How to restore your Dark Coloured Car

With so many car care products available in the market and the lack of knowledge to properly maintain your car it's a common sight that some beautiful car have badly swirled, marred rough paint surface. I personally have restored a badly maintained paint finish on my friend’s 2018 Hyundai Creta (The pics I shall attach) I would like to pen down a guide how easily you can restore your dark coloured paint finish like brand new without spending a whole lot of cash at some detailing center, if you find it useful and up to the mark you may post it on the forum so that other people may benefit form it.

Note- I use and recommend Meguiars only because I use them and love their products, I’m NOT PAID by them, I’m just an ordinary consumer (Meguiars is established since 1900s they are expert in making these stuff) you are free to use whatever you like.

Jet Wash your car completely so as to free up any loose contaminants.
Take two buckets, one will be wash bucket and other will be rinse bucket, in the former one dissolve a pH neutral shampoo (I use and recommend Meguiars NXT Wash shampoo).
Take a microfiber wash mitt (I use and recommend Meguiars Microfiber wash mitt),dip it in wash bucket and then spread the shampoo on the car’s body in hashtag fashion( vertical-horizontal turn by turn).
Dip the dirty mitt thoroughly in the 2nd rinse bucket so as to get rid of the dirt from the mitt and once clean dip it in the wash bucket and repeat this process for the whole car.
Use a tyre brush and separate mitt to throughly clean the wheels and tyres.
To clean the engine bay just use a garden hose in normal pressure and then clean the remaining portion with a damp Microfiber wash mitt and cloth. NEVER use HIGH PRESSURE to clean the engine bay.
Wash the car thoroughly with a jet spray to clean the car and get rid of the shampoo along with dirt and grime.
Thoroughly dry the surface of the car with a drying towel. I recommend Meguiars water magnet drying towel.
After thoroughly drying the car feel the paint finish by gently running your palm on it. If it feels rough and uneven it means that paint surface (technically clear coat) is contaminated with bonded contaminants which hadn’t been removed by the shampoo and claying is required.
For claying, you’ll require an auto detailing clay bar and a detailer. I recommend buying the Meguiars QuikDetailer, you can get a auto detailing clay bar easily in Amazon/flipkart although I recommend buying the Meguiars Claying Kit. It is bundled with everything.
Spray the QuikDetailer throughly on the the paint surface, take a small amount of clay bar and press it with your hands to flatten it thereby increasing its surface area. Now with a fingertip pressure thoroughly work the paint surface and repeat the process for different body parts. When you notice that the clay bar gets dirty, wash it in plain water and press it again with your hand and reshape it, this will cause the contaminants to become accumulated at the centre thus not rubbing against and damaging your car’s paint.
Now with a Microfiber cloth dry off the product gently. I recommend Meguiars Supreme Shine Microfiber as it’s lint free and is gentle on the surface. After claying you’ll feel the difference, even though the paint finish will look the same,when you will run your palm on the car’s body you’ll notice it has become extremely smooth like glass which means the paint surface is completely de-contaminated.
Now carefully look at your car, if you notice minor scratches at the door cups (concave portion where the door handle is located, rocker panels, door edges, bumper edges, wheel arches etc) I will wholly recommend you using Meguiars ScratchX 2.0, it’s extremely good in dealing them. With a foam applicator pad (I use and recommend Meguiars GoldClass Applicator Pads) dispense a small amount of product on the pad and thouroghly work the surface and let it cure for ~2minutes. Buff the panel with a Microfiber cloth and you’ll notice that all those minor scratches are almost completely disappeared or highly reduced. I guarantee you’ll be blown away with the results, not exaggerating it truly is amazing.
If ScratchX 2.0 blew you away wait for the Meguiars Ultimate Compound, I not only use and recommend it to you rather request you to use this product because unlike other compounds that scather your paint finish this compound is enriched with Micro Abrasives which revive the paint finish abused by oxidation,blemishes,fading,swirls,scratches etc and leave absolutely no residue, also what truly amazing is these products are absolutely Clear Coat Safe so don’t worry about that. To apply it use a foam applicator pad and work the product on the car’s body in a circular fashion, abused paint finishes may benefit from multiple passes, let it cure for ~6 minutes and wipe it off with a Microfiber cloth, turn to a clean portion of the towel for the final wipe.
Now that we have revived the paint finish with the help of Ultimate Compound now we shall refine it by using Meguiars Ultimate Polish. This polish contains many oils and minerals which will help you in getting a streak-free mirror like glaze. With the help of a foam applicator pad work the polish on the surface of the car, one section at a time. Do NOT let the product dry, buff it off immediately with a Microfiber cloth, turn to a clean portion of the towel for the final wipe.
Now that we have revived and refined the paintwork now we shall protect it as none of the above mentioned products offer any kind of protection. I’ll recommend you to use the Meguiars Black Wax (which I did) for black to dark coloured cars and Meguiars Ultimate Paste Wax for other colours. Take a foam applicator pad and take a small amount of wax on the pad and spread it on the surface of the car body with gentle press in a circular fashion. Let it cure on the car for some time. After some time gently run your finger on the car’s surface, if the wax rubs off without any smudges it’s time to buff it off with a clean Microfiber cloth, turn to a clean portion of the towel for the final wipe.
For interiors I’ll recommend Meguiars GoldClass leather cleaner for leather upholstery and interior detailer for other parts.
Even though not mandatory still if you want to make the tyres and exterior rubber panels shine and protect them from UV rays I’ll recommend using a tyre and rubber polish for that, Meguiars make them but as they are not so essential you can use the polish of any other company you like. Just for your knowledge for this purpose Meguiars offers Hot Shine Tyre Foam and Ultimate Black products.

I’m attaching the results I got after using these products and 4-5 hours of hard work but I would still say it was worth it.

Post Credit: Rishi Ary