OMG...ClayBar and Zaino = )

You must be in a nice climate. My garden hose is still frozen. No Zaino for me until I'm sure that there won't be any more salt on the street.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(bshef @ Feb 20 2007, 11:14 PM) [snapback]393783[/snapback]</div>

Seriously!!!!, I used one the week I bought mine and it felt better than new! gotta love the 65degree-ish weather thats just warm enought to wash and cool enough to wax in the sun.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TonyPSchaefer @ Feb 23 2007, 08:57 AM) [snapback]395118[/snapback]</div>

It's exactly what the name suggests: a bar of clay, specially made for auto detailing. It's similar in texture and firmness to modeling clay, though I'm not sure what the difference is. Anyway, it's for removing tiny pieces of debris from your paint surface that ordinary washing might not remove, and will do so without marring the paint. See this Zaino page for more.

 

I used this product:

http://www.meguiars.com/?auto-paint-cleane...m-Paint-Cleaner

on my white '98 Civic when I bought it used.

I was amazed at how much whiter that car was when I got done. The paint cleaner removed all sorts of gray grime, revealing the pure original white color.

Harry

 

This thread brings up a question. It's so salty here that I've been running my car through a touchless wash. I get "the works" since it includes an undercarraige spray. Trouble is, I think there's some kind of polish that gets squirted on my car. I thought that Zaino doesn't work as effectively on paints that are coated with other products and I'm wondering if I have to do something about this before applying my next coat in Spring. Anyone know?

Oh, and Zaino has a couple new products out. They sent me an e mail. You may want to check out their website.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Earthling @ Feb 23 2007, 06:53 AM) [snapback]395145[/snapback]</div>

That product is an abrasive polish and does not do the same thing as clay.

Polish a car without claying it and you end up with shiny finish with embedded contaminants. Polish it after claying it and you have clean, smooth, shiny finish.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tideland Prius @ Feb 23 2007, 10:39 AM) [snapback]395309[/snapback]</div>

Polishing with an abrasive polish won't remove those embedded contaminants either, unless you use a very heavy cutting compound and take a lot of you clearcoat off at the same time. Claying, followed by the least abrasive polish that will restore your paint is much safer and will leave much more of your clearcoat intact.

I've been using clay since the early '90s when it was first used in automotive finish maintenance and can tell you that it does not strip wax when properly applied. The clay floats on a thin layer of lubricant and should not even touch the paint. If you spray the finish with a water/isopropyl alcohol mix to clean off the residue and examine the finish, that will remove wax and many sealants. When trying to explain how it works, I use the analogy to a bikini wax (ask your wife/sister/some female to explain it if you don't know what that is). This is irrelevant though, since any car that needs claying should also be polished and then sealed (or waxed). Going from claying directly to an LSP (last step product) application without polishing is a strictly amateur process, but that's the target for Zaino's instructions.

I use clay lubricant because the clay lasts longer with it, but the lube is nearly as expensive as the clay itself, so I'm probably not saving any money. It might even be cheaper to just throw the clay out sooner and use diluted car wash soap as a lubricant.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SSimon @ Feb 23 2007, 02:01 PM) [snapback]395327[/snapback]</div>

Darn, just when I thought I understood all of the Zaino products, they toss some more into the mix. If I buy it now I'm gonna have to stare at it on the shelf until it gets warm. I've been using a touchless car wash to get the salt off after a snowstorm, so I'll have to break out the claybar in the spring.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(bshef @ Feb 24 2007, 10:36 PM) [snapback]396102[/snapback]</div>

Way to not answer the question. Your answer is what I find most annoying about clueless Zaino noobs. They wipe on a couple coats of sealant and now they think they're qualified to answer a question about car detailing. The poster clearly described scratches and swirls that require a machine-applied, abrasive polish for removal, and you tell him to wipe on some Zaino. :angry:

Zaino "polish" is actually sealant. It's not going to remove any swirls or scratches. And if you'd ever used Z5-Pro (I've gone through two bottles of it since it replaced Z5), you'd know that its filling power is very minimal. Their swirl remover is actually a polish by the commonly accepted definition.

IMHO, the best automotive polishes available are made by Menzerna in Germany. What you probably want is their "Final Polish II", or if you want to splurge, their P0106FF polish for ceramic clearcoats (like on the new Mercedes-Benzes) works incredibly well on non-ceramic clearcoats. It's also sold as Blackfire "Polish for Scratch Resistant Clearcoat".

These must be applied by machine. You can use a Porter Cable 7424 orbital polisher - it's easy to use and there is no possible way for you to damge your paint with it. However, I've come to the conclusion that it is strictly a tool for amateurs, and have pretty much switched to using a circular polisher almost exclusively (which definitely has the ability to burn your paint when used by an unskilled operator). It's a lot faster and finishes up a little bit cleaner than an orbital. But I got by with the PC 7424 for a few years before graduating to the circular polisher.

 

You might need something a little stronger than Final Polish II - hard to say from your description. But most cars that have gone five years without being polished by machine could probably stand a more agressive polish. So you might want to have some Menzerna Intensive Polish and an orange Lake Country light cutting pad in addition to the Final Polish II/P0106FF and a white Lake Country polishing pad. Start with the FPII on one panel and if it isn't going fast enough switch to the IP. I happen to prefer Menzerna Polishes, but others have had good results with polishes from Optimum, Poorboy's, Meguiar's, and many others. I don't use Zaino Z-PC because no one polish is suitable for all jobs - typically you'd need three polishes to handle original paint (heavy cut, light cut, and finishing), and more than that if you work on repainted cars.