white car woes?

Post Tue Aug 25, 2009 4:46 pm

my alpine white e30 is very clean but i can never seem to get that real deep reflection you find on some darker coloured cars, is this just the fact that the car is white or is there something i can try? cheers steve.

Post Tue Aug 25, 2009 5:18 pm

good quality wash and wax products can make a world of difference

nopt had a white car for years tho
so ill leave the reccomendations to the white car owners

sure theyll be along soon

Post Tue Aug 25, 2009 6:08 pm

this is the car now as you can see its clean, but i just want that edge that makes people take a second look,

Post Tue Aug 25, 2009 6:17 pm

What cleaning products do you use? As daz said, good quality stuf will make it look better. Have you tried clay barring it? I have found it fairly difficult to show how clean the car looks in photographs.

I guess this is the sort of finish that you are after?

Meguiars clay bar kit, Zymol car shampoo + muc off polish (i couldn't be bother with wax at the time and the muc off polish is very good) is the stuff i normally use on the paint.

Post Tue Aug 25, 2009 6:32 pm

Because white is not metallic it doesnt have such a 'deep' shine as others do.

Good quality polish and regular polishes helps.

My old white 'is'.

Post Tue Aug 25, 2009 6:45 pm

wash it with simoniz wash wax shampoo, then chamois off, polish with over drive car polish wax with meguiars gold class,
dont get me wrong the cars clean but just want that edge,

Post Sat Aug 29, 2009 12:28 am

Alpine white II seems a hard colour to get that deep shine,

clay bar, bloody good polish, followed by wax should give you a deep shine, but as soon as it rains and dust gets on the car ive found it soon goes

various pics of mine

In the winter

Post Sat Aug 29, 2009 12:35 am

bucket of TFR to remore the greasy fingerprints from the satin alpinewee paint and i'm done

i'm bored of having a white car and trying to keep it looking good. i now just spend the time i would be cleaning it, giving it a goood spanking instead

might give it a bit of spit & polish before santa pod though, that would be two years with no polish...wish me luck!

Post Sun Aug 30, 2009 4:27 pm

Agree with the above, white is hard work.

Today I used - Meguiar's Gold Class Shampoo, Meguiar's Step 1 Paint Cleaner followed by AG Super Resin Polish and Extra Gloss, finished off with Zymol Titanium.

Was clean and shiny but nowhere near the depth of shine I get from the diamond black E36.

Bloody thing gets dirty after 5 mins too.

Post Mon Aug 31, 2009 2:47 am

agreed, white is a b4stard of a colour to get really shiny...........

Post Mon Aug 31, 2009 8:51 pm

Total foobin nightmare. Picture this. Red car. Goes pink. Why? Its a base colour, which means theres not a clearcoat on it. To achieve the deep shine on !most! Dark cars a good polish/buff removes light scratches/swirlmarks in the lacquer (clearcoat.) with a white in particular, its difficult if not near impossible to get that deep shine unless its been resprayed using clearcoat. Also dark colours absorb the light whereas a lighter colour makes the light bounce off it. I might not have explained it in the best way but it should make sense?