I thought it might be informative for some if I published the results of my experiment with Zaino. I recently purchased a complete Zaino kit and, while dreaming about my soon-to-arrive Z, I gave my 98 Accord (Dark Emerald Pearl) the Zaino treatment: Dawn, claybar, and a couple of coats of Z5.

My Accord must have been machine-buffed or washed with a dirty rag by some yahoo at the dealership because, although it had 6 miles on it when I picked it up, it has always had light scratches all over the paint. The first coat of Z5 did amazing things to the finish, deepening the look of the paint and, if not eliminating them, greatly reducing the visibility of the swirl marks. The second coat of Z5 improved it more. I intend to continue with the Z5 and start mixing in Z2 occasionally.

Anyway, here are the pictures. I started out taking pictures because I thought I was going to have a really neat before/after comparison to show. Unfortunately, the before/after pictures are not nearly as dramatic (to my eye, anyway) as the difference in reality. I am VERY pleased with the results of the Zaino treatment.

Here is the car after the wash with Dawn, just to give you an idea of what I was starting with:

 

Here's just another example:

 

Now it gets good. In the rest of the pictures, I tried real hard to focus on the surface of the paint and show the scratches. I'll show the same picture before and after two coats of Z5:

 

Here's an attempt at the same shot after Z5

 

Here are my garage lights reflected in the hood, before Zaino. Note that the straight line angling up to the right of the light is the hanger-chain, not a scratch.

 

Here is an attempt at the same shot after Zaino. This isn't nearly as dramatic in pics as it is in person, but if you look at the scratches you can see the difference.

 

OK, last comparison. Here is a close-up of above the driver's door-handle before Zaino:

 

Here's the same driver's door handle after Z5

 

As you can see, there are a LOT of scratches in this paint if you look closely enough. I'm not sure where they came from, but I remember that they have always been there. Two coats of Z5 didn't completely solve the problem, but I am very pleased with the results. I will continue to rehabilitate this finish with Z5.

 

An abrasive? I thought (after I was done with the whole thing) that I would have been best to have it compounded before I started.

 

VQ since you are a buddy of the amazing invisible Tako, are you an investor in that Chrystal Guard or what? We heard all kinds of promises about that stuff and like a lot of other things around here, it never seemed to materialize.