I have a black GS 300 and clean the car frequently but have noticed some swirl marks (car is black).

and I suspect its from when I dry the car. I use this synthetic thing called "The Absorber".

I just bought the Zaino products to get rid of the swirls and to properly wax the car and hope the stuff works well BUT WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHAT DO YOU'ALL USE TO DRY THE CAR?

DO YOU USE CLEAN DRY 100% WHITE COTTON TOWELS?

ANYTHING ELSE THATS GOOD?


TED920

 

i use nothing but carefully cared for bunch of normal cotton towels. i'm afraid of everything else (chamois, etc) that are known to scratch paint and strip wax.
my GS is silver, and i still take extra precautions. example, this weekend i drove 500 mi to south carolina for a wedding. car got filthy from salt pickup on the highways. i reluctantly went to a soft-touch wash, but didn't allow any drying of my car. all it takes is a single contaminated towel to swirl mark your paint.

 

Just wondering what part of S.C. That's where I used to live.

 

but my friends hail from the clemson area

 

Cool. I lived in Clinton, with relatives in Easley, Greenville, and Newberry. By the way, did you happen to check out the Platinum Plus in Columbia while you were there? I have a friend who works there. It's the place to be on the weekends! :eek:

 

I've posted a great article on car care tips in that section. I have had 5 Black cars! The Absorber is a great poduct. But so is a 100% "clean" terry towel. Key is to dry it IMMEDIATELY following rinse in the shade. Keep a good coat of wax (Meguiars Gold Class) on your Lex at least twice a month!

 

I have a black car and to dry it I use a California Water Blade. They say because it is made of surgical grade silicone it has 15 times less friction than a cotton towel. I don't like "terry" towels because I feel if you put too much pressure the "terry" element is what causes swirls. Additionally, if you think about contact points while you are drying with a towel you rub over the same spots a couple of times, with the water blade or equivalent silicone squeegee, you go over the car once and "touch up" hard to squeegee areas with a soft cotton towel (old t-shirt- cut any seams off). Definitely wash/dry/wax your car in the shade and not too humid.

 

Check out this thread on the M5 board. This guy owns a black 2000 M5 and a black 996TT.

http://www.bmwm5.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/002871.html

 

Ted - I also use a set of soft terry cloth towels that R ONLY used to dry the GS. I wash & dry them a few times before they're ever put into service to soften them up & use no fabric softeners in either the wash or dry cycles. Before I wipe things down, I use my small leaf blower to get rid of the bulk of the water beforehand - works really well around the gas tank door & door handles! Just be careful not to get too close to the car & risk scratching the paint. I have used those squeegee blades before on my black 'Vette but NOT the particular brand mentioned here so maybe it's better. My only problem with those is that if U miss even one speck of dirt, it will drag it across the finish while a deep-nap towel will pick up the grime & hold it up in the folds. I'm like TXSTYLE ( Sherwin ) in that I've owned 4 black cars in my life & swirls/scratches just go with the territory - use Zaino Z-5 to minimize them.

 

Greetings. I just found this fine place.

I've seen enough good feedbck on Zaino that I'm ready to give it a shot. And, since you folks have used z5 for swirls (and, presumably the other z products, too), here's my question:

I have a 2000 GS 300 -- BLACK. Clearcoat or not? Need to know for z2 or z3 order. Going to get z1/5/6/7 too, of course.

Thanks in advance!

 

Worm - My bodyman showed me that Lexus doesn't clear-coat their black cars, at least up to the 2000 year models. We sanded my old bumper & one off a 2000 ES & if they were cleared, there would be a milky-looking residue & there was none. BTW - Sal Zaino says that the only difference between Z-2 & Z-3 is that Z-3 has special ingredients to help protect the paint almost as well as the clear-coated paint ( which uses Z-2 ). Optically, there's no difference as I didn't find out that Lexus black isn't cleared until I had applied the Z-2 for several coats. They're interchangable, as is Z-5, but there IS a difference between shine with Z-2 or Z-3 and Z-5. I did half of my hood with Z-3 & the other half with Z-5 & asked several people which had the better shine. The Z-3 side won out unanimously!! Just food for thought.

 

Thanks for the quick reply. My intent is to do the z5 just for some swirl removal (after washing/claying/washing and z1'ing of course) then z3 thereafter.

Thanks again!

 

Here's something new, but it works.

For a absolutely NO spot wash and no need to towel dry either. After wahsing and rising, rinse one last time with "d-i" deionized or distilled water. No dissolved salts, not deposits, no spots.

I don't do this but at 99cents a gal, and two will do the whole car well, it might be worth the time and towels... something to think about.

 

One other tip for reduced water spots is to avoid that impulse for one last "misty" spray from the hose nozzle -- take the nozzle off and let the running water sheet off. Only about 25% of the water's left and you can get to most of it before it dries and spots.

The clean 100% cotton towel is the only way to minimize scratching tho clearly some folks have had good success with other methods (chamois).