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Detailermade Team
Black paint is the most demanding color to work on. It shows every swirl mark, buffer trail, water spot, and fingerprint more clearly than any other color. The same correction result that looks spectacular on silver looks mediocre on black, because dark paint reveals everything an inspection light reveals. Getting black paint right requires understanding the material, the lighting, and the technique before a machine touches it.
On a light-colored car, surface defects scatter light in multiple directions, making them appear diffuse and less visible. On black paint, the eye contrasts the direct reflection against the dark background, making each swirl appear as a bright line in a dark field. The result under direct light is the "spiderweb" pattern synonymous with improperly maintained black vehicles. 80% defect removal on silver looks excellent. On black, 80% is visible. The bar is higher.
Proper lighting is the foundation of black paint correction. You cannot accurately assess swirl marks, haze, or correction progress under standard shop fluorescent lights — they don't reveal surface defects clearly enough.
Use a dedicated inspection light at raking angles — a Scangrip Multimatch, Labino compact, or quality high-intensity LED panel positioned low to the paint surface. Multiple light positions matter: defects invisible from one angle may be very visible from another. For final inspection, a strong single-beam LED (quality flashlight or Sun Gun) in a darkened bay is the most revealing tool for dark paint. This is what the client will see in direct sunlight. Don't skip it.
Black paint appears across all manufacturers, and hardness varies significantly:
Japanese black (Toyota, Honda, Mazda): soft, polishes easily, cuts quickly. Easy to over-cut. Re-swirls easily post-correction with improper wash technique. The client needs to understand this.
European black (BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Porsche): harder. Requires more aggressive cutting to achieve full defect removal, but holds the finish better once corrected. Takes longer, but the result is more durable.
Do a test spot. Measure paint depth. Don't assume based on color alone.
For soft Japanese black: M205 alone handles light to moderate swirling. M105 on a light cutting pad for heavier correction, followed by M205 to finish.
For hard European black: M105 or Koch Chemie H8.02 on a medium cutting pad for the cut pass. Rupes Uno Pure, Gtechniq P1, or Scholl S17 for the finishing pass, which on hard clear produces excellent gloss.
The key on black: spend more time on the finishing pass. Any micro-marring remaining after finishing is visible on dark paint. Don't call the job done until the finishing pass is genuinely complete under inspection lighting.
Cutting pass: a microfiber cutting disc (Meguiar's DHCD, Rupes Coarse MF) amplifies cut on the DA without unnecessary aggressiveness. Soft foam cutting pad for gentler correction on soft paint.
Finishing pass: dedicated foam finishing pad (Meguiar's DHFP, Lake Country CCS) or microfiber finishing disc. Must be soft enough to eliminate micro-marring without adding new scratches.
Do not skip the pad change between stages. Running a pad that had compound residue into the finishing polish pass is a common source of micro-marring that's very visible on dark paint.
Cutting pass: 4–5 on most variable-speed DAs. Finishing pass: 3–4. Lower speed on the finishing pass generates less heat and produces better gloss output on dark paint than a fast, aggressive finishing pass. On soft Japanese clear coat especially, heat from a fast finishing pass introduces micro-marring the slower pass would have avoided.
Black paint that's been properly corrected needs protection to stay that way, and the client needs to understand wash technique. A coating seals the corrected surface and provides resistance to light contact marks. But a client running their corrected black BMW through a brush car wash monthly will have swirl marks back within a few washes. Set that expectation clearly before they drive away, and put it in writing.