dexterstjock
Junior Member
I have a black 2012 Ram, I'm trying to figure out how to make the black paint look "richer and darker?" If you have any suggestions, I'd greatly appreciate it.
Thank you!
Thank you!
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Some considerations…your paint is 10 plus years old with the accompanying oxidation and scratches that throw off the luster. You may want to use a mild cutting wax and/or clay bar it. Then apply a really nice wax/polish and buff the bejezus out of it. This will produce excellent results. There is so much crap on the paint you cant see. Take a piece of cellophane and run it along your paint. It would shock you how much grit and imperfections are there. You can feel it through your finger tips w/cellophane.
I paid a local detailer to do this to our 2001 red Vette and it was WELL worth it. I also clay bar my Ram every year. Silver is easy compared to black though.
Now thats an awesome luster on that Ram! Excellent work!Like Thunder said, you will have to start from scratch take the paint down and mild cut a buff out. once that is done maintenance is key especially with black paint with out the presence of metal flake to break up the illusion of imperfections. i have learned a lot just poking around and researching on detailing sites and forums and what not, simple things that you may not think about, like washing with the panel of a vehicle with the lines of a vehicle horizontal to the ground creates a very tough illution that the human eye has trouble picking out imperfection do to these lines.
The three most important things that i have learned with black paint is.
-Temperature as far as the vehicle being in direct direct sun light or not when washing to prevent the speed of evaporation.
-Lubrication as far as never to touch any panel without the presence of water or some kind of lubrication.
-Material that you use to clean and maintain the paint, (Microfiber EVERYTHING!) the absolute best thing to use is a detail blower after washing to prevent any introduction of scratches. but use a quality detail spray to hand dry to introduce an additional level of lubrication when drying.
as far as micro fiber towels, for washing any ole towels will do, but when it comes to drying i would invest in a few higher quality drying towels this will make a difference.
the rag company on amazon has several that are not to terrible, i would shoot for the 600-1200 gram towels.
i have stood by these for the past 10 years.
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To some, them there are fight'n words... LOLBut it is a truck, how good does it really need to look?
Blacks not a colour,it's a career.I owned 1 black vehicle in my life,it was the one and only black vehicle i've ever owned,never again,lol.Black paint is the most challenging color.
After awhile it is going to show oxidation, scratches, swirl marks and orange peel.
A determined amateur can improve the paint with modern paint products. Use caution with power buffing because it is easy to cut the lines and go through the paint.
A professional can make your truck look really good.
But it is a truck, how good does it really need to look?
Thanks,it's one of the toys i kick my rear for selling.At one point in time, it had a 6-71 blown 355 in it.It was in a couple hotrod mags in the early 80's.The car went through engines "alot",lol. It was running 10.70's in this pic,and the pic is from 84. It made money on the street in the early /mid 80's as there weren't to many street cars running in the 10's back then