Jim Banville

I'll be blunt... I want to make my car shine, but I don't want to get too "in depth" with lots of steps. In other words. I'd like it to be as simple as possible, but I want it to last. I'm not going to "clay" it or go through more than 1 step to wax/polish it after washing with blue Dawn. Will Zaino work for me? What single Zaino product can I use? Can I put it on EVERYTHING on the outside of my C230 sedan (rubber, metal, plastic [headlights], glass, "fur" around sunroof, etc.) or are there things I should NOT put it on. Since it isn't a wax, what would it do to glass, rubber, etc.?

thanks!
Jim

Dvinn

Zaino won't work for you, per it will take at least 2 steps 3 if you want it to look GOOD. Since there are no 1 step zaino out there your better bet is to go with spray on detailers offered by Eagle and others seen in stores, I've tried Eagle spray on before on a mini van and the result is pretty good for a spray on, of course no where near the amazing results of zaino.

Jim Banville

Hmm? One application of Zaino Z2 applied every 3 months or so won't look decent? Too bad. What about the rest of my question...can Zaino be applied everywhere, to everything?

Dvinn

One application of Z2 will take you at least 2 steps to do if that's what you are asking.

Yes, it can be applied on all outer solid surface (rubber and fur won't work, at least they won't shine or benefit from it).

Jim Banville

Around my C230's sunroof, there is this furry gasket. If I rub Zaino over it, will a white "haze" residue get embedded in it? Or do you all just wipe the Zaino as close to it as possible without touching it?

ima55r2

Any wax or polish should be just used for painted surfaces and for protecting the plastic lenses ...and zaino will leave white residue on rubber and wrinkled plastic. It will come off but not with simple wiping. There is no reason to use it on the gaskets and it will show on the furries.

It will look better with more than one coat since it can build up layers, but you don't have to do it all in one day or weekend. I leave my car outside and z2 it once a month, wash with z7 when needed, and use any brand of clay every once in a while using watered down z6. I don't see any reason to use a dawn type dish soap more than the once before the first application to get a clean finish.

It's really not that hard, but to keep it real simple, pick another wax or take to the neighborhood car wash.

AMG_Fred

sorry but there is no magical one step process. the best you can probably do is just use quick detailer ( any of your choice ) every 3 days so it just will never get dirty. why do you not want to spend one entire day making your car beautiful? its well worth my time and im not even a detailer. the looks i get when i pass by after just cleaning pays for my work. what are you looking for? protection? smoothness? deep gloss look?

Jim Banville

I guess if I had a Ferrari (my dream car), I would be willing to spend an entire day cleaning it, but even THAT would get old!

So you're saying that a single dawn wash and a single application of Z2 every couple of months wouldn't look better than a generic "waxing"? Thanks. I guess I'll stick with that then

Jim Banville

Does your car have a sunroof? How do you do the roof without getting the stuff on the sunroof gasket? And there are rubber gaskets in the gaps between the doors and the car body. How do you keep the stuff off of them?

ima55r2

The e sunroof gaskets are recessed from the roof plane so i'm careful with the wax application and I use rain-x for the glass. The door seals are attached to the door, so I just open them and do the body.

milllx

I agree...you drive a really nice car - seems like spending a day protecting it would be well worth it.?! why don't you want to do that? i know people who use zaino, and all it takes is one really good application one time (them repeated OCCASIONALLY) then just using the quick detailer zaino (z6 i think?)....that's not that hard. you could even get a buffer so that you don't have to do it by hand!

AMG_Fred

yea, my process would be a full clean one day and then just maintain it. you probably won't need a full clean like that for at least another year if kep and treated well. put you hand in a plastic bag and rub it over the paint.. do you feel bumps? to get rid of them use a clay bar. look at your paint at different types of light. do you see any swirls or are there any scratches? there are various remedies to that depending on the severity. is your trim started to look faded? do you want to make it look darker? after i removed all my brothers swirls from his black s-10. ( about 6 months ago ) all i do is wash the car for him every week or or so ( he onl comes home on the weekends due to school ) and the color is looking great every time.

Jim Banville

My car is 3 months old. No swirls. Nothing faded. I would NEVER spend all day polishing this car, nor would most people. I'm willing to do a 1 step "wax/polish". If you say 1 layer of Zaino Z2 applied every few months won't look any better than generic wax, I'll just stick with whatever wax I've already got on my shelf and keep my money in my wallet. Thanks.

AMG_Fred

hmm ok. just when you get swirls and such or come back saying, " i want a deeper gloss!" ill say i told you so and tell you how to remove them. but i say just use NXT paste wax. when done with that, just normal washes should be fine

Dvinn

1 layer of Zaino will ALWAYS look better than generic wax, but you will need to spend a few hours on it doing so...mostly likely an entire afternoon. A misconception on zaino is that people think they need to keep applying it like regular wax but they don't. I spend a day on the car and it's set for the next 8-12 month, only regular maintaince like washing and a wipe down with z-8 is needed in between and that only take about 1 1/2 hour for me every 3 weeks. So a day of time will keep the car looking new for a year is worth it, imo.

AMG_Fred

^^ true. but almost any good brand name such as Meguiars, zymol, zaino, turtle wax will be better than some no name wax found at "Big Lots" formerly known as pic n save. and you spend an entire day on one product? ive never spent more than 30 minutes on any product. well thats not including the wait time for wax to set in... but yea.with your car, just use any quick detailer weekly or whenever you see it dirty beyond what it needed, and use with a clean microfiber towel, and you are good to go.

Jim Banville

How does it take all day to apply 1 layer of Zaino and then wipe it off?

I saw an ad for a wax/polymer from Mothers called Reflections. If it is 1 step and will look about as shiny as multi-step Zaino, I may try it

r3v1ls

I know tons of people who spend a whole day cleaning up and detailing their cars. And some of them don't even have Benzes, they have old Golfs and stuff. I guess some people just enjoy the process, it's an enthusiast thing. My Zaino is on the way right now, i can't wait to wake up saturday morning and just work on the car :p . I always get a feeling of accomplishment with the end results, i luv it.

StephenK

Well put comment about the sense of accomplishment. I have recently put Zaino on all three of my Mercedes. One is Desert Silver, Black Opal and Black, the results were fantastic with each one. The look and feel is worth the effort. One thing I noticed was the impact of using the Z-8 spray. I used Z-2 on the Desert Silver and applied two coats with Z-8 between the coats. After the second coat I did not spray on the Z-8. A few days later I did spray it on and the shine was fantastic. Well worth the time and money.

MDCLS

Based on the tone of your posts,imho you are better off paying a few bucks and just have a detail shop wax your car.

Zaino imho is the best at durability in our desert conditions. I sure haven't found anything better and it is worth the time and effort.