Mike Phillips
Active member
- Dec 5, 2022
- 51,004
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Review & How-To: BLACKFIRE Pro Ceramic Paint Coating Black Edition
BLACKFIRE Pro Ceramic Paint Coating Black Edition
What is it?
A 9h hardness ceramic paint coating that can last up to 5 years.
What does it do?
Seals and protects car paint while adding incredible gloss, depth and shine. The super hydrophobic effect creates a self-cleaning effect anytime it rains and washing and drying are faster and easier. This ceramic coating also offers superior chemical and corrosion resistance.
When do I use it?
After first washing and drying paint in new condition or after first doing any paint correction to older cars.
Why should I use it?
To protect your car's paint from anything that would attack it while give it a show car looking finish that washes and dries faster plus has a self-cleaning effect when it rains.
My comments...
Out of all the coatings I've tested this year, this is without a doubt the hardest coating I've used. The next day after coating the car, the suede microfiber cloth I used to wrap around the foam block, after the coating in the cloth had fully dried, the cloth was harder than I've ever seen. I include some pictures of it at the end of this article.
Victim Car - 2020 C8 Corvette Stingray
In order to really test out any product I need a car. Here's is a brand new 2020 C8 Corvette Stingray. Looks good here huh? Let's take a closer look with the Speed Master Swirl Finder Light.
It takes the right light to accurately inspect paint
Water spots and road film from driving in the rain. Not as clean as you thought after looking at the picture above huh?
See the "film" where the swirl finder light is lighting up the paint? There's "spots" but there's also a FILM.
If you're not sure what Road Film or Traffic Film is, here's my article on this topic,
Road Film - If you drive your car in the rain your car has road film
And because she was driven in the rain, the spots and road film are everywhere....
Here's the roof....
After washing - Water Spot IMPRINT RINGS
These spots or rings did NOT wash off. That's because they are actually an ETCHING that is IN the paint, not ON the paint.
If you're not sure what Water Spot Imprint Rings are, here's my article on this topic. Note, they will not wash off you MUST machine polish the paint.
Imprint Rings - A specific type of water spot on car paint by Mike Phillips
And light swirls
The Baggie Test
After washing the car, I inspected the paint using a clean, plastic sandwich baggie. There was LIGHT contamination that did not come off when I washed the car so before polishing I clayed the paint.
Detailing Clay
Anytime you can feel little bumps on the surface using the baggie test AFTER washing and drying the car, this is a sign of above surface contamination. Whatever these contaminants are - they have a strong enough bond to the paint that they did not come off during the washing process. So in order to remove them, the safest option is to use an fine or ultra fine bar of detailing clay. For this I'm using the BLACKFIRE Poly Clay and the BLACKFIRE Cay Lubricant.
Spray a section of paint with the clay lube...
For the bar of clay into a patty and then rub it over the lubricated section of paint.
When you feel the clay glide effortlessly over the paint - wipe of the residue and then continue this process over the rest of the car.
Paint Correction
My own personal rule is to always do at least one machine polishing step anytime I use detailing clay on a car. This ensures there's no marring left in the paint from the claying process PLUS it removes all the swirls, scratches and other surface impurities. Also, remember the Water SPOT IMPRINT RINGS in the previous pictures? Machine polishing will also remove these defects.
Medium to soft paint
Historically, Corvettes are known for having very had clearcoats. I found the clearcoat on this latest model to be on the medium to soft side of the paint hardness/softness spectrum. After some testing I found a light cutting polish with a foam polishing pad on my trusty FLEX CBEAST was more than enough to remove all of the paint defects and leave a crystal clear finish.
Always shake standing products first...
Apply some product directly to the face of the pad...
Then machine polish the paint breaking larger panels up into smaller sections.
It took me about 3 hours to machine polish all the paint on this old 2-door Chevy....
Clean, soft microfiber towels
It is SO important after investing hours of your time in the machine polishing step to only use clean, un-contaminated microfiber towels to wipe off any polish residue.
If you haven't read my article and watched the video on how and why to inspect your microfiber towels, I highly recommend doing so.
Secondary Paint Inspection
It's so important to be sure the paint looks right before installing the coating. Here's a few shots showing swirls-free, water spot free flawless black paint. Polishing paint is an art form but as long as you're using great abrasive technology you can't help but get professional results.
That looks tight and that looks right!
BLACKFIRE Pro Ceramic Paint Coating Black Edition
What is it?
A 9h hardness ceramic paint coating that can last up to 5 years.
What does it do?
Seals and protects car paint while adding incredible gloss, depth and shine. The super hydrophobic effect creates a self-cleaning effect anytime it rains and washing and drying are faster and easier. This ceramic coating also offers superior chemical and corrosion resistance.
When do I use it?
After first washing and drying paint in new condition or after first doing any paint correction to older cars.
Why should I use it?
To protect your car's paint from anything that would attack it while give it a show car looking finish that washes and dries faster plus has a self-cleaning effect when it rains.
My comments...
Out of all the coatings I've tested this year, this is without a doubt the hardest coating I've used. The next day after coating the car, the suede microfiber cloth I used to wrap around the foam block, after the coating in the cloth had fully dried, the cloth was harder than I've ever seen. I include some pictures of it at the end of this article.
Victim Car - 2020 C8 Corvette Stingray
In order to really test out any product I need a car. Here's is a brand new 2020 C8 Corvette Stingray. Looks good here huh? Let's take a closer look with the Speed Master Swirl Finder Light.
It takes the right light to accurately inspect paint
Water spots and road film from driving in the rain. Not as clean as you thought after looking at the picture above huh?
See the "film" where the swirl finder light is lighting up the paint? There's "spots" but there's also a FILM.
If you're not sure what Road Film or Traffic Film is, here's my article on this topic,
Road Film - If you drive your car in the rain your car has road film
And because she was driven in the rain, the spots and road film are everywhere....
Here's the roof....
After washing - Water Spot IMPRINT RINGS
These spots or rings did NOT wash off. That's because they are actually an ETCHING that is IN the paint, not ON the paint.
If you're not sure what Water Spot Imprint Rings are, here's my article on this topic. Note, they will not wash off you MUST machine polish the paint.
Imprint Rings - A specific type of water spot on car paint by Mike Phillips
And light swirls
The Baggie Test
After washing the car, I inspected the paint using a clean, plastic sandwich baggie. There was LIGHT contamination that did not come off when I washed the car so before polishing I clayed the paint.
Detailing Clay
Anytime you can feel little bumps on the surface using the baggie test AFTER washing and drying the car, this is a sign of above surface contamination. Whatever these contaminants are - they have a strong enough bond to the paint that they did not come off during the washing process. So in order to remove them, the safest option is to use an fine or ultra fine bar of detailing clay. For this I'm using the BLACKFIRE Poly Clay and the BLACKFIRE Cay Lubricant.
Spray a section of paint with the clay lube...
For the bar of clay into a patty and then rub it over the lubricated section of paint.
When you feel the clay glide effortlessly over the paint - wipe of the residue and then continue this process over the rest of the car.
Paint Correction
My own personal rule is to always do at least one machine polishing step anytime I use detailing clay on a car. This ensures there's no marring left in the paint from the claying process PLUS it removes all the swirls, scratches and other surface impurities. Also, remember the Water SPOT IMPRINT RINGS in the previous pictures? Machine polishing will also remove these defects.
Medium to soft paint
Historically, Corvettes are known for having very had clearcoats. I found the clearcoat on this latest model to be on the medium to soft side of the paint hardness/softness spectrum. After some testing I found a light cutting polish with a foam polishing pad on my trusty FLEX CBEAST was more than enough to remove all of the paint defects and leave a crystal clear finish.
Always shake standing products first...
Apply some product directly to the face of the pad...
Then machine polish the paint breaking larger panels up into smaller sections.
It took me about 3 hours to machine polish all the paint on this old 2-door Chevy....
Clean, soft microfiber towels
It is SO important after investing hours of your time in the machine polishing step to only use clean, un-contaminated microfiber towels to wipe off any polish residue.
If you haven't read my article and watched the video on how and why to inspect your microfiber towels, I highly recommend doing so.
Secondary Paint Inspection
It's so important to be sure the paint looks right before installing the coating. Here's a few shots showing swirls-free, water spot free flawless black paint. Polishing paint is an art form but as long as you're using great abrasive technology you can't help but get professional results.
That looks tight and that looks right!
