chowder

History: I’ve been a Mother’s 2 step wash and wax user for years. That typically involved 4 hours of work every 1.5 months. I’m not saying the wax necessarily lasted that long; that’s just the interval I tried to maintain. Over the winter, I would be unable to do anything to the car except a rare soft-touch wash to remove road salt.
Goal: I’m one of these meticulous types, and I want to find a good balance of price/effort/protection.
I was looking to see what the hubbub over Zaino was about. I ordered claybar, Z7, Z1, Z2, Z6, Z5 shipped for $80. I also purchased 3 cotton bath towels per instructions on their website. I compiled a set of instructions from a few car care sites re: washing and Zaino. Off I went. I waited for a forecast of a few perfect days (sunny/70) so I could take my time learning this process.
Day 1, 4hr: Washed with Dawn. Put car in garage. Started claying.
I was a little leery of the Dawn, so I did smaller areas and more rinsing (added time). I must say after Dawn, I thought my car was darn clean. With the claybar, I was hesitant to apply much pressure – it’s an odd thing to rub a block of stuff over your paint. I was shocked to see the clay surface dirty after a few rubs here and there. I got down to the 4-6 inch level to inspect my paint to see what this clay was picking up. Crap is there, whether you see it or not. I had no idea.
Day 2, 3hr: Claying, continued. Touchup-painted.
I really took my time with this. I did door jambs, fuel lid – you name it. It’s impressive how much cleaner your car can get with clay.
Day 3, 3hr: Out of garage. Washed with Z7. Back in garage. Dried. Z1. Z5. Waited. Removed. Set overnight.
I studied the swirl marks before and after all over my car. Indeed they get filled. Spiderwebbing appeared to be dulled out with 1 coat (best way to view them is looking at a reflection of a strong light).
The key here is to remove completely. It’s a pain to see a spot unremoved when you apply the next coat. Remember also to Z5 painted trim (e.g. black window/door trim) cause there are marks there too.
Day 4, 2hr: Z6. Z2. Waited. Removed. Set overnight.
Day 5, 30min: Z6.
Conclusions: Make sure you eat your wheaties. Without a garage, I’m sure I’d be pressed into working faster. I’m certain I’ll be able to compress this timeline down significantly next time. I took a lot of breaks to inspect and tinker. There are a ton of tricks/tips you pick up just by doing and reading.
Keep in mind that this major process only needs to be done once/twice per year. The maintenance routine going forward is pretty close to what I was used to with Mothers: Z7 wash, dry, Z6/Z2/Z5 as needed. It should be appreciably faster cause applying/removing Zaino polish is MUCH easier than dealing with carnuba wax (liquid/paste). The key for me will be how long does this protection scheme last compared to carnuba.
Wouldn’t you know, 2 days after I finished up the detailing of the inside, I drove to a party in DC, and it poured on I-95 through Baltimore. The rain beaded at least as well as expected, and I could hear the water running down the rain gutters over my head as it was repelled from the surface. Sadly, the car had gathered a crusty spotting of salt/truck soot/etc. I did a quick Z7/Z2/Z6 and was happy again. The Z2 was overkill, but I wanted to see if the shine could get deeper with each coat as advertised. Actually, it looks so good it’s hard for me to tell. My guess is multiple Z5’s does improve things, but multiple Z2’s – not sure.
Honestly, the car looks better than new. You don’t notice it looking at it in the garage as much as when it’s sitting in the sun in the driveway with clouds and trees reflecting off it. Mind you, after you Zaino, you will look at paint in a whole other level of detail – that can be good/bad depending how you are.
I’m going to do my 1988 swirly blue car next. I’m afraid I’ll be tempted to use up a lot of my Zaino on that. My GS is silver, and I’m sure the effect on darker colors will be more pronounced.
Pick my brain if you want.


PS – Anyone notice that you can see the minute lumpiness of the paint when your car is in the garage and you look at a reflection of a ceiling light off the hood?

geodesic

Nice details regarding your Zaino experience. The "lumpiness" you describe is commonly referred to as "orange peel." Although I've been tempted to tackle it in the past, I've never gotten the courage to start sanding my car.

chowder

orangepeel -- quite an accurate descriptor. you and i share the same model year. is it something that was always there? or does it develop quickly (my car is a shade under 2yrs old)?

LexRX

wow, what a description and the time spent!! I am expecting my zaino polish Z2, leather in a bottle, and clay bar any day now. I can't wait to use the clay bar to get the car cleeeeean. I haven't used one before.

You are right about cleaning a car - it takes some effort. I also know how it feels to have worked forever then have it rain. It can drive you mad.

Mean Gene

Chowder - I remember my first weekend with all the Zainio stuff - at least I had an enclosed garage to work at night with but it still killed the weekend ( & my arms!! ) Well worth the effort & alot easier to maintain it from that point on. The "orange peel" is pretty common on all cars regardless of color & manufacturer. The factory isn't going to do the extra prep & between-coat sanding necessary to prevent them. Sometimes U can use rubbing compound to get rid of them but most often it takes wet sanding & re-shooting that area. U'd think that a high-end marquee like Lexus would have a better paint program but I've seen peel on M-B's & Porsches as well. Bummer!

mooretorque

Great description! And unfortunately, orange peel is a fact of life........every car I've bought since 1974 has had it (not that pre-74 cars didn't have it, I just wasn't buying cars then!!!!).

Interesting thing I've noticed since my first Zaino last weekend: my parking area at work seems to be zoned as "bird multi-family" since we have quite a few starlings/nests/etc close at hand. Usually they find some excuse to crap on my car every other day or so leaving some lovely purple and white blobs for me to clean when I get home. After Zaino, they left my car alone for a couple of days, then it was back to using the car for a colon coloring book.

But the guano literally would splatter and, for the most part, actually slide off the paint (car is parked sideways on about a 5 degree grade). And rather than adhering like some sort of SuperGlue as it usually did, the remainder just flew off the car at the first touch of water!!!!!! That stuff must be extremely smooth and coherent even at the molecular level.

Never seen anything like it!!! Plus, my car seems now to have a soft lambent glow not present before. Hats off to the Zaino brothers!!!!!

Mean Gene

Hey Guyz - IS there a Zaino brother? Every time I call or E-beam, it always Sal Zaino that I speak with. Guess it doesn't really matter since the stuff is so good - I'm another Meguiars convert myself!

garnet92

Great job, Chowder!

I am also a new Zaino convert – just finished my garnet red SC this weekend and I have to say – I don’t think that it could look better. The Zaino process is a real pain in the *** – but now, after the initial work, should just F6 and F5 or 2 every so often and it’ll continue to look good – anxious to see how long it lasts.

garnet92

An update on my Zaino experiment – been on my SC for a month now – not exactly a long term test but nevertheless … it still looks fantastic! The paint is so smooth (I clayed it) everything (bird crap included) seems to slide off – it’s easier to wash – also using the Zaino car wash – just sprayed F6 and it looks great again! I’m sold!

One question tho – you other Zaino users – am I imagining things, or have any of YOU also noticed a difference between a FINAL coat of Z5 or Z2??? The weekend after I initially Z’d the car, I came back with Z6 and another coat of Z5 … and didn’t put a “final” coat of Z2 on it. It didn’t look quite as good as when the 2 was the final coat – the original work was finished off with Z2 and I think that it looked better than when I added a follow-up Z6 and Z5??

The application tips provided by Z does say that the Z2 has “higher optical properties” than Z5, and that you can switch back an forth – I thought it was the usual marketing crap – maybe he’s right??

Anybody need partially used bottles/cans of Mothers, Meguiars, Turtle Wax, or Eagle One Wet Look????

Mean Gene

Garnet - I was also skeptical about that so I did half my hood with a final coat of Z-5 & the other with Z-3 ( my black GS isn't cleared ). Even the wife ( who doesn't share my passion for cars ) felt the Z-3 side was shinier as did the sons. Only I knew which side was which so it was a double blind test. Still not sure if the application of Z-6 between coats helps but it is a great quick detailer.

garnet92

Thanks Gene! I guess I'm just naturally skeptical about any mfg's claims - but apparently the Z bros. are right. I didn't do a "blind" test the way you did and was wondering if it was my imagination - but the 2 coat was definitely deeper! Thanks for your confirmation - guess I was right the first time! Anyway, great stuff! Shine ON!

girvan

Perhaps I only get 90%of the Zaino advantage but I appear to spend about 10% of the time. May be it's because I used Zaino from day one?

I bought the Zaino product 3 1/2 years ago when my car was brand new and went through the two coat initiation that took me a whole evening. Although I bought the clay, since the car was two days old and garaged and arrived at the CA dealer the same day, it did not seem to do much. I always refuse Lexus' free wash and have only hand washed my car and used the specified cotton towels and a boar hair brush. After 40 months there are less scratches than a single automated car wash would cause. Dirt positively glides off the surface. The car has only ever had one other wash and that was the pre-delivery wash.

Every six months I apply another coat of Z2 after washing but before drying. That adds about an 90 mins to the process and I use the same cotton towels to remove the polish as I would normally dry the car with.

I get a good work out and the car still looks better than new. This takes me about 3 hours a year.

How much am I missing?

Kaban

I Zaino'd my car the very next day I bought it, and the paint looked better than new. Everytime I took my GS to the dealer for maintaince the service manager always compliment on how clean it is and recommands that I not get the car wash there, he said that they could not get it any cleaner even if they wash it.

Only problem is my car is a major attraction for bird crap and bugs the bumper.