(A long, boring, missive of interest only to those somewhat **** souls with black cars)

It is the best of colors, it is the worst of colors… black. From day 1 have not been satisfied with the way by black X-Fire looks. Anything past 10 feet and it looked great… up close it was a web of tiny scratches and polishing swirls.

At the first opportunity I gave it a good wash job, and then laid on a coat of Meguires polish. That was an improvement… but not what I wanted. Researching this problem I spent about half a day going from one body shop to another, asking what's the best way to care for a black car. All agreed that black takes a special effort. There was also a consensus that:
a) synthetic chamois is superior to the real thing
b) the tried-and-true diaper material will still scratch
c) do not use dishwashing soap
d) don't let a standard towel anywhere near the paint
e) using a blower for the final dry
f) NEVER, ever take your car to a mechanized car wash

My next step was to find a detail shop and get their opinion, and possible work. I have no experience with any in the area, so the first one I came upon is where I stopped: Santa Cruz Auto Detail.

I spoke with the owner, Jim Pyatt, for about 15 minutes, with the result that I was going to bring the car back for a professional Crystal Guard job. He assured me that CG would give the look I wanted and provide a slight increase in protection from minor scratches. A week later I dropped the car off at SCD early in the morn. At about noon I received a call from Jim saying we had a bit of a problem.

Apparently, he explained, the process used to "remove" swirls et al, is to fill them. That is, they don't take the clear coat down to the depth of the swirl they, instead, fill the swirl to the heigth of the clear coat. All well and good. However, Crystal Guard is formulated to remove waxes, polishes AND that fill, leaving you with the glossy shine you want and, unfortunately, those nasty swirls forever encased‖nd seen（n the Crystal Guard. CG was out so Jum suggested his top-end wax job instead. Bummer, but I gave him the OK to do it and would pick the car up the next day.

Mid-morning of that next day he called to tell me that a little research on h is part showed a solution to the CG issue. He was aware of, but had never tried, a Blue Coral product that might work on the swirls. He'd called the BC rep to come over and the two of them worked on a section, getting the required results. Sounded good, so I told him to go ahead.

I picked the car up at 7 that evening, and it looked great≥ and even better in this morning's sun. Here's the process he used:

･ The swirls were removed with Blue Coral "Velvet Cut" using a low-speed orbital buffer.
･ The car was then prepped with a product called Revive-It DB
･ Finally, Crystal Guard was applied

This was not a cheap process: Deswirling - $80, Crystal Guard - $299.

Only time will tell on the CG, but it looks great now, and it does come with a 3 year warranty. Interesting thing about that, the warranty is transferrable.

I was particularly impressed with the attention that SCD paid to my car; They had a problem, they solved it, and everything was fully explained… and they definitely put in the OT to get it done. I highly recommend them if your in the area:

Santa Cruz Auto Detail
1207 Water St.
SAanta Cruz, CA
831.429.8702