Deanski

For the most part, 100% USA cotton towels with no edging works fine.

MF towels are good, however, there are so many quality control issues it's hard to say which are great and which are bad.

DF Concours towels, the new Alpine Fiber #3 work very well and are super soft.

You do need one towel with a shorter nap for wax/sealant removal, and deep plush towels for final buffing/QD work. Problem with short nap is you have to turn them often and have enough onhand. The shorter nap makes it easy to remove LSP's than deeper plush naps. You never want to push down on a short nap towel, you want to "roll" it to capture the LSP away from the finish. If you HAVE to put pressure on a towel to remove an LSP, you may have put the LSP on too thick or it's not fully cured. But if needed, use a deep nap for that.

I use several towels from all different sources. Some from Towels by Dr Joe, some from private vendors (Pakshak, DF Concours, Microfibertech etc). All depends on the usage. I also use surgical huck towels and other 100% cotton towels.

What matters is how you also wash MF towels. They can ONLY be washed by themselves/like product or you will get linting up the wazoo. Also, NO DRYER SHEETS! You can dry them on medium heat or air dry them. If find that medium heat works well and gives them a nice static charge for dirt P/U. I also add another rinse cycle to a load and add white vinegar to the last rinse to remove any detergent left behind that may end up on the finish.

Always test a new towel in an area no one will see to make sure it will not scratch the finish.

Regards,
Deanski

Deanski

Light metallics Rejex is very very reflective. Zaino a bit warmer and for wax, you just can't beat P21S. Anyone of these will make the silver POP! Waxes will like P21S a bit warmer and even though it's a wax, it's very clear, so it does make the metallics come alive. Sealants will also add to the POP effect which also add the longevity into the factor as opposed to a wax.

To be honest, it's all very subjective and how you want the car to look. I had one customer who wanted the very reflective look, then didn't like it and wanted a warmer wax look, which I did change it, but for that person, it still was now too wet looking (used a very high-end wax-go figure) and that too had to be removed until we agreed on one wax that look good for him.

I would say don't spend a whole lot of time and money on something you may or maynot like. If at all possible, ask around who may have a car with a sealant or wax on it to judge for yourself.

Remember, all the wax or sealant put on a car only looks good if the finish is as good as you can make it. More true with sealants as they hide NOTHING ad can bring up defects due to the clear nature of them.

Regards,
Deanski

Deanski

Zaino on black:




Zaino on silver, lighting was bad:

Zaino on Guards Red:


Just a few examples.

Deanski

Cowhorn

Any product recommendations for Speed Yellow cars?

Deanski

A few questions;

1) Do you like to wax your car often?

2) How deep or wet do you want it to look like?

3) Do you want a wax or sealant to last months?

4) Do you park near or get tree pollen?

5) Do you enter into concours events?

Wax will be deeper/warmer and with a glaze can impart a wet look. But they need to have the wax re-applied once a month for best results. Tree pollen sticks to it like flypaper.

Sealants today are getting more and more like wax in the look, but w/o the monthly upkeep and keep dust, pollen etc from sticking, lasts for months and can be "maintained" by just a QD.

I like the effects of Zaino with Z8 Grand Finale detail spray as the icing on the cake. You can go with Zaino CS (apply, walk-away) or go the full tilt application of Z2-Pro with ZFX.

Rejex looks have a very reflective look, somewhat sterile looking, but very clear as well.

Klasse, another good sealant has a reflective look, not so much as Rejex.

Meguiars just updated to a new sealant, and yet to try this one. Called Mirror Glaze #21 Synthetic Sealant 2.0 which is a new sealant.

Meguiars also updated NXT sealant/wax to version 2 and can be found in big-box stores.

You may have to look around, find a finish that looks really nice and find out what that person used on it. It's so subjective, yes I could say go with sealant XYZ or wax ABC and after all the time spent, hate it. Then I'll have to put my flamesuit on as the posts start flying...

I've been after many of the detail suppy shops or webstores to offer a "sample" kit so those wanting to test with several products can w/o commiting to full amounts that just get wasted.

Regards,
Deanski

mglobe

For the lazy non-concours crowd, who want their car to look nice too, here is what I do.

About three to four times/year I apply Zaino Z2-pro with ZFX. It is a simple wipe on, wipe off application. Really as little work as you could ever hope for in a wax/sealant. Once or twice per year I give my car a clay bar prep before the Zaino.

When I'm not doing the Zaino treatment, while I'm drying my car after washing, I use Griott's Spray On Wax. You spray this stuff on while the car is still damp. What I do is run over the car once with a waffle weave towel to get most of the water off, and then as I go around with a micro-fiber to dry it completely, I give it a spritz of the Griott's wax before I wipe it dry. The Griott's gives the car a nice extra pop.

I'm no concours guy. I track my car regularly, and drive it every day. The Zaino/Griotts approach keeps it looking pretty darn good with very little effort.

just my $.02

Deanski

I'm not a big fan of adding wax over Zaino, but others have to deepen the look. It's also a good way to win at a concours event. With a few good layers of Z2 for the clear shine top with a high-end wax just for the event and you're pretty much going to win.

Zymol waxes, those that require "hand rubbed" application, are the waxes that I use. Instead of application by "warmth of hand, rubbing it on" I use new foam applicators wrapped in terry which sit in an old toaster oven to warm these. This works very well for those waxes.

For those with money to burn, Zymol has a wax costing... $30,0000. No joke. Solaris Glaze is the name of it.

Me...I use wax that is 60% Saber-Toothed Puruvian Mountain Yak virgin ear wax, and 40% African Jungle Chihuahua fromunder cheese harvested with an antique wooden spoon by toothless tribeswomen who then cure it between their cheek and gum for 7 1/2 hours. It costs $7,000 an ounce, and there's a 5-year waiting list, and if you get caught with it in U.S. customs, you're shipped to Guantanamo Bay.

Of course, once you wax your car with it the result is not much different than a $7 bottle of Meguiars, but that's where you have to fly in a genuine hindu swami who will bring you into such a pure state of meditation that you'll swear it looks better, and was well worth the price...

Silly but that's the industry when it comes to wax.

Problem is later if you want to add another layer of Zaino, you have to strip the wax for Zaino to bond.

I find that the new Z8 Grand Finale adds the deeper look. Z6 spray seems to be the best at cleaning and it's use between each coat of Zaino adds more duribility and shine to it along with making Zaino Z2-Pro or Z5-pro go on that much easier.

What I would use in place of the Griots wash/wax is Optimum No Rinse or "ONR". This stuff you wash your car with, but you do not need to rinse. Just fill a bucket with it, and wash as normal, but do not rinse the finish. What some are finding is that using a good grout sponge like the ones sold at Lowes or Home Depot work very well in removing dirt w/o marring the finish. You have to rinse the sponge only, not the car.

Another good one: 1Z Perls wash. It adds more of a polymer sealant to the wash soap, so when yuou do rinse, it add more protection.

Zaino Z7 wash is very slippery stuff. I'll sometimes use it in a foam gun but it does not foam up as well as others can due to the nature of it. There's also a foam "bazooka" which is a foam gun attachment to a pressure washer which can mimic the same amount of foam soap you get from a autowash.

If you have Z8 and want that added depth, mist it on very lightly. Or if just cleaning some dust off, use the Z6.

That's my advise for those with Zaino on the finish.

Regards,
Deanski

Deanski

Today was a good day to break out some of the Zaino AIO and Zaino Fusion polish to do some quick touch-up work before a full detail gets started.

The ZAIO works very well, and find it just as mild as P21S Paintwork Cleanser with the added benifit of finishing with a Zaino sealant. Very close to Klasse AIO, but better effects than the Klasse and just as easy.

The Fusion is a mild polish used if you have minor marring above what AIO cannot remove. It's a nice finishing polish when used with the right pad or by hand and can cut mildly with a polish/cut pad such as an orange pad or other pads that fall between cutting and polish.

To finish, a quick application of Z-Clear Seal will make the ZAIO last months and months.

For those in the Connecticut/New York area, one of the members of Autopia who runs Executive Detailing in Rye Brook is having a "detailing day" at the shop on 4/5/08. A good way to learn and see what it takes to detail a car. Executive Detailing is also a Swissvax dealer for those who prefer wax. Let's hope there will be good weather!! Executive Detailing website: http://www.execdetails.com/

The thread over at Autopia is: http://autopia.org/forum/northeast-u...ml#post1085756

Regards,
Deanski