Quote:
Originally Posted by ezmaass
I find it funny that the issue of jet black maintenance keeps coming up time and time again in these threads. I'm on my 13th (almost 14th) year of owning exclusively jet-black BMWs. And get this... I've run them through the car wash! *GASP!*
The jet black paint is no less resilient than (and it has the same clear-coat as) all of the other BMW paint colors (minus the frozen/matte paints). The only thing that differs here from sapphire is that jet black doesn't have the little flecks of metallic bits in the paint. Despite myth and lore, the jet black paint will not scratch easier, will not "degrade" easier, nor will it damage easier than any other paint color. It's of consistent quality and application to all of the other paint colors.
However, because it lacks those little flecks of metallic bits mixed-in, it's 100% pure black. That means that little bits of dust, dirt, and micro-scratches are going to show up much easier on jet black than they would on sapphire, where there's plenty of "camouflage" in the paint to reflect the light away from imperfections. This is equivalent to having a pure white carpet in your home versus one that has little pops of a differing color (like a light gray) to help mask imperfection. Both carpets can be made of the same material, same manufacturing quality, etc - but the pure white one will show issues much easier.
Take the car to the car wash all you like. It won't die. The paint won't suddenly fall off. Give it a good wax on a regular basis. There are products out there (or that can be applied by a detailing service) to treat any kind of micro-swirling, too. And at the end of the day, it's a daily driver. If I expected my F10 to look perfect, I couldn't drive it anywhere. Like all of my previous BMWs, it's going to take me on business trips and deal with slush, mud, snow, potted roads, city streets, rocks flying up on highways, coworkers... you name it. I say go ahead and baby your weekend car... but if you're actually using your weekday/business car for some serious travel, I don't see the cost/value/time benefit of freaking out over things like minor paint imperfections from regular usage or insisting on hand-wash only.
Buy and use your jet black BMW with impunity!
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For the most part I agree. In my opinion the jet looks FAR better than Sapphire from close up but from a few feet away its barely recognizable except for the slight haze.
The difference I've noticed (having had several of each) is the clear coat scratches on jet seem to be more pronounced. As an example a rock slid up the hood of my 911 and put about a 2 foot clear coat scratch on it. Hardly noticeable (after a 2 coat buff job) but still there. Had it been sapphire it would have hidden it.
I'm ok with either. I agree that as long as its taken care of with decent wax (I use both Zymol and Chemical Guys) it should be fine.