Bill97Z

In case you were intersted........Zaino finished #1 in shine and durability in an independent test done by corvette fever magazine of polishes such as finish first, liquid glass, meguires, mothers, blue coral, polyshield, and more.

http://www.escape.com/~bcurrey/Zaino4.jpg

http://www.escape.com/~bcurrey/Zaino3.jpg

The Green Hornet

Interesting article, Bill. Just for fun, I'll play devil's advocate by pointing a few things out about it. First, Corvette Fever made a point of saying "the quality and smoothness of the paint has a lot to do with the ultimate gloss you'll achieve with any product" (i.e., if you have a crummy paint job there is only so much any wax can do). Their rolling testbeds were Corvettes. Late model Vettes are notorious for crappy paint. Being a former owner of two C4 Corvettes, I can attest to the fact that the paint job on those cars is about as piss-poor as you can get for a vehicle in that price range. Second, they are using a lab instrument, a "gloss meter", to measure reflectivity. Fine for an article, but in the real world I doubt if any of us are carrying Gloss Meters around in our trunks (and again, we go back to "how good is your paint"). Third, only 3 points separate the winner from the rest of the pack in gloss, and it was down to a few tenths of a point with water beading.

It's a win for Zaino, but I wouldn't go so far as to say that they stomped the competition.

Again, it comes down to whether or not you feel that the extra cost of Zaino products (double, and in some cases, triple that of the "second place" finishers...not including shipping) is worth those 2 or 3 extra points. You can go really nuts and buy a can of No. 1 Yellow Carnauba for $350 in a lovely hardwood box. If you have the extra cash and you're showing your Gull-Wing Mercedes, maybe. If not...well...

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2001 CL Type S, Nighthawk Black, Parchment Interior, Non-Nav, Rear Wing, Tint

EricL

Good points. I actually bought a number of products for the Acura and my wife's '95 Altima. I tried panels of the Zaino on my Acura, to see how different combos worked. It looked very promising. My last selection, prior to the Zaino was the 3M Imperial Hand Glaze, followed by Meguiar's or Mother's carnuba. So, I know what the cars look like with those products.

I do the full dawn, clay, Z1/Z2, and am now on the 4th coat of Zaino Z2.

I parked my Silver Acura between a new/detailed Silver MBenz 500 and a new/detailed Silver BMW 330ci and I ask my friend to turn around and have a look a block away. My car is so much brighter, than the other two cars, that it looks like a mirror.

Then, I have my wheels installed and some of the guys are walking around with solvent and grease on them. I notice some "streaks" and spots of grease along the side of the car (these guys were really dirty). I grab a soft cloth, and the stuff wipes off like it was on teflon.

The application and removal of the Z2 takes less time than my car washes. Can you wonder why people like the stuff?

If I didn't think his stuff was really good, I would have just given the stuff away to someone.

BTW -- 1 ounce of Z2 does the car -- that works out to about a dollar per application. I think I can afford it. I know my back thanks me.

(I don't work for Sal Zaino -- I really like his products!)

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2001 Satin Silver Cl-S w/ NAVI

• Mud Guards
• Wheel locks
• Toyo 235/45ZR17-97W* T1S Proxies on 17x8" SSR Competition rims (~48lbs lighter)
• (pre-SSR wheels time) --Gtech 1/8th tank 40F ~=6.1
• Zaino magic
• Sways, headers, CAI comming soon

[This message has been edited by EricL (edited 03-26-2001).]

Bill97Z

You really have to try them out for yourself or you will never know what those 2 points look like. Zaino works well, and its not that expensive. I can get 10 applications out of one 8 ounce bottle. You use VERY thin coats. All you need to get started is z1 and z2. I recommend the car wash too...so Z7. The polish layers with every coats, is easy to use, leaves no residue, and is VERY durable and slick...even after 2 months of car washes. It retains its gloss like nothing I ever used. If you are happy with oily carnuba blends that are dust magnets and having to spend every other saturday detailing your car, then stick with what you have...Use what works best for you! I enjoy driving mine more on weekends than spending a saturday detailing and zaino is the best product I have ever used and maintanance is a breeze........

The Green Hornet

I didn't imply that Zaino isn't good stuff. Just that the method by which the magazine article came to it's findings is far from conclusive or damning to other products. And BTW, I don't spend every weekend detailing my vehicle either. After I do detail it, a quick wash is usually all it takes to get it looking good again for several weeks in a row.

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2001 CL Type S, Nighthawk Black, Parchment Interior, Non-Nav, Rear Wing, Tint

volsfan0911

Got some bad news - the paint quality isn't any better on the C5's. MagRed & MY might be a little better due to the extra coat, but I can't say much for Quicksilver. Orange peel for days and you can feel some thickness variations with your fingertips . Another brainfart from GM




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when you're ready to succeed!

The Green Hornet

Not surprised here. I can't tell you how many guys in the Corvette club I used to belong to had their cars color sanded and buffed or re-sprayed altogether (by a non-GM shop, I might add). For a $50,000-plus car, paint that poor is absolutely inexcusable. That's why I'll never have that "great GM feeling" again.

You'd think, after 20 years or so of having their corporate butts kicked by foreign auto makers, GM and other American manufacturers and car dealers would have it together by now. Think again, and enjoy your Acura

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2001 CL Type S, Nighthawk Black, Parchment Interior, Non-Nav, Rear Wing, Tint

volsfan0911

Acura? Nah - I'm the resident Detroit Iron non-conformist around here My Z06 got here a month ago Yeah, the paint's crappy and the interior plastic cheesy, but 385 ponies, world class suspension & brakes plus a 6 speed? Couldn't resist Would get a TL-S though if I needed 4 doors!



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when you're ready to succeed!

nhousepro

Zaino's is a good product but not great unless you use it on a brand new car. I purchased the Zaino system several years back and after a few uses on my 2003 Maxima I was not all that impressed. I switched to Meguiars.

exceldetail

Im not a Zaino user (I actually turned down free products), but the competition is rather vague to say the least: finish first, liquid glass, meguires, mothers, blue coral, polyshield, and more, leaves little to be desired to begin with.
Green Hornets comments about prep hits the nail right on the head.............Also as our friend up North eloquently puts it, "if you wax dog crap, you end up with shiny dog crap".
Im in the middle with Zaino, neither good nor bad, it's all in the eyes of the beholder.
I removed water spots on a S8

yesterday, jeweled with white pad and Optimum Polish
sealed with UPP and was in awe of how it came out. $50.00 worth of stuff, and enough products to do at least 30 cars...........
My replies point is, dont believe what you read, see for yourself, and rely on experiences of trusted others.
Like I was telling my client yesterday, if I had sealed 1/2 the hood with a $1,000.00 can of Nuba, and the other with UPP, he never would have seen a difference.

Jesstzn

I wonder who that friend was?

Steven Bell

iTrader: (2)

I've used Zaino products since purchasing my car in 2008. The stuff is good, but I don't think it's good if you need paint correction....thus the comment about using it on a new car.

I'm going to try some other stuff-just out of boredom. I'm looking to better what I've got with the Zaino-if possible.

nhousepro

I just used Turtle Wax Black Box with my PC today. I'm fairly impressed with the outcome on my 06 NBP TL. I actually like it over my Meguiars except they need to add soft compound to the kit but I used my dark 3M polish for that purpose. The outcome was outstanding. I will post pics tomorrow. And it is not messy at all like many have said due to the detailer, polish, and wax being black in color. I did use gloves though.

Jesstzn

Your going to find the great results short lived .. the black is fillers and they cover nicely but migrate out and your back where you started.

nhousepro

That's with any wax. It's called "paint upkeep and routine maintenance". I wish I had a force shield around my car. Once again I'm happy with the results from this Turtle Wax Black Box product. I'm a Meguiars' fan by heart but was curious about this product.

http://img38.imageshack.us/i/dsc0002lv.jpg/

http://img44.imageshack.us/i/dsc0001nx.jpg/

http://img196.imageshack.us/i/dsc0006ci.jpg/

exceldetail

Some just fall short, period. Others excel in durability and user friendliness.
Cant say I have ever heard of this "black box" product though......

nhousepro

I will let you know how this product stands over the next few weeks/months.

Jesstzn

Not so .. not all waxes have fillers that hide imperfections ..

nhousepro

You are correct. But once again I saw this product and wanted to try it out. My results were outstanding as compared to my Meguiars products. If I was in the business of detailing a dozen cars a month or had clients who only came to me every 6 months then yes durability would be at top of my list. I'm your typical weekend warrior...cleaning my car every weekend. So in my opinion, to use a $1000 (exaggerated) wax every six months or $20-40 wax once a month...the end result is the same. In 20 years, if I still have the car, I will need a paint job!

CocheseUGA

Holy zombie thread, Batman.

keg1997

I'm a big Zaino fan- no it is not cheap, but a little bit goes a long way and the durability is fantastic. That is very impt for me w/3 cars, 2 kids, and 1 big yard to keep up to my wife's standars

I typically do a full out detail on the cars 2x/year. I typically add a 20 minute layer one other time during the year. Even with this low maintenance program, we often get compliments on the appearance of our vehicles.

I will echo the opinion that Zaino is not great for hiding imperfections. But I have Patrick at Excel to help me with that! I don't think that you have to use Zaino on only "new" cars, but you just need to have other products in your garage to supplement the Zaino stuff.