Hard to keep BLACK nissan coupe clean?

[ram28]

How much more work is it to keep the black coupe clean compared to say the gray or dark slate color? Trying to pick between these colors. I was leaning (just a bit) towards black but concerned about having to spend a lot more time keeping it clean (and being careful) along with the fact that scratches would show a lot more. Any idea on what color paint is underneather the exterior paint color? I heard if you get a deep scratch on say the door or hood it would look like the dark slate color. Thanks for any help.

[Scandinavian Flick]

here is the difference between the black and dark slate,

dark slate isnt a color any one really wants, its a color you settle for

super black is the color every one really wants, because it looks better then all the other colors, super black is a combination of sophistication and sexy.

now if you were buying for example a silverado work truck, i would then say get the dark slate because this way after the abuse the dents and scratches and dirt do not show up as much,

but just to reiterate my point if you like the car get super black, if you are just settling for the car get dark slate

[Infantry1327]

Black is a pain in the *** to keep clean. But that all depends on where you live, if there isn't very much dust, dirt, or construction, then you shouldn't have a huge problem. I had the same concern, Black cars in my opinion look the best when they are clean and waxed but it usually only lasts for a little while. My buddy has a black Sedan and you can start to see dust on it 20 min after he washes it. That's why I went with the white. It still looks sophisticated and isn't as hard to clean.

[Scandinavian Flick]

sometimes looking better then every other car on the road takes a little bit of extra elbow grease, but its worth it

infantry1327- agreed the artic white it also a damn nice color on the a/c

so just leave those silvers, slates and greys alone

[Rob.Vegan]

OMG ! ! !

I have a super black coupe and it looks amazing right after a wash.however later that day it will pick up any dust particles it can get its silky smooth skin on...

I keep about 5 microfiber towels and a bottle of ICE quick detailer in my trunk so whenever I can spare about 10minutes i just give my car a little spritz and it looks good again.

i am happy i got the superblack, if i was to receive a new coupe i would want it black still. it's alot of maintenance but i really dont mind, it looks beautiful

[Scandinavian Flick]

OMG ! ! !

I have a super black coupe and it looks amazing right after a wash.however later that day it will pick up any dust particles it can get its silky smooth skin on...

I keep about 5 microfiber towels and a bottle of ICE quick detailer in my trunk so whenever I can spare about 10minutes i just give my car a little spritz and it looks good again.

thats awesome, i keep the ice quick detailer and the microfiber towels in the trunk also.

more thoughts... silver/slate/grey looks the same dirty as it does clean.....where is the fun in that

[lilojoj]

Superblack is hard to maintain but i still like it. I keep a duster in my trunk but i think that just spreads the dust around more than dusting it off lol. I have a couple scratches, i have no idea how they got there, but you wont notice them unless i point them out. so i would say go with superblack.

[SHIFT_COUPE]

Black looks great when clean. Let me put it this way..... I wouldn't purchase a black vehicle again, especially with Nissan paint.

It's a lot of work to keep it the way you want it, especially if your anal like myself haha. I notice everything but not everyone notices what I see.

It's up to you man!

[Rolling Estonian]

My last car was a Sentra SL, Black. Loved it just after a wash. Black is a great color, but it's a lot of work to keep it looing good. Like Tyler I will not be owning another black car again.

[RobPaulson]

here is the difference between the black and dark slate,

dark slate isnt a color any one really wants, its a color you settle for

super black is the color every one really wants, because it looks better then all the other colors, super black is a combination of sophistication and sexy. ... but just to reiterate my point if you like the car get super black, if you are just settling for the car get dark slate

what dude? no. just no.

I didnt 'settle' for dark slate, i actually turned down a white, black, and blue one while looking for my dark slate. I THINK (see what i did there, claimed this statement as an opinion, not fact, because color preference is PURE OPINION) black cars just look bad unless you wash them every other day and keep it garaged, and even if i had someone washing/waxing my car for me, i would still get the slate. I love the way my dark slate looks, i've always loved that color on a car.

so let me reiterate, to the OP, get the color you love, because no one else is driving or maintaining your car but you.

[Scandinavian Flick]

what dude? no. just no.

I didnt 'settle' for dark slate, i actually turned down a white, black, and blue one while looking for my dark slate. I THINK (see what i did there, claimed this statement as an opinion, not fact, because color preference is PURE OPINION) black cars just look bad unless you wash them every other day and keep it garaged, and even if i had someone washing/waxing my car for me, i would still get the slate. I love the way my dark slate looks, i've always loved that color on a car.

my whole statement was purely in good fun, what color someone wants is purely opinion, silvers/greys/and slates are known to show the curvature of a cars body better then any other color and those colors dont show dirt nearly as fast as any other color,

on a different note though, black is still the best color to get without question.

[adidas2go]

here is the difference between the black and dark slate,

dark slate isnt a color any one really wants, its a color you settle for

super black is the color every one really wants, because it looks better then all the other colors, super black is a combination of sophistication and sexy.

now if you were buying for example a silverado work truck, i would then say get the dark slate because this way after the abuse the dents and scratches and dirt do not show up as much,

but just to reiterate my point if you like the car get super black, if you are just settling for the car get dark slate

Dark Slate is the most popular color on this forum. I don't think you were playing at all, you reiterated your statement twice, that dark slate was a color you settled for. If it was a joke, it wasnt a good one

Oh, and dark slate is by far the hardest color ive ever had to keep clean. I will was and wax my car on a friday, and by the following weekend, my car is absolutley COVERED in dirt.

[rjdmmfl1]

OP, ask 10 folks that have ever owned a black car and I would bet 7/10 would say they would NEVER buy another black car again....

Black looks great in the showroom, when its nice and clean under those lights... its starts to looks worse as soon as you leave the showroom, and after one day, depending on where you live, you will start to have second thoughts...

as someone mentioned earlier, the problem is keeping it clean, I would argue that they only look good when they are washed a MINIMUM of once per week, with the right types of cloths that won't place minute scratches in the clear coat (i.e. microfiber rags to wash, terry cloths to dry)... washing any car, but a black one in particular ANY other way is just just wrong, and eventually, once those ugly swirl marks show up on your blackcar, you will start kicking yourself for buying that color.

If you like black get it, but know you will work twice as hard to keep it looking nice compared to almost any other color!

BUt in a perfect world, without dust and swirl marks, I would agree with Scandanavian Flick.. when a black car is clean, it is CLEAN

[Scandinavian Flick]

i find it funny how mad people get over a statement about what color of car to get.

my statements were meant with humor, if you didnt take it that way because of my lack of using smiley faces and icons, then sorry that you misunderstood.

a2g.... seriously man.. calm down, its not that serious of a world out there. as for you saying dark slate is the hardest color to keep clean i feel your opinion is biased have you ever owned a black car? i did not say at any point that dark slate did not get dirty, i only said that it doesnt show dirt the way other colors do. As for waxing your car on friday and by the following weekend its dirty... thats 8 days... show your car some more love man, wash it more then once every couple of weeks.

and Doc.. well put

[Shift_Altima]

black FTW. Makes u feel sooooo good when u stand infront of it after a long 3 hour wash and wax and just look. it's so pretty i would never want another color. not that the other colors suck.. i just like black aloooooot. but it shows dirt and scratches a bit too much esp the nissan paint

[theoctopussi]

BLACK all the way. WAX REALLY good, AND GET A FEATHER DUSTER!!! FEATHER! NOT that mop crap at pepboys a REAL feather duster ... wash it once a week like normal (no harsh soaps; use wax ones), and dust daily - it stays beautiful mang. I've had 3 black cars and 3 red ones... and black was the hardest to maintained but worth how it looked. my red one can get dirty as sh*t, and i'll get compliments lol but RED is my only other color I would get...

[adidas2go]

i find it funny how mad people get over a statement about what color of car to get.

my statements were meant with humor, if you didnt take it that way because of my lack of using smiley faces and icons, then sorry that you misunderstood.

Well, it wasn't funny. It didn't even make sense to say. Go ahead and post that the 2.5 is the car just to "settle for", while the 3.5 is god. I bet you uproar the 2.5 community. Get where Im going at here?

a2g.... seriously man.. calm down, its not that serious of a world out there. as for you saying dark slate is the hardest color to keep clean i feel your opinion is biased have you ever owned a black car? i did not say at any point that dark slate did not get dirty, i only said that it doesnt show dirt the way other colors do. As for waxing your car on friday and by the following weekend its dirty... thats 8 days... show your car some more love man, wash it more then once every couple of weeks.

and Doc.. well put

I didn't say it was THE hardest color to keep clean, I said it was the hardest color Ive ever had to keep clean.

My last car was a black on black, BMW 330i.

I wash my car every week, thanks

[Calgary35SE]

I have a black a/c and i agree it is very hard to keep clean. But in my opinion it is the best color for the a/c. not saying the others do not look good, i was very close to getting blue but i chose black. I keep mine garaged but it doesnt help cause my work is very dusty. but to each there own. everyone should keep there cars clean cause sparkly is definitely the best finish

[ESP]

I really depends on where you live too. Here in Calgary, I would never own another black car. At night, it cools off enough that in the morning you have a fine layer of dew on the car. It's also incredibly dry here (go figure) so there is almost always dust in the air...when that dust settles onto your dew-covered car, then dries there...well...

[Scandinavian Flick]

a2g... you ok? everything alright? you seem tense.

our difference in opinion on what is humorous in the world shouldnt upset someone like this. im worried about ya, i dont want you to be reading a blog on the internet and to get mad and offended to this level, its just not healthy.

as for the 2.5 statement that followed, ive already posted that the 3.5 was the god engine and the 2.5 is the one you settle for, i posted that a month ago. ( i would insert a smiley face here to portray my intentions but i dont really like the whole smiley face thing)

also since you are a former beemer owner, question what does the letter 'I" stand for that follows the number, i know what all there other letters and numbers mean, i just have no idea about what the letter "i" means on there cars.

AND finally to all you out there who own a dark slate coupe.. smile your cars color has the highest resale. ( insert smiley here)

[Shift_Altima]

i stands for rwd

[Scandinavian Flick]

ya know i just went and did a search what i came up with is that they used to use the letter i to specify fuel injection, the only reason it wouldnt make complete sense for it to be for RWD is that say for a 328xi the x stands for AWD and yet the vehicle keeps the "i" designation as well

[Shift_Altima]

ya i know. i've always wondered why they put xi.. g35xi.. 335xi.. never made sense but whatever.

[Sentientbydesign]

ya i know. i've always wondered why they put xi.. g35xi.. 335xi.. never made sense but whatever.

WTF is a g35xi? We don't have i's after any of them. The x is a common nomenclature for AWD. Like the Eclipse GSX.

Adidas,

Calm down. I know how much you love your Alti-Cou, but it was just a joke. Even if it wasn't...who cares?

As for the black car thing. I think the Doc nailed it on the head. I bougth my Obsidian Black G35 because it was a great price and it wasn't Red or Carribean Blue (STUPID COLOR!!!)

Having owned it for 8 going on 9 months now, I somewhat regret having a black car. Getting swirl marks out is nearly impossible. My car washes last about 20 mins to an hour before you start noticing dust.

I was joking with a buddy of mine about running a charge through the body to repel dust. Then he said I'd have to have a "Starship enterprise console" to adjust the frequency of the force field. Then we joked about Borg dust particles...

The point? Black is a PITA to keep nice. Especially since the primer is a medium gray and Nissan/Infiniti paint is one of the least durable.

If I had the money or my coupe got totalled some how, I'd definitely get an Ivory Pearl or Blue Slate. The only way I'd be content with my Black Coupe is if I moved to somewhere like Portland where it was constantly rained on...I think black cars in overcast or rainy weather are SEX.

Also!!! If it gets hot where you live, YOU WILL HATE BLACK!!! No opinion there.

[FGFCacoupe]

To reiterate what has aleady been said when black is clean it looks perfect. My biased opinion is that when a black icar s clean no other color can touch it. On the other hand when its dirty, out of all the colors it looks the worst. So with that said if your not a car lover and you simply want to get to work and back home without walking then I would say definately dont get black. But since you took the time to even post the question and you want a beautiful atima coupe you must care so I would say get black and give it a little extra care. Im a car finatic and every car that I buy will be black, but thats because I dont mind cleaning my car every two days. With a black altima coupe if you wash the car on monday and drive anywhere tuesday it will need a wash wednesday. Please, please, please, please, please just watch what you clean it with like Doc said.

[ESP]

Mwahahahahahahaha!

...Borg dust particles...that's awesome.

[Sentientbydesign]

I would have to sit in my car and constantly change the phasing and the particles would adapt lol

[adidas2go]

also since you are a former beemer owner, question what does the letter 'I" stand for that follows the number, i know what all there other letters and numbers mean, i just have no idea about what the letter "i" means on there cars.

Tough time at work man. Sorry. I am pretty tense. Im up here training with Top Gun here in Fallon, NV. Its hot, and there is a lot of pressure to complete multiple missions per day.

BMW lettering:

The first number in the sequence is the series. 3 = 3 series, 5 = 5 series, etc.

Second and Third numbers are the motor displacement. 25 = 2.5L, 30 = 3.0L, etc.

The 2 letters define the drivetrain and model type. I = RWD, XI = AWD, CI = Coupe, CIC = Convertible.

Example. A 545xi is a 5 series, 4.5L V8, with AWD

It works for almost every BMW, except for the 335. It has a 3.0L.

[Sentientbydesign]

Leave it to the Germans to not follow their own naming convention

[{WBK}Viper]

I gots Black.

Here's my routine.

1.Every saturday I wake up and spray the car of and sponge it with a dense sponge.

2. Then I shammy the water off and let it dry.

3. Then I rotate every other Saturday waxing/detailer.So Sat #1 I wax, Sat#2 I use detailer and so on.

4. In between I just dust it off with a California duster.

Turtle Wax ICE is the wax of choice, and Maguires Detailing spray is my choice for detailer. My car stays looking nice unless it rains.

It's a weekly process. If you don't want to do that...Dont get black it willalways look dirty. If you don't mind a weekly detail it'll look great almostall the time.