Hey all, I am new to the forum, and this is sort of my area of expertise! I detail up here a lot and after not seeing a how to about zaino, I figured I would give it a go!

Products: Z1(or polish-lok, which is even better and I highly recommend)
Z2 Pro
Z5 Polish
Z6 gloss enhancer
Z7 show car wash
Your Clay bar choice, this varies, but I use the special off of autogeek!

Process:
Step One:
Wash down the vehicle with show car wash. I like to use 3 caps, in a big bucket of warm water, and a sheepskin mit. make sure that you dont swipe from the bottom of the bucket if you don't have a grit guard!

Step Two:
Pick an area of the car to start, and go about claying the car. Mist with solution so that the surface is slick, but not overly soaked, and go about side to side, up and down, and then circular. make sure to palm the clay and make sure that you constantly "renewing" the clay's surface. Wipe down and more on to the next area.

Step Three:
Quickly wash the vehicle down again and dry it all off.

Step Four:
I like to tape the vehicles off so I dont get anything on the trim and end up making more work for myself. After this I like to look at what I have to work with. If you are swirled, it is important to realize that Zaino, and any other polish is NOT going to take these away. They will "fill" the swirls in and you will end up with more or less just a bandaid over the issues of the vehicle. If there are swirls, I go about that, if not, scroll down to step five.

SWIRL REMOVAL
I use the pinnacle XMT series, but there are many other excellent products out there that will do a great job for you! Always start out with the lightest pad possible, and then if needed get a little more aggressive. The idea here is NOT to go quickly with your random orbital. Move along the surface at a steady, but slow rate. Back and forth, up and down, and then I finish in a figure 8 pattern. Personal preference, and it tends to work well for me. You can tell when you should stop as the product begins to haze and if you swipe it with a finger it will come off without streaking. if there are some more swirls then move on to a harsher pad, or a stronger product.


Step Five:
Z-1, or mix Z2 with ZFX, and apply over surface. you will use less product applying by hand, but others apply with a random orbital polisher on 2-3. Let the product dry, and test it again using the same method as the swirl removal products.(swipe with finger and see if it smears). Once dry, remove with microfiber towel.

Step Six:
Spray down with Z-6, and wipe dry with a new micro fiber towl. Check your surface and see how you are doing. If the swirl removing was done properly you should usually be fine to moveon to the Z-5, but if not, then another coat of Z-2 Pro using the same method is always great!

Step Seven: have a beer and relax, I KNOW your tired!

Step Eight:
Apply a coat of Z-5, using the same method as the Z-2 Pro. I tend to use a finishing pad on my random orbital, and give it a mist of the z-6 spray to moisten it up and make it so it doesnt eat so much product! A little zaino DOES go a long way, so keep that in mind. leave this on for as long as you can justify, the longer the better! Always leave 24 hrs between coats of z-5, to allow the first coat to fully cure.

Step Nine:
Remove with another clean microfiber towel, and spray down with z-6 gloss enhancer. I swear, the glass enhancer truly does a great job of not only making it reallyglisten, but it has anti-static qualities to it which keeps that dust off the car!

Step 10personal, and i know a lot of other detailers that do the same)
Top the vehicle with a high end carnuba. I like to use Zymol or Pinnacle Souveran. These are wipe on wipe off products, so one panel at a time and then wipe off with clean microfiber towel! This gives the paint a MUCH deeper glow, and really add's to the wet look that zaino gives the car! This is the of both worlds, and this combination will last a LONG time!

Cheers all, hope this helps!

Few Pics Of Family Vehicles Done Up In this Manner

 

Those cars look great! But aren't they new? the paint should look great with them being that new. I was hoping to see what Zaino could do to a paint job that is about 5-7 years old. Have you done anything like that? If so post a few of those pictures... If you can make them look like a NEW car's paint, then you are doing a great job. Thanks for the detailed procedures. BE

 

Nice post VR... Z is a pretty good product - no doubt there.

 

Check out this link here for some more of my work!



I dont have any final pics of the Tropic Green car, but you can see what the diff in swirl removing was, and the Toredor Red SVT Contour was completely done, and I think looked great! Few more pics to come soon

 

Thanks very much, RockPick. Its all in the prep IMO, a great product just add's even more to it!

 

You dont use a two bucket system?
-Patrick

 

I use a grit guard and only use the two bucket system on dirtier vehicles. You shouldnt have to use the two bucket system if you properly rinse a vehicle in the beginning anyways

 

ANYTHING that you can do to minimize the introduction of swirls is, in my opinion, something that you should do -- and, in fact, go way out of your way to do. Scratch/swirl prevention is much easier than removal.

 

Its true, but I have yet to have ever had a problem. The cars I deal with(jags, mercs, vettes, porsches) are all baisically just dusty. The spray down, removes most of the grit, and the following soap does a great job. I use the two bucket on all customer cars already. My cars just dont get that dirty...its a wash every 2 days....seriously... big nerd = me

 

while I understand what you are saying.. just remember, when you are giving advice here, or any other online forum, that not everyone reading it has your experience and knowledge, and while you have the ability to correctly judge when you can get by with a shortcut. a lot of the people here are beginners, and don't yet have that ability ..


cars look good, btw .. never been a big user of Zaino, but it sure has the ability to make things pop.

 

Very nice job! Glad to see another Zaino user!

 

I am just in the process of making a video, and I plan to post it up in here when I get a chance. It will show the baisics of swirl removing, pad selection, compound selection, clay bar use, wash techniques. The whole bit, this will hopefully help anyone that hasnt done this before and is interested in learning!

Thanks for the compliments btw

 

Cars look great. If only I had the time to wash every 2 days...LUCKY...

While I'm thinking about it, do any of Z products fair well in combination with Megs, etc? (ie: I have plenty of Meg.s paint prep stuff, but when I buy wax again, can I use the Zaino wax (I believe it's Z-5) with the same long lasting results as if I used all Zaino? If not, would it be detrimental? And in terms of ease of use, how does it compare to NXT?

Thanks all.

 

Heres a Zaino detail on my F150s 6yr old paint...( higher resolution photo available )




and heres a Zaino detail on my F250s 7yr old paint

 

f-150sport03: You can do the paint prep and everything with whatever product it is you want! Zaino will make it shine! I recommend that you buy the z-1 or zfx though, even if you are just using z-5. It bonds the product with the paint and makes the product last longer.

WS6: Great results, I love the wet look of zaino, especially when you top it with a carnuba to add the deep gloss and pop to the paint!! It is the BESTcombination in the world!