Anything better than Zaino?
Registered User
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 128
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From: Florida
Originally posted by Kevin V
The same product will work the same regardless of the color. It is just that lighter colors don't give the same depth of reflection as a darker car.
The same product will work the same regardless of the color. It is just that lighter colors don't give the same depth of reflection as a darker car.
For lighter colors, yes you can't get a deep look, but you can get brighter shines. Synthetics (polymers) give that shiny appearance.
If you have a dark car (black, red, blue, green, etc), and you use a straight synthetic, the finish to me and many other enthusiasts, is sterile and flat. Carnaubas, and polymers that are designed to give the finish of carnaubas (Blackfire), give a wet, shimering finish with a nice depth to it.
I am a VERY satisfied Blackfire user. The Z stands out by itself, but giving it a layer of Blackfire really makes it look special.
I use products from Griots Garage. I have used various products in the past on my Maxima, but have found these to be far more superior, especially the Best of Show Wax.
Upon joining this site I was suprised at the amount of people using the Zaino products. I know when I tried it I absolutely hated it when compared with Griots wax and polish. I sent an e-mail to Griots asking them to explain the differences between their products and those from Zaino, I have attached there response below.
Quote:
Thank you for your email and your dedication to Griot's Garage! We feel that our line of products is above and beyond any other. The natural ingredients we use with the ease of application will make them a benefit to your paint.
I have to say that I am not as familiar with Zaino Bros. as we are with other companies, however, we have tested our products against all of the other guys and still provide our waxes, polishes, etc. The main thing that separates our products from others on the market is additives. For example, most companies choose to cut their waxes with silicones, unnatural oils, or whatever ZFX is, we use all natural yellow carnauba with natural oils to turn it into a paste (sine 100% carnauba is a brick). With other products you get what they call a "wet look" or a "glossy finish" this is the unnatural shine that you immediately see. Paint should not look like it is wet. Any Concours event or car show will look at your paint and the depth of shine. With a magnifying loop, it will be easy to tell that you have simply "glazed" your paint with additives or filled your swirl marks with a compound (rather than actually polished them away). A wet look is not "better".
The page of information I looked at for this company (which is their main website) mentions products with words like "gloss" in them. This should be a red flag when it comes to car care. No matter what product you choose, people tend to think that the glossier or "wetter" the paint looks, the better. This is untrue. Again, wet is unnatural but, more importantly, these products are named glosses due to the additives inside. These additives can clog your pores (whether it be paint, rubber, vinyl, plastic, leather, etc) and may cause your paint to spider web or crack. Luckily, these product lines contain products to fill spider webs! Not to mention, I got lost following the "application" process of this product line as the list of products and the process I was advised to follow was extremely long (too many products are necessary).
With Griot's Garage, you will get products that are as close to "all natural" as they can possibly be. Our waxes are yellow carnauba based (we don't even stop at the inferior white carnauba), our polishes are actual polishes (not filler compounds) that are water based to be gentle on your surface. A proper process with our products is to wash your paint and then clay to remove any embedded contaminates. Now address your paint and see if you need to polish out any swirl marks, after that apply a coat of all natural wax. That's IT!
With our Polishes, you will get a stair step effect (assuming you are polishing with a random orbital). These water based polishes are designed to "break down" during usage meaning, if you use the proper amount, you will remove the swirl marks from your clear coat (by manipulating the clear microscopically) and have only a slight dusting of debris left (which can be easily removed with a towel). Our wax will give you a very deep shine, a natural, deep shine. The list goes on and on.
The thing to tell your friends and neighbors is that our products are natural and are designed to work on my wife's VW jetta as well as they do on a 2 million dollar Ferrari. Our Wheel Cleaner is approved by BBS (wheel manufacturer for Ferrari, Lotus, Opel, BMW, VW, Astin Martin, on and on) which is an extremely difficult approval to get (and I believe we are the only company with BBS' seal of approval). Also, the winningest Ferrari in the world uses Griot's Garage products exclusively. The Ferrari that has won the most Concours events, best in shows, 1st places, ribbons, trophies, etc. uses our products exclusively (it's
the silver Ferrari you've seen on our cover from time to time). The fact that we design, develop, produce, bottle and ship all of car care products ourselves (we do not sell third party car care products) is the reason why we have been in business as long as we have and the reason why our customers have brought home as many awards as they have.
Again, thank you for your email and your dedication to our products. I apologize that there is not more "side by side" comparison information between our products and others. We prefer to have ours stand on their own (which they do well). There are a lot of people who enjoy the unnatural shine of a "wet" product. Once they read between then lines, however, and find that they are causing harm to the expensive paint that they are trying to protect (and the fact that the same company is selling them another product to cover those defects) they usually give us a try and decide to stick with us.
I hope this information will be helpful. If you have any additional questions please feel free to reply to this email, or call our Customer Service Department at (800) 345-5789 6am - 8pm M-F and 7am - 3:30pm Saturday PST.
Thanks again for your e-mail and have a great day!
I know that there comments are obviously biased towards their products, however I think there is some truth to his comments. I however will continue to buy Griots Garage products for my Z when it arrives in a few weeks.
Later
Upon joining this site I was suprised at the amount of people using the Zaino products. I know when I tried it I absolutely hated it when compared with Griots wax and polish. I sent an e-mail to Griots asking them to explain the differences between their products and those from Zaino, I have attached there response below.
Quote:
Thank you for your email and your dedication to Griot's Garage! We feel that our line of products is above and beyond any other. The natural ingredients we use with the ease of application will make them a benefit to your paint.
I have to say that I am not as familiar with Zaino Bros. as we are with other companies, however, we have tested our products against all of the other guys and still provide our waxes, polishes, etc. The main thing that separates our products from others on the market is additives. For example, most companies choose to cut their waxes with silicones, unnatural oils, or whatever ZFX is, we use all natural yellow carnauba with natural oils to turn it into a paste (sine 100% carnauba is a brick). With other products you get what they call a "wet look" or a "glossy finish" this is the unnatural shine that you immediately see. Paint should not look like it is wet. Any Concours event or car show will look at your paint and the depth of shine. With a magnifying loop, it will be easy to tell that you have simply "glazed" your paint with additives or filled your swirl marks with a compound (rather than actually polished them away). A wet look is not "better".
The page of information I looked at for this company (which is their main website) mentions products with words like "gloss" in them. This should be a red flag when it comes to car care. No matter what product you choose, people tend to think that the glossier or "wetter" the paint looks, the better. This is untrue. Again, wet is unnatural but, more importantly, these products are named glosses due to the additives inside. These additives can clog your pores (whether it be paint, rubber, vinyl, plastic, leather, etc) and may cause your paint to spider web or crack. Luckily, these product lines contain products to fill spider webs! Not to mention, I got lost following the "application" process of this product line as the list of products and the process I was advised to follow was extremely long (too many products are necessary).
With Griot's Garage, you will get products that are as close to "all natural" as they can possibly be. Our waxes are yellow carnauba based (we don't even stop at the inferior white carnauba), our polishes are actual polishes (not filler compounds) that are water based to be gentle on your surface. A proper process with our products is to wash your paint and then clay to remove any embedded contaminates. Now address your paint and see if you need to polish out any swirl marks, after that apply a coat of all natural wax. That's IT!
With our Polishes, you will get a stair step effect (assuming you are polishing with a random orbital). These water based polishes are designed to "break down" during usage meaning, if you use the proper amount, you will remove the swirl marks from your clear coat (by manipulating the clear microscopically) and have only a slight dusting of debris left (which can be easily removed with a towel). Our wax will give you a very deep shine, a natural, deep shine. The list goes on and on.
The thing to tell your friends and neighbors is that our products are natural and are designed to work on my wife's VW jetta as well as they do on a 2 million dollar Ferrari. Our Wheel Cleaner is approved by BBS (wheel manufacturer for Ferrari, Lotus, Opel, BMW, VW, Astin Martin, on and on) which is an extremely difficult approval to get (and I believe we are the only company with BBS' seal of approval). Also, the winningest Ferrari in the world uses Griot's Garage products exclusively. The Ferrari that has won the most Concours events, best in shows, 1st places, ribbons, trophies, etc. uses our products exclusively (it's
the silver Ferrari you've seen on our cover from time to time). The fact that we design, develop, produce, bottle and ship all of car care products ourselves (we do not sell third party car care products) is the reason why we have been in business as long as we have and the reason why our customers have brought home as many awards as they have.
Again, thank you for your email and your dedication to our products. I apologize that there is not more "side by side" comparison information between our products and others. We prefer to have ours stand on their own (which they do well). There are a lot of people who enjoy the unnatural shine of a "wet" product. Once they read between then lines, however, and find that they are causing harm to the expensive paint that they are trying to protect (and the fact that the same company is selling them another product to cover those defects) they usually give us a try and decide to stick with us.
I hope this information will be helpful. If you have any additional questions please feel free to reply to this email, or call our Customer Service Department at (800) 345-5789 6am - 8pm M-F and 7am - 3:30pm Saturday PST.
Thanks again for your e-mail and have a great day!
I know that there comments are obviously biased towards their products, however I think there is some truth to his comments. I however will continue to buy Griots Garage products for my Z when it arrives in a few weeks.
Later
Registered User
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 585
Likes: 0
From: Canyon Lake, TX
My problem with carnuba-based stuff is it breaks down in extreme heat.
I live in Texas and it's not uncommon for the thermometer inside my truck reading the INSIDE temperature of the cab to read 155+ degrees. Just imagine what the temp of my black paint is!
From what I understand, and from what I've read, canuba breaks down into goo basicly at about 140 degrees.
I live in Texas and it's not uncommon for the thermometer inside my truck reading the INSIDE temperature of the cab to read 155+ degrees. Just imagine what the temp of my black paint is!
From what I understand, and from what I've read, canuba breaks down into goo basicly at about 140 degrees.
Registered User
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 310
Likes: 0
From: nj
Rain X Ultra wax it's a little hard to find but I've been using it now for a couple of months and its excellent. I don't know if it's a coincidence but since I've been using it I have not gotten another stone chip on the front, I had gotten three of the first couple weeks but this wax is so slippery it might be tougher for a stone to get a bite into the paint possibly. I also wax the glass with it.
Given it a try and let me know what you think.
D Monte
Given it a try and let me know what you think.
D Monte
Registered User
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 43
Likes: 0
From: USA
I really think there are two questions you have to ask yourself.
1. How much time are you willing to spend?
2. What is your overall objective?(appearance vs. protection)
If you are willing to put in the time. I have had phenomenal results by layering carnuba wax (P21S, Souveran) over Klasse. Yes, it takes a while to go through the multiple applications, but the finished reseult offers the best of both worlds IMHO. You get the protection offered by Klasse All In One and their Sealant Glaze, and the deep, rich, wet-look shine of a carnuba.
For those of you who are of the school of "I want to drive it, not spend my weekend detailing it"....go elsewhere, this procedure is not for you.
For those of you who want people to look at your car and say "OMG, how did he get it to look like that?!?!" You might want to give it a try.
1. How much time are you willing to spend?
2. What is your overall objective?(appearance vs. protection)
If you are willing to put in the time. I have had phenomenal results by layering carnuba wax (P21S, Souveran) over Klasse. Yes, it takes a while to go through the multiple applications, but the finished reseult offers the best of both worlds IMHO. You get the protection offered by Klasse All In One and their Sealant Glaze, and the deep, rich, wet-look shine of a carnuba.
For those of you who are of the school of "I want to drive it, not spend my weekend detailing it"....go elsewhere, this procedure is not for you.
For those of you who want people to look at your car and say "OMG, how did he get it to look like that?!?!" You might want to give it a try.
souveran user here. imo, nothing beats a carnauba layer on top of my super black. my preference is a deep, wet-looking shine. zaino is a great product (just check out dr. bonz's brick!), but the zaino shine just wasn't the shine i was looking for (but u can't beat that zaino smell! 
) i'm the type who doesn't mind waxing my car every other week. souveran is the easiest wax i've ever used. just wipe on and wipe off, no waiting! just my .02
) i'm the type who doesn't mind waxing my car every other week. souveran is the easiest wax i've ever used. just wipe on and wipe off, no waiting! just my .02
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