Have you ever had the feeling that no matter what you do to your black car, it never looks great, or at least not for a long period of time? To understand why are black cars hard to maintain, you need to understand what is so special about the black color in the first place.
Characteristics of the black color
There are a variety of colors out there that can vary between very light to very dark colors. The darkest color that exists is black, which means that any object placed on top of a black surface is likely to appear because the chances are that this object has a lighter color than the black surface itself. It is true that the black color might be the favorite for many car lovers, but you need to keep the black surface flawless in order to maintain this amazing look. Here are some of the main reasons why your black car doesn't look that great.
Dirt & Dust
With cars of different colors, you can probably wash your car one a month without even noticing that the car was too dirty and needed a wash. Well you cannot do that with black color cars. Even if your black car is parked in your garage for a week, the dust alone will make it look dull, simply because you will see the dust much clearer on your black color vehicle.
Light Scratches & Swirl Marks
The slightest scratches that are normally invisible on the majority of cars with different colors, can be clearly noticed on a black car. These scratches are generally caused by direct contact of dirty objects with the paint, mainly we are talking about dirty washing pads. Even though the car wash is what you need to keep your car look glamourous, one dirty sponge or one dirty rag can be responsible of damaging your black paint. Now obviously few light scratches on the paint are not the end of the world especially when you can barely see them, but over time, when there are so many of them, your paint will loose its shine and your struggle will begin.
Direct sunlight & UV rays
A lot of car owners do not have garages or shaded areas to park their lovely vehicles. Parking your car in direct sunlight will damage the paint of your car on the long run, regardless of whether your paint is black or not. You car will eventually look dull and might require a paint job to correct it.
Tips to maintain black cars
So to keep your black car looking shiny all the time, you have to try to prevent the causes that make it look dull:
1) Keep your car clean at all times. Wash it once a week if possible to prevent the dirt and dust from accumulating on the surface and give it a foggy look. This same dirt and dust can be later responsible of creating light scratches and swirl marks on your vehicle.
2) If it is already too late and your car is full of marks and scratches, you might want to take the paint correction option into consideration. It is a long and expensive process but it might be your only option before painting your whole vehicle. Paint correction will take a full day to complete as it requires 3 stages of machine buffing, but can give amazing results.
3) Park your car in the shade, as no matter what your car is or what the nature of paint is, it will look dull after some time due to all the UV rays resulting from direct sunlight. If you do not have a shaded parking, you might want to consider the paint protection option, famously known as ceramic coating, or nano-ceramic coating. This creates a thin invisible layer of protection on top of your paint.
