Silver Car Owners!!!

[Philt922]

I'm noticing a lot of people discussing dark colored cars and they do look great when maintained correctly but are there any owners of bright painted cars i.e. Silver? I have read a couple of different threads and know first hand that there's only so much you can do for a color that is so bright but where are the Silver car owners and what are you guys using in your 5-step?

[ethereal45]

Re: Silver Car Owners!!!

I have a metallic silver BMW -- it's a very difficult color to bring any life to. It has very hard paint, so much so that Ultimate Compound on the DA with a reasonable pad like the lake country hydrotech cyan or the Meguiars Softbuff 2.0 Yellow Polishing really doesn't make a huge dent.

I use:

Ultimate Compound
Ultimate Polish
#7 Show Car Glaze (this is a pretty optional step, I'm not sure it does much most of the time after Ultimate Polish)
Ultimate Wax or NXT.

Ultimate Wax seems to be a little bit more diffuse looking, perhaps a bit "wetter," whereas NXT seems to produce a crisper look.

[Showmob]

I have a ford taurus in silver frost metallic and I usually hit it with 205 with the green polishing pads (cyclo) then finish with #6 and the blue polishing pads. Always looks good

[Marc08EX]

Re: Silver Car Owners!!!

My car is silver as well and as ethereal45 said, silver is really hard to make it pop. As with any other paint, you need to minimize the amount of swirls you have in your paint. Whatever product you choose to remove defects highly depends on your paint system. But for me, I always use M205 as my final polish using the W9207 finishing pad. Others say that darker colored cars benefit the most from the finishing polish. Even if lighter colored cars don't benefit as much, it can only improve the finish so I continue using it.

Also, I think, the best wax for silver is NXT 2.0.

Here's a thread I started showing off my silver paint:
Reflection Shot Of My Ride Courtesy of Meguiar's!!!

[ffboy]

Re: Silver Car Owners!!!

I would say the steps are essentially the same, maybe except for the pure polish which works a lot better on dark paints. But for me, the beauty of silver is that it is a lot easier to maintain and while it may not look as awesome as dark colors, it is very neutral and inoffensive.

My Line up:

1. Paint cleaner (any good quality brand) or SwirlX if needed
2. Glaze or pure polish (optional, but the kind of silver i have for some reason has good depth)
3. NXT 2.0 liquid (I have other more durable waxes, but NXT 2.0 still works well)
4. Last step product (something carnauba based or blended optional, depends on the owner)-may not be as beneficial on silver
5. Maintain with UQD and UQW plus regular washings with Ultimate wash and wax
6. Depending on the weather, you can now incorporate Ultimate wash and wax anywhere into your detailing, but not replace the UQD/UQW with it.

[Wilhelm]

Re: Silver Car Owners!!!

Nothing, but nothing has done as much to bring the shine out of my silver paint than the DA Microfiber System.



The paint on this daily driver has been maintained since March with Last Touch, UQD and UWWA only. Has over three thousand miles on since March and is still smooth to the touch.

DAMF FTW!

[bmrfan]

Re: Silver Car Owners!!!

I have a titanium silver BMW 330i and I find it is one of the easier colors to maintain.

As others have posted, keeping swirls to a minimum usually gives the most "pop" on silver paint.

[Blueline]

Re: Silver Car Owners!!!

I own a silver vehicle, and a black vehicle owns me. The black one demands attention, washing, detailing, waxing, and an occasional dinner out at a nice restaurant, while the silver one (new) demands nothing and it looks just fine. I am beginning to think the black vehicle
is taking advantage of me, and the silver car is more my style. We can go out for a drive without her makeup and she looks fine. If I want to take the black one out, it is three or four hours in the "bathroom" to get ready.

[BlackScreaminMachine]

Re: Silver Car Owners!!!

The process is exactly the same for me.

Wash
Clay
Paint Correction
Sealant/Wax
Ult Quick Wax follow up.

Basically once the paint has a level and clean surface the products you add will give depth to the paint.

I have a light colored Buick Century, I would call it Silver Mist Metallic or close to Pewter.

You can see swirling in certain lights and will show imperfections but when cleaned and not even getting into paint correction the paint has a deeper look. Looks like a shimmer metallic pool of paint. Silver can be tough as it is a dull paint but you can get similar results, Just need to get product on there and regular cleaning regardless how well silver can hide stuff.

[davey g-force]

Re: Silver Car Owners!!!

I own a silver vehicle, and a black vehicle owns me. The black one demands attention, washing, detailing, waxing, and an occasional dinner out at a nice restaurant, while the silver one (new) demands nothing and it looks just fine. I am beginning to think the black vehicle
is taking advantage of me, and the silver car is more my style. We can go out for a drive without her makeup and she looks fine. If I want to take the black one out, it is three or four hours in the "bathroom" to get ready.

That's brilliant!

I too own a black car and a silver car and I couldn't agree more!

[goldfish45]

Black and silver here too. Blueline nailed it! Still laughing!

[andytsang]

Re: Silver Car Owners!!!

I own a silver vehicle, and a black vehicle owns me. The black one demands attention, washing, detailing, waxing, and an occasional dinner out at a nice restaurant, while the silver one (new) demands nothing and it looks just fine. I am beginning to think the black vehicle is taking advantage of me, and the silver car is more my style. We can go out for a drive without her makeup and she looks fine. If I want to take the black one out, it is three or four hours in the "bathroom" to get ready.

This is quite poetic. Nice!

[mis3]

Re: Silver Car Owners!!!

I have a silver Mercedes and in my opinion, it is very easy to maintain. I have swirls and they hardly show. I wash and wax often, I use many waxes (Cleaner Wax, NXT, Yellow Wax, UW...) and they all look good for my car. I cannot tell the difference between waxes for my silver car.

I like black cars but I am not sure if I will ever buy one. The swirls will bother me too much.

[ffboy]

Re: Silver Car Owners!!!

That's the beauty of Silver or basically most light colored cars. So far, my silver car is very easy to maintain, swirls aren't that noticeable. However, i still correct it once in a while using milder cleaners (no need for ultimate compound), i used swirlX a few days ago just to ensure optimum adhesion for the wax and NXT 2.0, however being silver the difference between waxes is even more difficult to tell. I do use a glaze instead for the not too intensive detail jobs to conceal the any swirls since it's not too noticeable on silver.

[Meticulous-Detail]

Re: Silver Car Owners!!!

2012 Toy Highlander less than 100 miles

Before Duragloss 501



After Duragloss 501