Care for Black C!

Wax and wash it WEEKLY. I had a black car before I got my white c both kind of a pain in the nice person to keep shiny and new lol.

 

My Prius C is (Absolutely) Red but I am also interested in recommended/trusted soaps, waxes, etc. Thanks!

 

I use products from Zaino. You can Google it to find their info. I've used it for a few years on my motorcycles and cars and now on my Gray Prius c. They have many different products but I stick with 1) their detergent, 2) a product called All In One (AIO), and 3) followed up by Clear Seal. A very small amount of material lasts a long time and you will be amazed at the depth of shine. Also with any black vehicle, be very careful when washing by hand so as to not scratch the finish. I use two buckets, one for the detergent solution and one for clear water to rinse the wash cloths before dipping into the soap again. If you do develop swirl marks, Zaino has a product that helps to hide them. They also sell very high quality polishing cloths that I would recommend.

Good luck.

 

Stay away from hard water for sure and use ionized water when you wash the car.......or you will have arms like Popeye the Sailorman from waxing the hard water spots out. Black is without question the hardest color to keep looking great IMHO.

Eikikikikikikikickcckcickcick....my Popeye laugh.

 

Do you have access to a hose? If not, there are some good rinseless wash products available.

Also, do you want a wax/sealant that you only have to apply once every six months or something that will give better shine but have to apply once every three months?

 

Stay away from paper towels - even when wet to wipe off bird crap.
Paper towels are basically high grit sand paper and will leave swirls.
That alone taught me to never buy another vehicle painted a non-metallic black.

 

I love black. I keep a car duster handy for my black cars. I find I dont need it so much with the silver. I use Turtle Wax polish because it is fairly cheap in price. I also keep a spray bottle of liquid polish that I use between regular polishing.
Dan

 

I second Lickmeister, I tried Zaino on my black v And thought it came out well. Thoug I used the Z2 / Z6, I have pictures in the link below. In theory Zaino should last longer than wax (from what I've read).


Zaino treated black v five | PriusChat

 

find a car wash solution with a wax or conditioner in it. it does wonders to black paint

 

My XB was black and I polished and waxed it all the time so it was always as shiny as possible - if you are worried about dust and have done a good wax job - get yourself a California car Duster or some similar product, just lightly run the duster over the car before driving it each day and you will be good as new. If you keep it dusted rain and water spots will also not leave as defined marks, the spots can come from impurities (dust) in the water.

Amazon.com: California Car Duster: Automotive

Black is hard to keep clean, but my experiences have been that you will get way more compliments on a clean black car than any other clean car. See how shiny my XB was - I would keep it like this all summer long.

 

Another black car? My condolences.

You can keep it clean by washing/waxing, but no matter what you use it's only good for about 5 minutes...20 minutes tops. Been there three times, done that, used the t-shirt for cleaning.

Use the wax that's the easiest, since that's what you'll use more often. I use spritz on wax now.

Spray-wash off chunks if you have them, and hand wash using a mitt. No sponges, they'll keep grit in them. Rinse the mitt a bit every time you put it back in the bucket to get more soapy water to let grit be flushed away and sink to the bottom of the bucket. If you don't hand wash, or at least hand dry, there will be a dirty film left behind. It might as well be neon in color, as much as it will stand out.

Never use dawn dishsoap except on the tires/wheels.

I use a natural chamois. It takes a number of wash/dry cycles to get all the tanning oils out. Even if you wash it in the sink 10 times. But, once the oils are out, it's great. And it's absolutely great on the inside of the windows.

Good luck.