Just started today on using the Zaino Kit. I washed it with Palmolive (the same as dawn). And then I dried it with a blower and towel. After that I started on the claybaring, but it felt weird doing it. I felt like I was hurting the car by putting more mirco sctratches. I kept telling myself it was suppose to feel like this, but it felt like the claybar did not pick up anything. Maybe alittle wax build up from the clearbra, but other then that the bar stayed clean the whole time. Except I kept getting this feeling that when I blew the car off, that dirt could have flew up in the air and now came down and landed on the paint and I was pushing it in. So hard to figure out what is right and not right. Did not know how hard to press down or nothing. Also, for the main reason I wrote this thread is that I wanted to know if it would hurt that I left the car without washing it after I claybared? I wiped it down good, but don't know if that is good enough. It started raining so it was to late too finish. Will have to wait till Friday. Dam, wish I didn't have to work.

 

After washing with Dawn, I didn't bother to dry my cars. I went straight to Claybaring. After all, you're going to be using a lubricant on your car and that's going to wet it again. When it's all done, you're going to wash it one more time - that's when you need to worry about drying it.

I assume that you're using a mixture of Palmolive and water as the lubricant and not just plain water, yes?

You don't need to press hard with the claybar. If you do it too hard, it will push out the lubricant and catch on the surface. Also, remember to "work" the clay occasionally to expose a new surface.

 

I used two caps of Z-7, and 16oz of water. I went slow across the surface, not pressing too hard because I was scared to damage the paint. Also, I used alot of lube when I did it. I was too scared that I would not use enough. I flipped the claybar around alot like the website says to keep a new surface when using it. I just am scared that doing this will add too the couple of scratches that I already have. What if you come to a area where the claybar feels like it is grabbing at something on the paint, do I keep going over that surface until it feels like it is glidding across, or is that just the claybar sticking to the paint from not enough lube. I lubed the hell out of it so I don't think it was that. Thanks.

 

It sounds like you're doing everything correctly. The only times I can remember it grabbing was when the lube got a little thin. You could have something on your paint that is making a "sticky spot".

If your car is clean and your not putting a lot of pressure on the claybar, then you probably don't have anything to worry about with respect to putting scratches in it.

 

Thanks for all your help. I am glad there are people like you out there to help people like me who don't know what there doing. I always seem to mess up with something. What do you use for your leather? For windows? And for that black pillar between the two windows (it has many scratches all over it)? Thanks.

 

You're welcome. There are a lot of really helpful members on this board as I have learned a lot on a number of subjects.

Leather - I use the conditioner and cleaner supplied by the installer (Classic Soft Trim).

Windows - I've used just plain water on a damp microfiber towel. I'm currently trying some Stoner's Invisible Glass and it seems to work very well too. After cleaning them, you can use a little Z-6 to make the water bead and run off of them. I have also used good old RainX on my windows for years.

I put a little Zaino on the pillars. Mine don't have any scratches so I haven't tried to see if Z-5 will cover them or not.

Another favorite of a lot of people is 303 Aerospace Protectant for all the plastic and rubber on your car. One trick to cleaning the doors, dash and console - use a damp cloth to clean. Spray the 303 Aero on a cloth then apply it to the doors, etc. If you spray stuff on that crinkled surface, it will leave blotchey spot or marks.

If you're going to really obsess over the detailing of your Z (and you should, it's not a bad thing at all), I would recommend checking out these sources of info:

http://www.autopia.org
http://www.properautocare.com