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A flawless black finish.

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Old Jul 1, 2002 | 01:13 AM
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A flawless black finish.

I did a full detail on our 1999 Mercedes-benz ML320. I clayed, polished with meguiars body shop professional Dual action cleaner polish, then followed up with meguars mirror glaze #9 2.0 swirl remover. After that I washed with dawn and Zainoed the car (3 coats of Z5/ZFX). Here is what the car looked like before.
notice the specs and all the swirls
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Old Jul 1, 2002 | 01:13 AM
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here is after i completed polishing the vehicle, no swirls in direct light.
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Old Jul 1, 2002 | 01:15 AM
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here is the vehicle after I zainoed, Z5/ZFX. amazing gloss and slickness.
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Old Jul 1, 2002 | 01:16 AM
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a close shot in direct sunlight.
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Old Jul 1, 2002 | 01:17 AM
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here is a shot of the hood, it looks like a pool of paint. makes you want to dive in!
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Old Jul 1, 2002 | 01:18 AM
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here is another shot, looks exactly like a mirror.
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Old Jul 1, 2002 | 01:20 AM
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a couple more.
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Old Jul 1, 2002 | 01:21 AM
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last one.
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Old Jul 1, 2002 | 01:23 AM
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ok im hooked 1 more.
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Old Jul 1, 2002 | 06:20 AM
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Amazing AlBoston! Just amazing!
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Old Jul 1, 2002 | 07:11 AM
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Originally posted by DtS
Amazing AlBoston! Just amazing!
I second that. It looks brighter than the ones in a showroom.
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Old Jul 2, 2002 | 01:00 AM
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another awesome reflection
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Old Jul 2, 2002 | 09:02 AM
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Reflection

I'm jealous.
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Old Jul 4, 2002 | 02:10 PM
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Ali, awesome as usual!
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Old Jul 5, 2002 | 01:58 PM
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I have to agree! That hood shot where you can see the reflection of the trees and the sun is the best! You did a great job!!
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Old Jul 9, 2002 | 04:05 AM
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AlBoston, can I ask you a layman's question? Why do you wash with Dawn after claying, polishing and removing swirls? Doesn't washing with Dawn remove the fine work you did with Megiars?

Thanks,
JeT
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Old Jul 9, 2002 | 02:08 PM
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Originally posted by JeT
AlBoston, can I ask you a layman's question? Why do you wash with Dawn after claying, polishing and removing swirls? Doesn't washing with Dawn remove the fine work you did with Megiars?

Thanks,
JeT
You wash with Dawn because prior to a Sealant application such as Zaino or Klasse, you want to remove any oils left behind by the polishes. The oils will cause the sealant not to bond correctly. Dawn is a alkaline that will remove the oils from the paint surface.
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Old Jul 9, 2002 | 09:10 PM
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Bj, so it doesn't actually remove the polish, only the oils?

Anyway, may give Al's method a go cause the results he achieved are great.
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Old Jul 9, 2002 | 10:00 PM
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Originally posted by JeT
Bj, so it doesn't actually remove the polish, only the oils?

Anyway, may give Al's method a go cause the results he achieved are great.
The problem is the term "Polish", what does it mean. Every company has a different definiton of Polish. Some say polishes are abrasive, meaning they remove clearcoat, some say they are like a glaze that fills in fine scratches and swirls.The polishes Ali used were abrasive so therefore removed the swirls, not just filled them in. Since the swirls were actually removed, removing the oils through the use of dawn wont take away the "polish", just the oils left behind.

Hope That Makes Sense!

Last edited by bjwebster; Jul 9, 2002 at 10:06 PM.
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Old Jul 9, 2002 | 11:04 PM
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Originally posted by bjwebster


The problem is the term "Polish", what does it mean. Every company has a different definiton of Polish. Some say polishes are abrasive, meaning they remove clearcoat, some say they are like a glaze that fills in fine scratches and swirls.The polishes Ali used were abrasive so therefore removed the swirls, not just filled them in. Since the swirls were actually removed, removing the oils through the use of dawn wont take away the "polish", just the oils left behind.

Hope That Makes Sense!
Right on! All Cleaners or polishes all contain abrasives, some of these can range from very aggressive to very light abrasives. I started with a strong but mild cleaner polish to remove paint imperfections and swirls. on a scale of abrasiveness 1 being the weakest and 10 being the strongest, I would rate it a 4. The funny thing about polishes/abrasives is that they create finer scratches while they remove the larger scratches, some refer to this as hazing or hollograming. That is why I followed up with a very light abrasive, meguiars #9 2.0 swirl remover. This took care of all the hazing/hollograming and left a perfect surface, on a level of abrasiveness i would rate it a 1.5. The thing with the meguiars #9 2.0 is that it contains a "glaze" type product which enhances gloss and fills in minor swirl marks. This glaze is a type of oil which gives the car the wet look before applying a carnuaba wax. However, in this case I am applying a paint sealant (Zaino) so this glaze that is in the products creates a film over the paint, the Zaino cannot bond to this oily glaze so it makes all my work go to waste. However, when I use a dawn wash, the dawn dishwashing detergent cuts through oil and grease(the glaze in this case) and leaves me with absolute bare paint that is ready to take any type of wax or sealant. Hope that helps!
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Old Jul 10, 2002 | 01:21 AM
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Excellent! Thanks heaps for the explanation.

This Zaino stuff sounds fantastic. The only problem is that none of the auto stores I have asked have even heard of it over here in Australia. I don't think the Bros are distributing to Oz yet.

Because of this, I just went and bought a kit of Meguiars products. I'll list what I bought...please tell me if I have bought anything useless:

Gold Class car wash shampoo and conditioner
Mirror Glaze #9 Swirl Remover (They also have a thing called Scratch X here but didn't buy it)
Deep Crystal Paint Cleaner
Deep Crystal system polish
Deep Crystal system carnuba wax
Final Inspection #34

I think I went a bit overboard and not completely sure what everything is e.g. what does the paint cleaner do and when should I do it in their system? I'm just following the Meguiar recommendations. They didn't really mention a clay product so not sure if I need it. Will any of these thing harm my clear coat?

Thanks again for your help!
JeT

Last edited by JeT; Jul 10, 2002 at 01:30 AM.
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Old Jul 10, 2002 | 11:27 AM
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hmmm the deep crystal stuff is ok... but I wouldn't use the deep crystal paint cleaner by hand, it is just way too abrasive. You need a PC(porter cable 7336SP random orbital buffer). I know of a person in australia who uses klasse and pinnacle souveran, I also believe there is a Zaino distributor how could ship to you from hong kong. If you want further info or want me to talk to him, please tell me.
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Old Jul 10, 2002 | 12:42 PM
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what type of applicator....

what type of applicator do you use to apply the wax on to the car without causing swirly marks scratches? What type of "rag"/towel, do you use to wipe off the dried wax without scratching the car?
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Old Jul 10, 2002 | 10:13 PM
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Thanks Al,

I emailed Sal Zaino and he said that there's a distributor in Singapore. FYI the website is www.cazcomp.com

JeT
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Old Jul 12, 2002 | 10:52 AM
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Awsome pics man! It's like mirror paint.
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