Toog4me

someone noticed the fake gril the last time it was posted. its pretty ugly.

brendanlim

you can only order it online at www.zainobros.com
they don't take credit cards. you have to fill out a form, then send it in with cash or check. very good customer service though from what i've heard.

Manaray

I am a One Grand loyalist now....thanks Gene for the recommendation...Just finished off the GS with One Grand Bltiz Wax and it looks KILLER! Really deepens up the black....made my CF rear window spoiler look like a million bucks also! And it's smooth as silk....

RON430

Actually Gene, I am going to do some experimenting going back to carnauba because of a sap incident on the Zaino. Unfortunately, my wife is one of those folks who loves to park in the shade when it is hot and she parked under a tree that really covered the car with sap. I have had this before on non-Zainoed cars and, at the worst, you have to strip the wax off and off comes the sap with it. Well I tried everything I could throw at the sap on the Zaino and nothing removed it. Zaino recommended isopropyl alcohol and it got some of it but not much. Out came the Porter Cable polisher and low and behold even polishing had a tough time getting it off. I am not sure what happened chemically but over the years my experience with carnauba is that you want it to protect the paint and, at the worst, you may get something to adhere to the wax but then you can just strip it off. Also, as bad as sap is, a good carnauba will usually not give it a chance to adhere. Slowly, I am dissolving, grinding, and "picking" the sap off. Once entirely gone, I am going to go back to a good quality wax for a while. I still have the Zaino products but am going to do some experimenting for a while. It is just difficult to believe how stuck the sap got to the Zaino.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

so you are saying the those products doesn't stay on the car as long as zaino but much deeper? where can i get those stuff?

enginyr

Better than Zaino???

Manaray

Gene - Well I know you're picky and you like quality products like me which is why I was willing to try it...I wouldn't take a recommendation from just anyone!


I used to have a problem with sap on my car(s) but clay will usually take it out. I use 3M Perfect-It III Clay with some plain water as lubricant (hehehe...I said "lubricant") and it works wonders on getting out overspray, sap, etc.

I think bird crap is the worse though. It can REALLY jack up your paint if your paint isn't protected. I mean jack it up to the point where you need to repaint that portion of the car (luckily, non-metallic black is easy to colormatch)

Anyways, I will be doing my SC soon so we'll see how "real world" use of One Grand does (with bird crap and such)...I'm also going to try a few "advanced" Zymol waxes (not that cheap crap they sell at Pep Boys...) on the SC...but it's a light metallic color so I'm pretty sure anything will make it look decent...

kevs

What's your time spacing between waxes? I'm about to put on the first coat after all this shady cloudy weather stops.

How do you feel about Zymol cleaner wax?

rominl

iTrader: (4)

i am **** so i wax my car either once a week or one every two

RON430

manaray - I am not too big a fan of clay but there are some instances where it does work. Unfortunately, it didn't touch the sap that was on my car. It was just so well stuck to the Zaino that it wouldn't budge. If the PC polisher had a hard time, clay wasn't going to do anything. I literally had to use a finger nail and slowly pop each bump off. Additional problem was that once it was popped, it was still tough to get off. It would just move a little and then stick back down. I have never had this experience before through a lot of years of concours level detailing. Biggest reason why I am going to go back to waxes and see what happens. Actually, this is a little bit disingenuous. My wife's Maxima has a high quality carnuba wax and she got sap from the same tree on it but it was much easier to get off. So I already know the wax has at least one advantage. While Zaino does a very good job I have a feeling that a high quality wax might give a slightly better appearance. Please be advised that I am not looking for an easy or quick to apply approach, I am used to spending time to get things looking good and expect to have to reapply often. I have never used anything other than Zaino on my dark blue GS so I will be seeing for the first time the comparison, once I get all the stupid sap off.

kevs

Wow, at least once every other week? How does anyone find the time? I'm thinking about using an electric buffer. Is that what most of you guys use?

rominl

iTrader: (4)

haha that's why i said i am **** well i wash my car evrey week anyway, and it takes about an hr. waxing the car is another hr, which isn't that bad. i treat it as an exercise too, since i don't use buffer

Manaray

Ron430 - You know, I've never had problems with Clay. When I used to park my GS out in from of a friend's out that had a tree that sapped like crazy, I used to get the car clayed/detailed once a month. Now that it's not out much, I don't need to do that as often...I have never had problems with Clay and between me and my buddies, we've owned a lot of cars that have been clayed. Never had any negative outcome. What is the reason why you don't use it?

We just did the hood of my buddy's Denali today and it looked awesome. We clayed it, then used One Grand Omega Glaze, then used One Grand Blitz Wax (this SUV is black) and it looked AMAZING. No swirls, no weird patches, just perfect. Better than showroom...

I say try the One Grand products on your Blue GS...it's pretty inexpensive and so far, for me, it's worked great...

RON430

manaray - I think actually saying I don't like clay is an overstatement. I have no problem with it. The whole point is to use the sticky clay with a lubricant to pull any particles that are stuck to the surface that won't come off with just washing and have them stick to the clay. As far as that stupid sap that got on my car, the clay just wouldn't budge it. It is pretty simple that you use color sanding and then polishing to level out the paint (by cutting it) and then use a good protectant. I tried the Zaino and it is pretty good for what it does but I don't think it is quite as good as the really high quality waxes. The sap experience sort of swung it for me, I will leave the Zaino on the shelf and try the waxes out. The perpetrator was a river birch and the few people I talked to said it is well known for having an epoxy like sap. I don't know if I can describe it but there are a few things about Zaino, one is that it doesn't seem to get as hard as a good wax so it shows swirls more requiring reapplication and second is that under certain conditions it doesn't look anywhere near as "deep" as a good wax. This might be individual perception but I have seen a lot of concours finishes and I doubt the concours guys are using Zaino. The detailer that I first got in with when I went through my bimmer phase got me to look at mixing up a wax formula and I will probably use it or Zymol Concours, both are pretty good although a lot pricier than the Blitz products. I think that for the price, Zaino might actually be about as good a finish as you can get with actually limited expertise but I am going back to wax for now. Who knows, maybe I will go back to the Zaino but I was pretty disappointed how tightly that sap bonded to it. I think it lasts pretty well but not that much better (if any) than good waxes considering that most people are putting on multiple layers of Zaino product. As far as ease of application, Zymol is pretty easy if you don't let it dry before you buff it. If you let it dry, which the instructions say not to do, it is a royal pain to get off. I can certainly see why people are using Zaino but I want to see what my dark blue looks like with a good deep wax.