So, call me crazy, but I made the trip from New Haven, CT to Howell, NJ yesterday. It's about a 2.5 hr drive, depending on traffic. I plan on waxing the car today, and I didn't think that mailing Zaino to me would get it here in time. Besides, I've still got some break in miles to go.

Here's a pic of the drive down, some traffic on the George Washington Bridge

 

Here's a pic of Shore Motorsports

 

A father/son duo inside. Nice guys, very helpful.

 

The Good Stuff on display.

 

One last pic on Andrews Road in Greenwich. It was fun driving with the rich snobbies, saw an Aston Martin and a few older Ferraris. There's a Porsche, Ferrari, Mini, Audi, BMW, Benz and Lexus dealer in Greenwich, but I don't think they're lucky enough to have a Nissan dealer.



I'm off to Zaino!

 

Gee, I thought I was dedicated to getting the Zaino on my car. You officially win the prize for true dedication!!! Okay, the drive was an added bonus! Nice pics.

 

At first I thought the father was that little guy sitting on the counter.

They are really good on shipping. I mailed out my order last Thursday and received the package this Wednesday. I know how I'll be spending my weekend if the weather gets better out here.

 

I'm finished! Took about 3.5 hours. I called up my dealership and asked if it would be alright if I waxed my car on their lot. See, I live in an apartment and don't have access to a hose. I figured, that in exchange for their hose, they'd have my Z sitting on the lot for a few hours for any passerby's to look at. I'm pretty open about the car, I don't mind people sitting in it and looking around. Sounds like a pretty good deal huh? Especially when you think that they've had 3 cars delivered so far, and they've all left the lot that same day. Well, my salesman talks to the manager and NO I can't come. "It's not a good day, maybe next week." Well, sorry guys, it's today or never. Oh well, a good opportunity for the both of us blown. So, I ended up at one of those pull-up bays where they charge you $3 for 3 minutes of water. Needless to say, I think I used about $9.

So, my process....definitely been covered before, but not by me.

Dawn wash - very effective at removing waxes/polishes, leaving just the clear coat behind. You know, as a kid, my dad and I used to use Dawn on the Civic, for EVERY wash. Needless to say, the paint didn't last.

Clay Bar - lubricated with a little Z-7 (Zaino car wash) mixed with water. About a half lid full of Z-7 and a cup of water. I'm not good with ounces, more about that later. I don't think a clay bar on such a new car does all that much, ie. I couldn't tell much of a difference. I'm not sure if I was doing it absolutely correctly, basically, I used it like a piece of soap. Rub back and forth.

Re-rinse - Lots of claybar streaks which came off with some higher pressure. Considered rewashing with Z-7, but didn't seem to need it.

Dry - I used a combo of The Absorber and a cotton towel. Worked okay, few water spots. I would suggest washing your towels before you use them, cuts down on the lint.

Z-5 with ZFX - Mixing was somewhat difficult (refer to lack of understanding of ounces). The little bottle that accompanies the ZFX is exactly 2 ozs. Wish I had known that. Fill the little bottle with 2 ozs of Z-5, then add about 8 drops ZFX. Shake vigorously. I realize now that I was using about 0.75 oz of Z-5 with 4 drops ZFX. Too much ZFX, too little Z-5. Put a few drops (dime sized) on a cotton towel of the #314 applicator (cotton towel wrapped around glorified sponge) and apply to car. You should see some slight hazing. The 2 oz should be enough for a Z. I applied Z-5 to the lights. Figured it's non-porous. You may need a few #314's as mine got dirty around the bottom parts of the body walls. I guess a better DAWN wash would have helped. After a few minutes, buff off with cotton towel.

Z-6 Gloss Enhancer - It's a spray on liquid, which smells very similar to those plastic balloons that came in tubes and you used little straws to blow up. Remember those? They were stiff enough to throw around a little. Anyways, I thought those were banned secondary to cancer issues....possibly not. The Z-6 is not supposed to dry onto the car. I used one corner of a towel to apply, another to dry. By the way, it works quite well on windows, but they have to be clean first.

Z-2 with ZFX - Again, same mixing issues. Next time I'll get it straight. I did improve by using more Z-2, probably almost 2 oz. Apply and remove the same way as Z-5.

Z-6 - Second coat.

At this point, you could continue with the Z-5, then Z-2 series, or put on a bunch of coats of Z-5 followed by the final coat of Z-2. I didn't think the Z-5 was doing a whole lot, plus, I wanted to finish, so I stopped here. I think the Z-5 wasn't doing much because I barely put any on. Maybe another coat tomorow. It's also a light color (Chrome Silver) and Z-5 may be better on something like Daytona Blue.

Lessons learned? Use the correct amount of polish. Buy lots of towels. I used four and could have had another, seeing as I haven't cleaned the wheels yet. Have a friend (sucker) help. At least you have somebody to talk to. Preferably a short friend, so he can do the bottom parts and your back and legs won't hurt as much. Buckets.....lots of buckets. You can turn one upside down so you have something to sit on in case your friend doesn't show up and you end up cleaning the lower panels yourself. Shade, and water.

Results - I don't have any pics yet, but I'm fairly happy. It's not quite as "deep" as advertised, but again, Chrome Silver may not achieve that, and I only put on about a half a coat of Z-5. The car is much smoother and pretty reflective. More tomorrow after more coats.

 

If you want a deeper shine you wil have to add more coats or top it qith a qualiyty wax. I did this with Blackfire and P21S wax on my silverstone and it turned out great.

 

Good write-up Andrew

thanks!

And I do remember those little straws and the balloons. I'm going to have to find some Z6 to sniff just for the memories!

 

meguiars is also excellent i use it and you get and awesome deep gloss
as for the clay bar it will pick up any paint residue

but asides from that its really not nessacery on a new car.

 

Yeah, I figured I had to put on more coats. I just didn't have the time today. I'll try tomorrow.

 

why did you use z5 instead of z2.. isnt z5 to get rid of swirl marks? i think the z2 will give you a better shine as well. i have no experience with this but i think thats what their website says.

 

Funny how smells can be interpreted differently. I know exactly what you mean by the plastic goop and the straws but I have always felt that the Z6 smelled like marichino cherry juice! Hard to believe we have such different noses!

 

303 Vinyl/Rubber protectant smeels like socks! Not when you apply it (thank god) but if you sneff the bottle...

Klasse smells really bad.

Pinnacle Souveran smeels so good you want to eat it. Mmmmmm, car wax.

Blackfire smeels like a pina collada.

New Car spray doesn't smell like a new car.

 

Yeah, I think the Z-5 was probably unneccesary, seeing as the car doesn't (shouldn't) have any swirls yet. I guess I put it on because I really had no idea what I was doing.

 

Rouxeny, you didn't do anything wrong, Z5 is a glaze, meaning it just fills in swirls if they are present. In fact, some people like using Z5 instead of Z2 because they think it looks deeper.