997driver

I am reading this thread as I am detailing my black 997. The scratches on the car are horrific and as mentioned earlier nothing I am doing is completely getting rid of the problem. I am beginning to come to terms with the fact that i may never get it perfect. The rear bumper has orange peel and it is very evident other than that the paint really seems to be too soft for a car of this caliber..

WJS

My blk/blk C4S will arrive mid-week this week. The dealer has given me some information about "Auto-Butler". Apparently, this program allows for a special treatment twice a year. ($600) This treatment serves as a coating that may help with some of the detailing concerns held by owners of black cars.

Does anyone have any experience with Auto-Butler? Or is this BS?

ronmart

BS. I've never heard of such a thing. At best you are paying for two details in advance, and $300 per detail is pretty spendy unless you are getting it from a concours detailer which I SERIOUSLY doubt you are going to get from anyone associated with the dealership.

Pass on this one!

ronmart

German cars "of this caliber" traditionally use soft paint because it has an advantage - as easy as it is to scratch it is also easy buff it back to perfection. Put a black Lexus up against a Black Porsche after a fresh detail and the Porsche's paint will pop in a way the Lexus simply can't. Same goes for Mercedes (until ~2004) and BMW. German cars use softer paints because they can be restored to perfection much easier than American & Japanese cars with harder clearcoats. The downside is that you need to detail these cars quarterly to take advantage of that.

Tip: Get a polisher and learn how to use it!

OCBen

That's absurd. And illogical. Sorry. Think about what you just said.

The logical extrapolation of your statement would have us believe that it would be advantageous to have a car body made of soft putty because as easily as it can get scratched, it can be smoothed over without much effort!

To find out the real reason some German paints are softer, read the paragraph entitled Are German clear coats "soft"? in the first link in this post:

https://rennlist.com/forums/showpost...2&postcount=46

WJS

I looked the program up: Here's the link. http://www.autobutler.com/customer/page_6.htm

I believe the $600 is a three year deal. So it's $100 every 6 mo. I called the company, they claim their process will make the car look "just waxed" for a 6 month period.

Too good to be true? Hmm...

Has anyone used this? My dealer is All Pro Imports in Ocala, FL. (Porsche, BMW)

SrfCity

Why is everyone mentioning the paint as if that's the culprit. Aren't we really talking about the clear coat? I'm not sure if that is softer too to ensure pliability? I find it to be quite durable at any rate.

Truble10

I had this problem with my 04 Cayenne Turbo. I bought it brand new and it was black. I've had many Porsches but never black. I know now I will NEVER own a black one again. The clear coat scratches just killed me. I consider myself compulsive about washing/waxing but even with the best microfiber and very soft cotton without nylon thread I could always see the clearcoat scratches. In our bright AZ sun the scratches really stood out.
My soulution - sold the black and bought grey. I know the scratches are still there but on metallic grey you cannot see them. 20K miles on the CTT and 12K on my seal grey 996TT and they both look great. Nothing looks better than a clean black vehicle in the sun but I just could not stand to see the scratches in the clearcoat.

Crazy Canuck

I like black cars but I knew I couldn't live with the maintenance requirements so I bought Atlas which hides the scratches pretty well.

wross996tt

Call me skeptical...there is no way in h*ll I would ever put my car through that ..."thing"!!!!

ronmart

I just took my 911 out today after doing a quick detail on Sunday evening. It had what I thought was light dust, but I managed to scratch the hell out of the bumpers. I guess I was lucky thus far by not quick detailing and doing one downward wipe per side of the microfiber mit before rinsing in a pre-rinse and then a 2nd soap bucket before washing again.

Lesson learned - yeah, these bumpers are super soft. Take extreme car and only quick detail a clean car.

OCBen

Clear coat = coat of paint that is clear

When we talk about paint we're talking about the outermost paint layer that is exposed to the elements and can thus be harmed by them. In our late model p-cars that paint layer happens to be clear. We are certainly not referring to the inner layers (or coats) which are protected by the outer layers.

ronmart

I agree. Forget it!

OCBen

I just realized I misunderstood your point. My bad.

I wasn't buying into the thread starter's claim that black Porsches per se have softer paint than other colored Porsches. It's just that scratches are more visible on a black car. It would be absurd, really, to think that Porsche would use a softer grade of clear paint just for black cars.

I really wish Porsche either develops their own or licenses the nano-particle scratch-resistant clearcoat of Mercedes-Benz.

THPorsche

Wouldn't clear bra take care of the soft paint problem on the bumper?