Dust on a black car
 

Without having to wash your car every other day, I'm looking for any tips on how to keep a black car looking clean and dust free. I understand black is one of the hardest colors to keep clean... it is still frustrating though! I am going to have my car detailed in a few days, and I know that the following day it will have dust all over it.. I dont even live in a dusty area..

so anyways, once my car is washed/waxed/detailed, is there anyway to get dust off of it without washing the car? and more importantly, without scratching it. I will probably get flamed for putting this here, but I am looking for something along these lines: http://www.calcarduster.com/dusterCombo.asp

Of course that company claims it will not scratch the paint, which I am not so sure of considering how easy it is for a black car to scratch. It would sure be nice if it were true, though. A friend of mine uses it, and it seems to work well.. but then again, he doesnt have a dark color car so it could be scratching the heck out of it and we just cant tell.

Sorry if I offended anyone by posting the California Car Duster! I know most of you guys would never even think about using something like this! I am not planning on using it either, just using it as an example...
thanks for your time!

well I apologize, i did a search and found a ton of threads about this car duster.. I must say I am kind of surprised as to how many of you guys actually use the cal car duster. Maybe I will have to go out and pick one up afterall :mdrmed:

anything that you touch your car with will scratch it. I have the california car duster and can defintely say I stopped using it because of the scratches.

There really is no way to protect from dust other than a car cover.

I was thnking about the car cover.. i dont really want to spend the time putting it on and taking it off everywhere I go though.. oh well..

That sucks about the car duster, I was getting excited for a minute there! Would a good coat of wax help protect from small scratches that the duster might cause, or does that not matter?

A word of caution in regards to the car cover. Your car should be clean before putting it on the car. The stock rx8 car cover is a very snug fit and any dust or dirt caught between the cover and the paint can and will scratch it. If you have add-ons like spoiler,appearance pkg, etc. the car cover will not fit correctly. If you get an aftermarket cover you still want to make sure the car is relatively clean or you may have the same issues with scratches from dust/dirt sandwiched in between it and the paint. Good Luck!

Black is by far the best color for the 8. ;) however keeping it clean can be a PITA.
But when it is clean and waxed there's nothing like it. :ylsuper:

i have heard about car covers scratching the paint if the car is dusty. Which kind of puts me in the same situation because I would have to use the Car Duster to dust off my car before using the car cover. Either way I will probably end up scratching my car :mad:

I will probably be better off just leaving my car alone and washing it at least once a week, which I already do now anyways.

thanks for the help.

and I do agree, black is definitely the best color! it looks so awesome when its nice and clean.

I wash mine regularly and I must say I know every square inch of it intimately. :)
As I've said before it's a "Zen-like" experience. ;)

i had a black car at one time and will never own one again b/c of this reason. i could wash it, drive to town and back (at total of 6 miles all pavement), and see dust on the rear. just a price you have to pay by owning a dark color.

Mine accumulates dust quickly when parked in my garage. One or two days after a wash, it'll be quite dusty... very frustrating. I wonder if I should try to install some sort of air filtration system in my garage... anyone tried this?

leaf blower? keyboard aerosol duster? compressed air? i have winning blue, so i don't have that problem...that's cause it's the winning color :D:

Just drive it fast wherever you go. The extra airflow will help keep it from collecting and people won't get a chance to look close at it cuz it's moving too fast.

if you're going to use the california car duster make sure you just let the duster SLIDE w/o any pressure on the surface. shake hard every 2x2ft. if theres sap, bird crap, etc etc. use some quick detailer spray (mothers, megs, etc etc) and a MF (microfiber) towel.

I keep mine garaged all the time. At first I noticed that the car was covered with dust when the clothes dryer would run through several loads.(my washer and dryer are located in the garage) After a little checking I noticed that the exhaust from the clothes dryer was somewhat clogged from use. Took it apart,cleaned it very well, problem gone!

how about a HEPA filter? lol. how big is your garage?

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My washer/dryer is inside the house, and the exhaust isn't routed to the garage, so I don't think that's causing the problem in my case (good suggestion, though). As far as garage size goes, mine isn't that large... it's a two-car garage, but it's a tight fit for the RX-8 and the Honda Civic.

What I probably need to do (next spring) is empty the garage, clean the hell out of it, then fix up the drywall and paint the sucker... ceiling and all. Then install some sort of free-standing air filter. Our garage is attached and opens into the lower level of our house, and I notice that that area gets dusty faster than the rest of the house... damn dusty garages! :mad: :)

you dont need any car covers. just a good old (not not OLD old hehe) California car duster for dust.

I agree, I think the California Duster is great. Now, granted, I'm not keeping my '8 in absolutely "show condidtion", but as close to it is possible, keeping in mind I plan to drive it for most of the winter in Wisconsin! My wife thinks I have gone off the depend with the number of times she has caught me waxing and polishing it.

I think the key to using the Duster is to be sure you have a good coat of wax on the car to start with. That way, the Duster is just moving the dust over and off of the wax, and the possibility of scratching the paint is lessened. I have used one since I bought the car - almost 8 mos ago- (and for many years previously on my '71 Mach I) and I see very little if any micro scratches I would attribute to the Duster. It's a great quick clean-up just before you want to go out with your "best foot forward".

Zoom, Zoom! :ylsuper:

I use the ca duster, then a quality qd spray and quality mf towel....then very gently wipe it down with the qd a second time..

i also use the california duster... love it

There's no perfect option.

I don't have access to a garage. My black RX8 is outdoors 24/7, usually in a parking lot with no shade. The buildings provide no shade since their shade falls in the wrong direction, and the shaded parking slots are all reserved. If I'm lucky the sun isn't out yet and the air isn't too humid, or maybe I can park next to a Jeep or SUV or Van to use a small amount of shade (they have some purpose after all).

Every day that I want to drive it, I will either need to remove morning dew and dry and clean, or remove it of dust and then work on the dried morning dew spots and dirt. And then the windows have to be recleaned. It takes 30 minutes, every single day that I want to drive.

I tried to save time by using the California car duster. However, I soon realized that using it can leave the worst kind of scratches--white ones--totally through the paint. Otherwise it left a waxy scratch that needs to be hand buffed off with a microfiber, and defeated the purpose of saving time. If I had a garage it would work better, but I still wouldn't use it since there could be an occasional hard piece of dust somewhere.

I used to spray NXT Speed Detailer onto a microfiber cloth, then wipe that over the car until the dust and water spots were gone. However, one day, right before my eyes, it created a white scratch with very little effort.

Instead, now I spray the car well with NXT Speed Detailer, then wipe the dust off with a microfiber cloth. This reduces the friction/dirt and I haven't scratched through the paint yet, although of course I go through the Speed Detailer a lot faster. I then use the dry side to perform the final drying and buffing. During the hand buffing stage, surface scratches occur often--can't always make it 100% dirt free, and hand buffing can dislodge some grime that the dust wiping missed.

Every other day I choose a panel of the car to spray NXT Spray Wax on, once the car is clean. It helps to keep the NXT paste wax layer from getting wiped off from the daily hand buffing.

Yo I Feel ya man, I got a black rx8 and i get alot of dust or pollen when going Anywhere.....if I were u I'd just wash it every week, thats what I do. Its impossible to keep the dust off for me cuz by the time i wash my car n dry it the damn dust is already settling on my car. But I've noticed that I get more dust in the garage lol so thats why I keep mine under a car cover and it helps. Or if you really really want to have no dust Put 2 car covers on :)

I park in a very dusty Manhattan public garage and find that the Dustop car cover is great at keeping dust at bay. It's an indoor only cover specially designed to filter out dust; it's amazing how not dusty my car is when I use it. It's light, folds up quickly and easily, and it's thick enough to resist parking lot dings.
If I were anal about fine scratches my drill would be:
1) Keep car well waxed/protected with Zaino, Meguiars or whatever you like
2) Dustop cover
3) California Car Duster, with little or no pressure. (It's better to use it on a cool car, so wait for the car to cool down - or cover it and use the duster the next morning.)

I have to admit, I tried the california duster ONCE and never used it again. It leaves tiny scratches all over the paint, even when clean. I now use a good microfiber towel to brush over the car and wipe the dust off. If the dust is heavy, I'll use a few squirts of Quick Detail spray and then wipe with a microfiber cloth.

i used klasse (acrilic sealer) on my last car and it repeled dust very well. i need t oget some to try on my 8. I had to park my old car in a gravel parking lot and after i used klasse it took almost a week for the car to get noticably dusty. might give it a try


BTW my 8 is black too. I feel your pain. I havent hand washed it or dried it by hand yet just because i'm afraid of the scratching. I need some good microfiber or 100% cotton towels and a valum before i was it again