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I will make assumptions – that you have a decent supply of items required to detail and care for your car properly. Included should be at least the following items.

-One or two wash mitts. At least one for careful cleaning, and one for the dirty work. I recommend the Viking 100% cotton wash mitt
-Top quality, 100% cotton towels or Microfiber towels for drying the car, removing the polish and detail work.
-A selection of smaller assorted rags, cloths or Microfiber towels.
-A selection of Zaino Show Car Polish Products.
-At least one wash bucket, but two are preferable.

You need a good quality wash mitt. Your choice here can vary from using another quality towel, to 100% cotton wash mitts, a genuine sheepskin wash mitt, or a Microfiber towel. The purpose here is to have enough material so it holds lots of water and suds, while providing room for dirt to be held away from the paint while you wash it.

You need a either several Microfiber towels or a good selection of quality 100% cotton towels for both drying the car and removing the polish. This would be a few larger bath size, one or two medium ones for Zaino removal, and one or two hand towels to be used for applying the Gloss Spray. A very highly recommended brand is Royal Velvet by FieldCrest. They also produce a thicker, more luxurious brand called Charisma. Microfiber or cotton towels should only be washed with a good liquid detergent, not powdered detergent, never use fabric softener, and if possible they should be line dried. If you are unable to line dry them, use a clothes dryer but don’t dry them entirely in the dryer, removing them early and let them dry indoors. It is important that you get enough of them, and they are a size you are comfortable handling. The bath towel is approximately 27” by 50” and quite a decent size for drying. Two should take care of the average car. One important key is that you only buy white towels. Colored ones can leave dies behind that may adversely affect your finish. A suggestion is to also cut off the ends (selvedge) since that is rough, and usually uses a polyester cotton blend thread. You can sew the end back onto itself to reduce fraying, and if you do, use cotton thread. If you do not sew it, there will be some fraying, but not likely enough to worry about.

Some smaller, less expensive washing, drying rags can be purchased in bulk and used for areas where the finish isn’t a concern. Engine compartments, wheel wells and other areas that may damage your good towels are prime locations to keep and use these smaller cloths for. They can also be used for applying some of your detailing products. You can never have too many little rags that can be sacrificed for the really dirty jobs.

Your selection of Zaino products should include Z1, Z2 and or Z5, Z6, Z7, Z16 and Z18. I will skip over the interior products, as well as the “occasional” use, exterior items for now.

You can skip some of the steps I am going to include, and some of them are only done occasionally. You don’t have to use the clay bar, the Gloss Spray, or even the tire gloss. These are all extra steps to help you obtain the maximum results from your purchase of Zaino. I would recommend the clay bar for the first application and then as needed for future coats. After the initial preparation work, the cleaning task will take less time while continuing to provide amazing results and protection to your cars finish. Since Zaino is a system of layering, you can start up with any of the non-essential items any time you like.

Washing and Drying The Vehicle

If this is the first application of Zaino Polish products, you need to get the car clean to achieve maximum benefits as well as improving the ease of application. The same steps should be followed whether the car is brand new or several years old. I will make the assumption that you have decided “not” to clay the car. While it is a highly beneficial process to do as far as helping to smooth the surface by removing contaminants that washing may not “pull off” the paint, it is not mandatory. You can decide to use the clay bar at a later date, and it will not adversely affect the shine or finish of any already applied Zaino products.

One important “pre-step” is to be sure that your paint surface is not very hot. Washing is best done out of the direct sunlight, if it is hot outside. You can do it early in the morning, late at night or in the shade but do try and avoid those super hot sunny days. The cold water shock on your car’s finish is not good for it.

The first time you wash your car – prior to applying Zaino, you need to be certain that the finish is free of all contaminants and any previously applied waxes. To do this, you should wash your car using Liquid Dawn by Ivory, blue dishwashing detergent. It is very alkaline and will clean the surface extremely well. Do NOT make a habit of doing this as it is a harsh detergent.. Mix in a few ounces into a large bucket and wash as directed below. Do NOT mix it with your Zaino Car Wash Soap. Follow the same washing directions that you would use for normal washing.

Fill up a bucket with some water and when the bucket is about ½ full, add in a cap or two of Zaino Car Wash – Z7. Direct the spray of the water hose to create suds. If you are going to use the two bucket method, now also fill the second (rinsing) bucket with just water. While the hose is running, direct the spray over the car’s surface to blast off as much of the dirt as possible with just the spray. This also serves to “wet-up” the car and helps reduce friction from the wash mitt. To help reduce the amount of water used, you now shut off the hose and set it aside until you have gone over either the entire car or at least half and want to rinse off the soap suds to help prevent them from drying on the paint.

Dunk your mitt into the soap bucket, and without wringing it out place it on the roof. Washing back and forth is all you need to do – but do not apply a lot of pressure. The weight of the mitt, the water and gravity will probably take off all the dirt that a regular washing takes care of. Once you have seen that most of the water has left the mitt, and the area you wanted to wash is now clean, dunk the mitt into either your “rinse” or your suds bucket if using only one. Give it a good shake, or “rough it up” with your free hand to remove dirt particles. Continue these steps, working your way from the top to the bottom of the car, so that the water, suds and dirt that you have freed up will run towards the ground and you won’t be washing them back onto your paint. Rinse your mitt often. You can choose to rinse off the car when half washed, or wait till you have washed the entire vehicle. If you have a second “rough” wash mitt – likely a cheaper synthetic material, remember to use that around your wheel wells, tires and the really dirty areas. You don’t want to mess up the good wash mitt. You can also use it on your rims unless they are very sensitive or expensive – then I might suggest another mitt or cloth. A handy tip to reduce the amount of water that stays on the car is to remove the nozzle on the hose and hold it at a close angle to let the water run and not spray onto the car. It will sheet off more and leave less water behind to dry off.

OK, you have finished washing and rinsing, so now it is time to dry the car. There are many choices when it comes to all the various methods of drying your car, such as “The Absorber”, chamois, leaf blower, California Water Blade or using good quality towels. All of the above are fine.

If you have a California Water Blade, your first step after rinsing the car would be to start at the roof of the vehicle and wipe the water off. Start at the top and work your way down to the lower panels. This will avoid pushing water onto already wiped areas. Using the water blade will not get all the water off of the car. You will have to go over it again, either with your towels, chamois or the Absorber if you have one. As for drying the car with Microfiber or cotton towels, this is the easy part. Simply blot the car with the towels until the water goes away. Try to avoid rubbing or putting a lot of pressure on the towel, since this is the time when a lot of swirls get put into the finish. Apply enough pressure to keep the towel from falling onto the ground. Remember to turn it frequently to expose more dry material. Once you feel that the towel isn’t picking up any more water, it is time to grab another. There will no doubt be areas on your car that will trap water. These are often around side mirrors and trim pieces. Once you have figured out where they are on your particular vehicle you can pay a little more attention to them. Doing this will make things easier, since it seems like the water will only run onto the finish after you are done for the day. This will leave watermarks. Now that you have done the larger and more exposed areas of the car, don’t forget all those often neglected areas like in-between the doors, under the hood and trunk, under the doors, inside the gas cap area, and any other area that got wet and needs to be dried off. You may want to get some cheaper towels or rags for those areas, and more for the engine bay also. You do not want to get your good drying towels all covered in gunk from the wheels, engine parts or greasy hinges and latches.

Many people have used a chamois over the years and found it to grab a lot of water off the surface. While this is true, it does not have any place for dirt that might be on the paint to go when you rub over it. This may create swirl marks by dragging the particles around the paint. In fact, anything that touches the paints surface has that potential. Since towels have a thick surface, dirt particles can be drawn away from the finish and this will help reduce the possibility of swirling.

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One method of absolutely ‘touch less” drying is to use a leaf blower. This would work best with a gas powered blower, since a cord could prove to be both cumbersome and a potential shock hazard considering you are working with water. The idea, again, would be to work your way down from the top of the vehicle to the bottom. The leaf blower will also greatly reduce the amount of hidden water in places like mirror pods, trim pieces and grilles. It also does the job very quickly and has almost no chance at all of causing any kind of surface damage. All you have to do is be prepared for the strange looks from your family, friends and neighbours.

Applying Your Zaino For The First Time

Now, the vehicle is dry and ready to receive it’s first Zaino Show Car Polish treatment. The paint surface should not be hot. If it is uncomfortable to the touch, then it you may want to put it into the shade to cool off a bit, or wait till the temperature drops a little. Of course, depending on where you live, whether you have access to a garage or shade and what time of year it is, this may be difficult. Applying Zaino Polish to a really hot surface means you will not get the spreading of the product done properly, and this will cause you to use more than you need to as well as possibly lengthening the drying times. You will also likely have one of the all cotton applicators (#314) available to you. These are an excellent product as they are 100% cotton, thread included, and are a great size to easily fit most hands and apply the product well.

Starting with Z1 Polish Lok, you want to put very little on the applicator. Imagining you will only really be using the front 2 inches of the pad to apply the product, that is where you want to put on your Zaino from the bottle. Apply it in very thin lines, forming an “X” in those two inches. To spread the polish across the applicator work area, give it a fold. Take the two sides, and fold them together to lightly, “pressing” the Zaino into the applicator and spreading it out a bit. You do not have to press it hard, but just enough to have the two sides meet. You can see when the product has spread out. The first time you put Zaino on the pad and press the sides together, some of the material will sink into the pad. After the first time, most will stay on the surface to be applied to your car.

It is time to apply the product – and for optimum results there is a “better” way to do it. First you have to remember that you use very little Zaino to do your car. An average sized car will take from one to 1.5 ounces. That should give you from 8-10 applications per bottle. It has to go on very thin, otherwise optimum results are harder to achieve with minimal work. Z1 Polish Lok should be applied using a circular motion. There is no need to rub hard, simply apply enough pressure to spread the Polish-Lok (Z1) onto the finish and try to avoid leaving denser areas of application. Using a circular motion allows you to spread it out to the point that you can barely see it going on. On lighter cars, it is very hard to detect where you have applied it and I suggest working in a routine to remember where you left off. One “X” application should do the average car door, or half of a roof on a larger car. I can’t stress enough that you need to apply it sparingly. Old wax users will recall having to put enough on until it was plain to see on the surface. This is not a good thing while using Zaino. Due to its formulation, extremely thin coats work best. Trust yourself that it is going on, even if you can’t easily see it. Once you have covered all the painted surfaces DO NOT wipe off the Z1, You leave it on to allow it to “lock” the top coat of polish to the finish. Also, once you have finished applying the Polish Lok (Z1), you can immediately apply your choice of top coat polish right over it.
Please remember, that you only apply Z1 every 10 coats of top polish – or every 6 months. It is not applied every time you put on a fresh coat of either Z2 or Z5. Also remember that Z2 and Z5 can be used alternatively to achieve stunning results..

Applying Your Top Coat of Zaino Polish

Now that you have finished applying your Z1, or if you have previously applied it, are simply putting another coat of either Z2 or Z5, we can move to the next step.

When applying either Z2 or Z5, there are really only a couple of things to remember. Apply it just as sparingly as you did the Z1. The direction you use when applying it is different than when you put the Z1 on. Both Z2 and Z5 are applied using straight lines. On horizontal surfaces you want to use a front to back method. This would include trunks, hoods and the roof. You still put the polish onto an applicator in the “X” format and fold it over to spread it around. This time you want to move it back and forth across those flat (horizontal) surfaces using straight lines and a front to back (or back to front) method across the surface. A circular motion does not achieve the optimum results.

On vertical (all other surfaces) you want to use a “top to bottom” application process. The reason is that Zaino is 99.9% optically pure (reflective) and by applying it in this fashion, it will reflect the most light and thereby create the highest amount of shine you can achieve. It is all related to how light bounces off the surfaces of a car and how Zaino will promote the most shine through proper application to take advantage of the properties of light. For a more scientific answer, you can feel free to contact Sal Zaino at www.zainobros.com.

Now you have to wait for the product to dry. How long it will take is dependant on several factors including how much product you applied, temperature and humidity. It could take as little as 15 minutes to dry both coats, or up to an hour depending on the above mentioned factors. On average, in Ontario I have never experienced more than a 1 hour dry time. To test if it is ready to be removed, simply give it the finger swipe test. If it comes off the car and does not smear, then it is ready to be wiped off. If not, give it some more time. Humidity is the real killer for drying time – so try to keep that in mind. Also, low temperatures will increase the time required to dry. I have applied it in 5 degree celcius weather, and it has taken just over 1 hour to dry (if both coats are applied). No matter how long the dry time takes, the products is not any harder to remove. If you left it on all night, parked in a garage, it will still simply wipe off in the morning.

When it is dry enough to remove, now you can take another of those top quality towels mentioned on page 1, and begin to wipe Zaino off. You do not have to apply a lot of “elbow grease” or pressure to remove Zaino. Be sure to keep turning and folding your towel to keep the surface as clean as you can. It will only take one towel to do the whole car, and you will also notice that there is no “white residue” that is left behind by regular waxes. You can tell when the Zaino is gone quite simply by the shine and the “slick” feel that you are experiencing while wiping the towel around.

Now that you are done wiping – simply stand back and admire your work!

That’s all there is to the two basic items in the Zaino Show Car Polish products line.

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Additional Zaino Products

One of the next “basic” Zaino products would be Z6 – Ultra Clean Gloss Enhancer Spray. This is a serious time saver, as well as something that just adds to the luster of your finish. It has at least 4 different benefits and uses. It can be applied prior to using any of the liquid polishes (Z1, Z2 or Z5) to your finish to aid in a smooth application. It can be used immediately after wiping off your topcoat polish to increase the shine as well as cut down on the static charge that wiping your vehicle with a towel creates. This static charge will attract dust, so by using Z6 you can greatly reduce the amount of dust that will be attracted to your paint. It can also be used after dusting your car with a California Duster or similar item. You can apply a spray coat of Z6 to bring up the shine and save a lot of time. It will take about 10 minutes at the most to do an entire car. You will feel the difference on the surface of your paint, as well as see it. To apply Z6, take one of those small towels discussed on page 1, adjust the nozzle of the bottle to create a very fine mist and spray it onto a panel. It does not take very much, and in fact it really only needs one or two “squirts” to do an average car door. Once again though, if the surface of your car is hot, the product may dry up on contact. This can be beaten by either spraying it directly onto the towel and then wiping it on, or putting some Z6 into a different spray bottle and diluting it 50/50 with distilled water. This helps to “thin it out” and reduce the impact of a really hot paint surface.

Z6 can also be used for spot touch-ups of your finish. If you have an area of the car that got lightly dirty, spray on some Z6 and wipe with a soft towel. It will clean it up and shine it at the same time. If there is “grit” do NOT do this. That area will need to be washed. An alternative would be to also keep some Z7 car wash in a bottle, mixed with water so you can spray and wash the affected area first. After drying it, a quick spray and wipe of the Gloss Spray (Z6) and you are done. None of the above steps will adversely affect any already applied Zaino products. They all work together and are completely compatible with each other.

Now that the paint is taken care of, it is time to move onto other parts of the vehicle. Zaino Z16 Tire Gloss will not only shine and protect your tires, but will also work on other rubber or vinyl components of the car. It can be used on rubber moldings, weather stripping and other black rubber items on the car. I use it on hoses in my engine bay as well as wires and cords. It has a UV protector and no silicone. It will not sling off from your tires onto the paint. It is applied simply by putting some onto a cloth and wiping it onto the rubber you wish to treat.

Zaino claybar (Z18) is a must have for any serious car care person. It is used to completely remove any and all contaminants from a paints surface prior to applying any polish. It leaves the surface as smooth as glass. Clay bar can be used for spot removal of things such as dead bugs, road tar, brake rotor and most anything else that clings to the finish. It comes with complete and excellent directions in the package.

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Mixing ZFX™ with Show Car Polish
Each ZFX™ kit comes with a 2ml vial of accelerator mix and several 2 ounce mixing bottles. A single ZFX™ kit provides enough mix to accommodate 16 ounces of Zaino Show Car Polish.

Pour one to two ounces of Show Car Polish into a 2 ounce mixing bottle. For each ounce of polish, add 4 to 5 drops of ZFX™ (no more than 10 drops for two full ounces), screw the cap back on, and shake vigorously for 60 to 90 seconds.

While you get your towels and applicators ready, allow the ZFX™ enabled Zaino Show Car Polish to sit for five minutes so the ZFX™ can begin activating the polish. Give the applicator bottle a final shake for 10 seconds before using.

Applying ZFX™ Enabled Show Car Polish
Follow these easy steps:

Apply Zaino Show Car Polish enabled with ZFX™ with a 100%, made in the USA, cotton applicator. Use the polish sparingly. A small amount goes a long way, and you will be applying multiple coats.
Squirt a dime size dab of polish on your applicator and rub it into your paint using circular hand motions. Then, go over the same area using a straight back and forth motion on top panels and an up and down motion on side panels. Allow the polish to haze over (20 minutes is sufficient).
Buff off the Show Car Polish residue with a high quality, 100%, made in the USA, cotton detailing towel.
After buffing, spray the car with a light mist of Z-6 Ultra Clean™ detailing spray. Z-6 will help buff away any remaining residue and enhances the brightness of the finish. Using Z-6, the next coat of Zaino Show Car Polish will apply even easier.
You're now ready to apply your next coat of Zaino Show Car Polish enabled with ZFX™. There's no need to wait. Simply follow steps 1-4 above one more time. Use a fresh cotton buffing towel to remove each coat of ZFX™ enabled Show Car Polish.

Note: Apply no more than three coats of Zaino Show Car Polish enabled with ZFX™ in a 24 hour period. For optimum results, use your ZFX™ enabled polish within 6 hours of mixing. Use a fresh cotton buffing towel for removal of each coat.

Note: When you are finished polishing, wash the mixing bottle inside and out with a heavy concentration of liquid dishwashing detergent and thoroughly rinse. The ZFX™ mixing bottles cannot be reused if the polish remains in the bottle for more than 12 hours. After 12 hours, it is not possible to completely clean the mixing bottle. Throw the mixing bottle and any unused polish contents away after 12 hours.