bhobson333

I just received my first shipment of Crystal Guard Quick and I'm applying it over 7 coats of Zaino. I decided to do a side-by-side comparison before I CG'ed the whole car, so I would know for myself if (and how much) it truly looks better. I'm open-minded here and I'm trying to be as fair as possible.

First, some background: Silverstone Track, delivered December 6th 2002. This car has never been washed by anyone but me, not even the dealer. I helped the dealer strip off the protective plastic and I did not let them wash it. I drove it home and immediately washed it with Dawn, claybarred, and started applying Zaino. It's a daily driver so it has a few rock chips etc, but the finish has NO swirls and is overall very impressive-looking with the Zaino (see my sig).

Zaino log:

12/7-8 2002 Wash with Dawn, claybar, Z5, Z6, Z2, Z6
12/15/2002 Wash with Z7, Z2, Z6
12/17/2002 Wash with Z7, Z6
12/27/2002 Wash with Z7, Z6
12/31/2002 Wash with Z7, Z6, Z2, Z6
01/26/2003 Wash with Z7, Z6, Z2, Z6
02/20/2003 Wash with Z7
02/24/2003 Wash with Z7
03/02/2003 Wash with Z7, Z5 no ZFX, Z6
05/09/2003 Wash with Z7, Z2 with ZFX, Z6


If I'm so happy with Zaino why go with Crystal Guard you might ask. I was out of Z2, it was time to re-order. I have heard so many good things about CG I thought I'd give it a try. I spent a little more money on CG than I would have for Z2, but not a lot more, and if it's that easy and truly repels dust (Zaino DOES seem to attract it) then I figure it's worth it.

The test: I thought about drawing a line down the middle of the car and doing half with CG, but then I thought about the possibility of a noticable permanent line down the middle of my car and changed my mind. I decided to CG one third of the hood and bumper and one front fender. I used top-quality painter's tape to mask the edges, then washed the target area with Dawn and went over it lightly with the claybar. As expected the claybar didn't pick up anything noticable, but I thought it was a good idea anyway.

I rinsed off the Dawn and left the beads of water standing on the car. I shook the CGQ bottle thoroughly, then applied it to the target area. I have heard that some people have had problems with hazing when applying CG over Zaino; the instructions also say that you shouldn't apply too heavy a coat of CG or you will have problems with hazing, so I decided to make sure I didn't over-do it.

CGQ comes out in a fine mist. I held the bottle a few inches over the surface of the car and moved it as I pumped. I guess I pumped about ten times (after it started coming out) as I moved it over the third of the hood and bumper and the front fender. I wiped over the entire surface with a clean microfiber cloth (about 1 foot square), just spreading it around. I probably rubbed the area over and over for at least five minutes. Then I hosed it off and wiped it dry with another couple of microfiber towels. I didn't have any trouble with hazing at all.

How does it look? I decided not to take any pictures today. To me it looks maybe a little better on the CG quarter but nothing dramatic, and that could be explained by the care that quarter got today. CG says that the process takes a day or two to settle in and give you its best look. I'll post pictures probably Friday. I'm planning to clean it up good Friday and then take it to the Emerald City Z Club's car show in Greenville, NC Saturday and invite comment without saying which side I CG'ed.

If anyone has any reasonable objections or suggestions as to how I could improve the test and make it more fair (or improve my CG process) I would be interested in hearing them. The only thing I can think of that I might have done to be unfair to the Zaino is the claybar and a fresh coat. If the pictures come out to make the CG look dramatically better, I would be willing to claybar & put another coat of Z2 on the un-CG'ed part just to be fair, but I'm out of Z2.

Looking forward to feedback.

The Brickyard Rat

iTrader: (1)

Holy Smokes. One heck of a job. I thought I was taking good care of my Zzzz but I'm a slouch by comparison.

If I e-mail my phone number could you call my wife and explain what you go thru; maybe she'll stop telling me I'm obsessed! LOL!

BillR

Since you applied multiple coats of Zaino already, you should apply multiple coats of CG. I found that the 2nd & 3ed coat really added alot more depth and a little better shine. Plus wait overnight after judging the CG shine.
Then drive it in the rain. I think you'll find the CG area just doesn't get dirty.
You will also find that the CG area doesn't get as dusty.

Your findings will be interesting.

I am 150% sold on CG.

Taya

I am just about to order wither the Zaino or the CG, Based on the comment above that the Zaino seems to attrac dustas opposed to the CG, I actually think I'll go with the CG and give it a try.
Here are my questions:

1. I do have swirls on the Car, what do I need to do before applying CG to get rid of them?
2. I am in Portland, can someone give me info where to get both Zaino and CG around here?

I currently have 1 layer of turle wax... ype I know... don't kill me.. I was not aware of such better products out there. only 1 layer though, should I remove it or I can simply apply over it few layers of either one of the above?

Bill & bhobson - your cars looks awesome! Now need to get my black a treat...

bhobson333

You might want to look through the main CG thread for info about swirls. I THINK that with CG you should do something about the swirls (have them buffed out) before you apply the CG.

Zaino has a version of their product Z5 that is intended to remove (or hide) swirls. I have used it for this purpose (on my other car) and it did a pretty good job, though I didn't apply very many coats, which would probably have done better. Here's a link for you:

https://my350z.com/forum/showthread....eferrerid=2166

Hmmm.... In that thread, VQRacer said that CG would take care of the scratches. I thought I had read the opposite. Maybe someone else who knows more about CG will chime in.

http://www.crystalguard.com

http://www.zainobros.com

Both are sold mainly online or mail-order and Zaino (if not CG) has some local dealers that you can locate on their web site.

Both products recommend that you remove wax first. A good washing with Dawn dishwashing liquid does the trick.

bhobson333

No dramatic difference today to my eye. Frankly, I'm not surprised; the Zaino looks so good, it would be hard to improve upon it much. A friend was able to correctly pick out the side with the CG. He said it's shinier.

At BillR's suggestion, I put on a second coat of CG today. We'll see how it looks Friday!

vice86

iTrader: (1)

So once you apply the CG...its putting a layer of something over the paint and if you dont take the swirls out of a black car and spray with CG, you wont be able to get the swirls out at all after?

bhobson333

My statement above was based solely on this post, from the top of page 12 in the main CG thread (Say goodbye to wax forever):

ares

iTrader: (2)

shouldnt dawn remove CG too? it needs too... otherwise if something gets scratched or damaged repainting would be a real problem.

salphonso

Not sure if im right on this but i thought i read somewhere that if you do 3 back to back coats of the Z6 at the end of detailing it will enhance it more each time so if you want to try to do like this order....Dawn,claybar,Z5,Z6,Z2,Z6x2/3 to start then on regular wash days do a Z7,Z6,x2 it may be alot more shiny. I have no experience with zaino but i plan on ordering and doing it in this order in a month or so. It also says on Zaino webiste the more you apply Z6 the more it enhances up to 5 times , im not sure if CG works this way at all.

bhobson333

I don't think Dawn will touch CG, but one of the CG distributors posted one time that they had a formula that would remove it. Not sure if it's still available, they posted that nobody ever bought it!

bhobson333

Well this has been either a very good test or a very bad test. One way or another, I'm just totally frustrated.

I CAN'T TELL THE DIFFERENCE!!!

To my eye there is absolutely no difference between the parts that have just Zaino and the parts that have 2 good coats of CGQ over Zaino.

The cynical side of me says that the CGQ might just as well have been a very expensive bottle of distilled water; I got absolutely no benefits from the CGQ.

The part of me that still wants to believe in CGQ says that I can get a shine at least as good as Zaino, with maybe some benefits in the "stays cleaner better" department, with a MUCH easier application procedure.

I just spent the last 3 hours washing and finishing my car in preparation for the car show tomorrow. I washed the CG part with the CG wash and the Zaino part with Z7. There was maybe a little difference in the way the sides handled the water (the CG side seemed to sheet it off more while the Zaino side beaded it tightly, as always.

I took a bunch of pictures and one movie. They are a pretty good representation of reality.

OK, here's the movie; a scan across both front fenders and the hood. Remember that one front fender and one third of the hood is CG over 7 coats of Zaino.

http://www.extremespeedonline.com/bh...G/MOV03329.MPG

bhobson333

Here is the hood. Can you tell which third is CG?

bhobson333

Here's the border of fender & door. Is one CG & the other Zaino or are they both Zaino?

bhobson333

How about this one?

salphonso

on the last pic the right side looks a little more shiny but that could be just the way the light is hitting it.

bhobson333

I will admit that Silverstone may be the worst color to test this kind of thing on, it is so neutral (that's why I chose it!). It is also true that it is very hard to improve upon what is close to perfection and my finish was as close to perfect (in the shiny department, anyway) as you can get before I even started with the CG.

I still am undecided. In the next week I will probably do my whole car in CG and....well....I'm not sure what I'll buy next. Comments are welcome! I will post any interesting things that occur at the show tomorrow.

mucky

I put the CG pro stuff on my car and it looks awesome. I don't think the car gets less dirty and it doestn't seem to bead water any more than a normal wax, but when it's clean it shines big time. I think you problem is that your car is so damn shiny already.
It can only get so shiny. What if you had your teeth whitend as white as possible and them another product came along and guarenteed whiter teeth. How could you tell if it worked on your alredy whitened teeth? I think if you had started fresh with half the car zaino'd and the other half CG'd you may see a difference.

bhobson333

Yes, that's the unfortunate part about this kind of test. The part with more light always looks shinier. I have tried to choose pictures with even light, but it was tough. You'd really be better off doing this kind of thing inside under completely even light.

bhobson333

I think you hit the nail on the head. The side-by side-on the-same-car was a good idea but my car wasn't the right one to try it on.

We need to get someone to try this: a new car, Zaino on one side, CG on the other. Black would probably be best. Can we get a car owner to volunteer their car for the trial? More important, can we get the folks from Zaino and CG to donate the product to conduct the test?