My Favorite Detailing Products

Great to hear of your positive experience, Maggie! Just keep up with the Z8 spritzes after your regular washes (with mild car shampoo like Z7) to make sure the Zaino sealant lasts as long as possible.

I prefer the ease of application/removal and protection of sealant, but good ol' carnauba wax still has its place. Sealant can look very shiny, but to the point of becoming plasticky. Carnauba is basically wax flakes -- which diffuses the light reflection a bit, giving the shine a "depth" that looks gorgeous, especially at sunrise or sunset (see AirKuhl's posted picture of a dark red Porsche). A bit more work and doesn't last as long, but may suit some better than sealant. However, some apply carnauba over sealant, which may give you the best of both worlds. My favorite carnauba wax is P21S, which you can get at half price at Harley-Davidson stores relabeled as S100.

 

i use p21s for wax, and poorboys sealant and poorboys soap with wax for the exterior and 303 for the interior

 

heh, when i was younger, i'd obsess over detailing the car. but, now, i'm LAZY!

personally, i wasn't too impressed w/ zaino considering how long it took to apply. and, every time i used my wiper fluid, it stripped it right off anyway. i have a whole rack of zaino stuff just sitting in my garage now.

w/ the prius, i'm going w/ Klasse... good enough.

 

Just got our prius III a week ago did a good double wash with dawn and then put three coats of liquid glass on her. That it just wash or rinse off as needed for the next year.

 

OK, after reviewing the posts in this thread I have determined that I am not anal regarding my car's finish. Sorry - just could not come up with another word... At least not as focused (better word finally came to me) to the degree that many of your are - bless your hearts. Mind you, I like a nice clean car and want to keep it looking almost as good as new over the years.

-I garage my car when home and drive only about 9,000 miles/yr.
-Live in Florida with the associated sun and tropical-like elements.
-When I first heard of clay bar here, I thought that's where Muhammad Ali went for a drink before his name change. Quite naive, but now understand and amazed that someone actually had the initial idea of doing that.
-I do use a car wash about twice monthly - it's a very good state-of-the-art. Touch-less using felt and light soap. Does a great job. -When I'm not near it I'll wash it myself.
-I've already applied a coat of Meguiar's wax (had it from my last car) and it turned out great.
-My red V came off the boat in Jacksonville port to the truck carrier to the dealer - so none of that railrust I've seen posted here.
-The finish feels ultrasmooth right now. No scratches or swirls and the finish is like new - because it is.

I'd like to keep it that way, and perhaps be only semi-anal.

I'm proud of MaggieMay for doing her thing - it turned out great. Just don't know if I truly want to go all the way as many of you seem to enjoy.
Any recommendations for a Middle-of-the-Road type of guy?
Do I need to remove the wax I applied to use a clay bar?
etc etc. I'd like to learn from your advice and experience.

Oh - one more thing - I applied black 1/16" pinstripe tape along the side body ridge. Looks great, but I see fine white wax residue on parts of the tape edges now and then. Need to use my fingernail to run across and remove. Any suggestions (besides removing the stripes?)
Thanks in advance folks,

 

Ahh - thanks Dean! I have to say that while it seemed overwhelming, the products were very easy to apply. It wasn't that hard. Since then I've used the Zaino car wash stuff and followed with a spritz of the Z8. (Look, I'm beginning to sound like 'them'!)

The car looks great except for the teeny weeny chip I found on the front bumper this weekend when I washed the car. Curses. I will swing by a parts dept. to get a bottle of classic silver.

The claybar was news to me too, but it made a big difference in the smoothness - the clarity of the surface before the polishing products went on. Note: be careful claying around the bumper applique and the other clear protective bits on the door edges. You'll see a little line of clay stuck along the edge. I used a toothpick to get it off.

C'mon Dean with all the cool mods you've done, you can spend part of a weekend makin' your barcelona red super shiney! It will be beeaaautiful!

 

Dean,

You might want to check out Meguiar's line of "ultimate" products, readily available at most auto parts stores, particularly the Ultimate Quick Wax (UQW). It's a spray on, wipe off type protectant with no white residue. It is so easy to spray on and take off, at first I thought it might be "snake oil", but it really does the trick. I can "wax" the Prius in about 20 minutes. Really great for the "between wax" detailing.

PC

 

Thanks to all you folks for your input; like being part of a family (that like each other...).

I'll need to assess all this info and take action. Gotta love the great experience levels here and no one is too shy about offering advice! My car will sparkle and thanks all of you.

 

DeanFL, my advice for you is to get a professional detailer to restore your car to the way it is now maybe twice a year. They can take care of all of the claying, polishing, and sealing work and save you from all that hassle.

What you can do in the meantime is to learn a sustainable car wash technique that minimizes scratches/micromarring and maintains the paint protection (such as using proper shampoo, quality MF towels, quick spraydown with spray-on waxes, etc) -- that way you can lengthen the time between professional detailing from twice a year to once a year (or longer).

Lastly, if you can't get the white wax off of your pinstriping after following stream's recommendations, try using some claybar and gently running it along the pinstripe.

ENJOY your barthelona red V!!!

 

I can't believe I'm even looking at this thread!! In addition to my new GenIII I have a 1999 Subaru Outback that hasn't been washed in about 10 years! My Prius will get better treatment. lol.

 

I am going to try the Zaino (bought the starter kit with wash, polishes and clay). Also, I am using DF all cotton microfiber towels.

I'll report with pictures when the stuff arrives and I get it done.

 

I ordered detailing products from Griot's Garage and am very satisfied both with the service and products.

 

It is a secret "guy" dream of mine to have a total Griots garage makeover. Storage, tools, flooring, etc........

Santa Claus, you listening?

 

I never ever heard of "claying" but I do now. Then I used a can of Blue Coral's Carnuba, ( I didn't have any Simonize) that must have been at least six years old. After two coats anyone leaning on the car fell to the ground and my milage picked up 3 MPG!!!!!! Sometimes all of that high tech stuff is just in your mind, but whatever works and makes you happy, stick with it.

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