[TopeExplosivo]

Definitely get the ZFX, Z2, Z6 spray, and the Z7 Car wash. That's a complete system that'll keep you in business for at least 6 mo. unless you are really crazy about the shine.

I would disagree with CaptJack about the Z7 car wash. I think it essential. It is formulated to wash off the dirt and not to wash off the Zaino. This is important, because as long as you have the Zaino coating, you can just buff it up with some Z6 and get it right back to brilliant shine.

Other car washes may screw up your coating.

I went ahead and got the complete kit (the $80 one) with the claybar and the Z5 swirl remover as well. I didn't have to use the Z5 (the car was one week old and flawless) but it may be nice to have for the future.

When I did mine, the biggest drag in the process was the two washes, (the first is done w/ blue Dawn liquid to completely strip the dealer's wax off before the Zaino, the second is done with the Z7 carwash after the claybar) and of course the claybar.
After that, the process was really quick with the ZFX.

I got 3 coats done easily with one two oz. bottle mixed with 8 drops of ZFX (4 drops per oz of Z2) using the Z6 spray between coats.

A day-and-a-half later, I added 3 more coats, partly out of enthusiasm over the product, partly to work out the soreness and kinks in my shoulders and arms from the previous detailing session. I was so sore!

The car with 6 coats of Zaino is insanely reflective. It's the kind of gloss you usually see in Grand Tourismo, or some other videogame, where you say "real cars aren't that shiny." Mine is a Super White as well, I can't imagine what this would look like in a darker color.

 

[TopeExplosivo]

Originally posted by buggravy@Sep 6 2005, 01:53 PM
Thanks for the info. After cross referencing the Zaino site I have purchased and received the suggested products, and am just awaiting a free weekend day to dial the car in. It's Black Cherry Pearl so, like the color or not, I think it will be tremendously responsive to this treatment.

All that Zaino gloss should look really hot on that BCP.

A few more words of advice for best results that I forgot to include, but may be helpful to first-timers. Here, you'll even find my super-secret (well, not any more) Z6 hint:


RE: Z2/ZFX

Use a light touch when applying the Z2 mixed with the ZFX. If you feel like it needs more buffing/cleaning, you should have done that earlier with the carwash/claybar/z5/whatever, not now. All you should be concerned with is getting a thin coating of the zaino on the surface, so it shouldn't take much "elbow grease" at all. If you use the z6 spray between coats, it will be very slick and require even less effort. It seems crazy, but if you do it this way, you will be able to get 3 coats (the max recommended in a 24 hr time period) on your tC with just one 2oz. mixing bottle's worth. with plenty left over to do the wheels, if you wish. If you can't get three coats on a tC w/some left over, you are trying to apply it too thick.

Don't be afraid to use it on the black metal and even the exterior plastic pieces. It works great on them and protects them really well. The only thing you should try to avoid is getting it on your headlight/taillight lenses, ect.

Wipe the Z2/ZFX mixture on using straight strokes, going with the lines of the car in most cases, except on vertical surfaces (like the main door panels.) On those vertical surfaces, wipe up-and-down, not side-to-side.

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RE: Z6

The Z6 is great, but if you use it wrong, it shows. The key to using Z6 correctly is to NEVER let it sit and dry on the car. If you do that, you'll have to spray more Z6 on to remove the streaks it will leave behind.

How do you make sure it doesn't dry on the car?

1) Never spray Z6 on a hot car. It just dries too fast this way, and you can't get any quality buffing time out of it before it dries.

2) A little bit of Z6 goes a long way. Using the finest mist setting possible on the spray bottle, you can do an entire panel with one "squirt" easy. I have actually found it sometimes covers too much area in one squirt, and you find yourself scrambling to get a good buff-out before it dries. To cure this, I went to a beauty supply place my G/F goes to, and purchased a smaller mister/atomiser bottle that works much better than the Zaino bottle, IMO. No more scrambling around to get it all buffed out! You may want to try this hint yourself.

3) Use a larger, thick, soft cotton towel that you can flip, fold, turn, ect. to always get to a dry spot. You'll find that when you first spray it on and immediately start to put a towel to it, you'll just be kind of moving it around on the surface of the car. That's actually good, that's how you get it to cover a wide area. When you flip your towel over, you'll see it come off, leaving only the shine. Keep flipping/folding/buffing.

4) Make sure you use the Z6 spray on the tail end of your tC. As the owner of a white one, trust me, that's like a static electricity generator back there, and all fine dust, esp. brake dust, ect. loves to stick there first. Z6 is anti-static, and helps a lot. That's why z6 is so great to use on the wheels as well.

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Well that's it for now. I'll post more hints if I can think of any. Hope you enjoy your Zaino as much as I do.

I'm really interested in trying out the rest of the product line, esp. the new Z8 Grand Finale spray and the two leather treatments. I'll post a review of them if I ever get the $$$/time together.