Keeping Your Black Paint from Looking Like a Dog's Breakfast (Mar 2026)

Never, ever wash a black car in direct sunlight. The water will spot and the soap will dry before you can rinse it. If you don't have a carport, do it at 7am or late in the arvo when the panels are cool to the touch.

Wash your wheels and tyres first. If you do them last, you'll splash brake dust and grime onto your clean, wet paint. I use a dedicated wheel bucket for this so I don't contaminate my main wash mitt.

Give the whole car a good blast with the hose or pressure washer. You want to get as much of that loose red dust and salt off as possible before you actually touch the surface.

Cover the car in a thick layer of snow foam. Let it dwell for about 5 minutes, but don't let it dry. This softens up the bug guts and bird droppings. Rinse it off thoroughly from the top down.

Use one bucket for your soapy water and one for clean rinsing water. Dunk your mitt in the soap, wash a panel, then rinse the mitt in the clean water bucket before going back for more soap. This keeps the dirt in the rinse bucket, not on your paint.

Since we're in Australia, you likely have iron fallout from brakes or industrial areas. Use an iron remover like Bowden's Wheely Clean (yes, it works on paint too) to dissolve those tiny metal particles. It'll turn purple when it's working.

Run your hand over the paint. Feels like sandpaper? Use a clay bar with plenty of lubricant. This pulls out the embedded dirt that a wash won't touch. On black paint, be gentle, as clay can sometimes leave light marring.

Don't 'scrub' the car dry. Lay your large microfiber towel flat across the bonnet and just pat it or pull it slowly toward you. Minimize the friction.

Get a torch or use the sun to look for swirls. If the paint looks greyish or has 'cobwebs', it needs a polish. If it looks black and clear, you can skip to sealing.

Using your DA polisher and a light finishing polish (like Meguiar's M205), work in small 50cm x 50cm sections. This is what brings back that 'black hole' depth. I once spent 20 hours polishing a black LandCruiser that had been 'bush-bashed', the difference was night and day.

Wipe the panels down with a 50/50 mix of Isopropyl Alcohol and water. This removes any polishing oils so your protection can actually stick to the paint.

Apply your ceramic coating or sealant. If you're using a ceramic like Gtechniq, do small sections and buff off immediately. In our humidity, these things flash (dry) fast.

Take a fresh, clean microfiber and do one last walk-around to make sure there are no high spots or leftover wax. This is where you admire the shine.