tuning

That turned out amazing !! Very nice work

freeman

I had a 1989 Black-on-Black Targa. As with all my Porsches, I was compulsive about keeping it clean. It came out great each time. I sold it in 1995 and bought a Polar Silver 993. No trouble with that easy color but I subsequently bought a gorgeous 2013 Black-on-Black 991 C2 a few months ago. I tried all combinations of cleaning but all came out flawed. I finally hired a professional detailer who comes to my house every 2 weeks.

I believe the Black that I detailed in 1989 and thereafter is far different than the Black I deal with in the 991. Thus my chemicals, hardware and even my sequences may be outdated.

Any thoughts?

Hammer911

20+ years since your last black car...for sure things have changed... Clear coat, the advent of micro-fiber, continued development of cleaning/polishing/waxing products.
I use Griot's products, and found a lot of helpful information on this site and the site linked below:
http://www.detailedimage.com/Ask-a-P...and-dry-a-car/

I've had good luck so far, but no matter how careful, I'm sure a full polishing will be required periodically.

jlanka

Just wondering if you tried a deionizer

fast1

I just picked up my 3rd black Porsche last week. I love black but it's not a color for perfectionists, since it will show the slighest imperfections. I wash my car about twice a month in the spring and summer, but less in the winter. I never spend more that an hour washing my car, including the wheels. The reason is that although black cars look gorgeous after a detail, it only takes about 15 mins for dust to settle on the car. For example my car looked fabulous when I picked it up last week, but by the time the paper work was signed and the car paid for, 45 mins at the most, there already was a fine coat of pollen on the car. So I've learned to live with a black car that just looks good, and doesn't have any swirl marks in the clear coat.

carrerapete

You nailed it: as long as there are no swirl marks in the clear coat the car will always look good, even under a blanket of dust.

It was the swirl marks that were driving me insane, and that all stopped once I'd discovered the real culprit: hard water.

jlanka

You sold me on the deionizer

CaymanMINI

Nothing better than a non swirl marked black Porsche, just hard keeping it that way. I agree about the hard water, it is a killer. I'm on my 2nd black car and still love it even though it is more labor intensive!

tangram

I guess the proof is in the pudding as they say but I am surprised by this. Hard water, while containing elevated levels of DISSOLVED minerals should not have any solids in it. Not sure how stuff in solution would cause swirl marks.

I consider myself lucky. Water here is good and just ordered a yellow car. I guess I will wash it once a season whether it needs it or not!

jy2114

That finish is just crazy - it must be amazing in real life.

carrerapete

I never would have believed it myself ... but I got a taste of reality the very first week of ownership: I'm still not able to remove all the damage that several drops of water did to my windshield. I had sprinkled the windshield with the hose to remove a small bird dropping and didn't fully wipe all the water off. It was getting dark and I felt lazy. What a mistake that was. The water drops actually etched their way into the glass.

The hard water leaves white spots and streaks on the finish that are tough to remove. The removal process is what actually causes most of the swirl mark damage.

Jon Y

I knew this would be an issue with my new black 991 due to come in July.

I know absolutely NOTHING about cleaning cars. I have a hand wash car place I take my current bmw. 14 bucks with tip every week makes it pretty clean but not anywhere close to this magnificent finish.

I think the beauty of black comes out when it's clean. I personally HATE cleaning my own car. (I hate cleaning anything, period) But I realize that if I want this to be done right, I probably have to do it myself. Where could I "learn" to do this? I was thinking about going to my dealer and just watching them clean cars (LOL) to make sure I know the proper way....what do you think?

As for your products, THANK YOU SO MUCH! I know how annoying it is to test out so many products just to find the one in the field that does the trick. It doesn't just cost money, it also costs time. I had to do this with my hair products until I found the best stuff out there- so I can relate.

I'm going to use what you recommended. Who knew deionized water was so important. The leaf blower is genius!

As for the towels you recommend, why should I even buy any if I'm going to leaf blow dry in the end? Also, why did you put two towels?

Do you recommend I just take my car to a detailer? How often do you detail the car? I really want my car to be THAT shiny and nice every day. What do you do to maintain it?

If I took my car to a detailer in SoCal, do you think they would do a good job? I really don't know much about the waxing, etc that goes into it.

Thanks!