My new car.

[qwertydude]

2012 Cadillac CTS Coupe in gloss black.

Got it at Carmax and surprisingly they did an acceptable job at not ruining the paint. The paint was actually decontaminated as my claying didn't reveal too much in terms of bonded contaminants that a 2 year old former business fleet car would show. I credit this to the fact that it's extremely hard paint as I did see marring and hologramming on the softer Lexus' and Acuras on the lot.

That said it was a quite a challenge to detail. Even though there were only light scratches and light to medium swirling it still took my DA and Ultimate Compound on a finishing pad to remove. I know on hard paints if you try using aggressive pads and a lighter polish you can put in some DA haze. So I basically one stepped it with the Ultimate Compound and finishing pad. Afterwards I simply used Meguiars NXT 2.0 on my wax spreader to top it off since I know it has very minor correcting ability, enough to remove whatever micromarring or hazing that Ultimate Compound might leave behind and still has very good duraility. Not as good as Collinite but since this is a black car I know I'll be waxing it more often just to maintain its looks so the shorter durability won't be too much of a bother.

You can see it's got excellent gloss. And the last shot is a hood shot showing a pretty decent swirl removal. I'd say about 90% removed and what you can see used to be a lot worse. Generally I don't try to remove those completely as it unnecessarily thins the paint and this is after all my new daily driver and not a show car.

 

[TrevorS]

Congrats!

 

[dishdude]

Beautiful car!

 

[nwjones18]

Beautiful car! I love my caddy.

 

[demarpaint]

Nice!

 

[gregk24]

Nice!

 

[hummdrumm]

Beautiful. The coupe just looks so much better than the sedan, imo. There is a black awd on a lot here,but too much for me!

 

[The Critic]

Awesome.

May want to consider CQuartz UK. I've been using it on darker colored cars and it adds a tremendous amount of gloss.

 

[qwertydude]

I've never liked those silicon hardcoat based treatments. Too finicky in application especially with the dreaded high spots. As much as I want to like them since I do appreciate advances in car detailing technology. Silicon hardcoat based treatments will always be relegated to headlight duty for me. I've always had good luck with the NXT waxes with dark colors just like this one. I just know I need a decent cleaner wax anyways.

Because even with the hardcoat treatments the paint will still swirl over time. And it would be a shame to have to strip the protection just because I have swirls developing. NXT does an admirable job of eliminating those fine swirls and can be applied to a previously waxed surface no problem.

 

[The Critic]

CQuartz UK goes on/off like a sealant. The residue comes off like a normal paint sealant does. In comparison to Opti-Coat, the high spot issue is almost nonexistent.

Take a look at the darkening effect that this product gives:



(Credit: http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showpost.php?p=4413622&postcount=1)

I applied it last night to a black Corvette and had the same findings. Even after finishing the car with CarPro Reflect Finishing Polish and a Crimson Pad, CQuartz UK made the Black paint even darker.

Lastly, why did you leave the micro-marring behind? Especially on harder paint, it is not difficult to finish off haze/marr-free. It will make a very noticeable difference in gloss and depth.

 

[qwertydude]

What you're seeing is not the micro marring, micro-marring is very difficult to capture in a single sun shot. Those are the remnants of deeper swirls left behind by either the previous owner or installed by improper use of a polisher from the Carmax detail monkey.

Either way I don't want to remove them 100%. I did just post the explanation that almost all the UV protection is only in the first 25% of the clear due to how they float to the top while curing the clear. Anything deeper than medium swirls is deeper than the UV protection layer. So I just live with the deeper swirls and just reduce their visibility with a fine polish and a filling wax like NXT or regular waxing in general.

The thing is CQuartz might darken the black just fine but you're comparing it to a high polished bare surface. I know NXT darkens very well also. I'm happy enough with the NXT and it's just been my experience that I don't like the hardcoats I've previously tried. Maybe if this was a customer's car that wouldn't get waxed every month. But I plan on waxing every month anyways just to keep up the look and protection.

Oh and there's no haze or marring, just those random deeper swirls. The reason it looks like haze and the sun reflection isn't sharp is specifically my photography technique. I use a DSLR and have it set to focus on the panel itself with a narrow depth of field which is the only way to capture the swirls. I could guarantee you you'd not be able to capture them with a point and shoot or phone camera because on a highly polished surface the camera will tend to focus on the reflection instead of on the individual swirls.

Believe me they're practically invisible in real life. Even on this site you rarely see people specifically doing these full sun shots properly to show the defects like I do. And I'm not doing the color, contrast and HDR tweaking some of the Autopia detailers are fond of doing to highlight their work. That's cheating.

 

[The Critic]

From your original post, I had gathered the impression that Ultimate Compound left behind some micro-marring that you intentionally filled with NXT 2.0. I did not see any of the in your photos, and like you said, it is almost impossible to capture micro-marring on camera anyway.

Regardless, I understand your position on this. I'm sure NXT 2.0 will work great for your intended plan.