MB///HRV

With certain waxes being good for dark and light colors. Any opinions on what the best polish & wax is for brilliant silver?

500AMG

I like Zaino's Z2 a lot for silvers. It provides a great shine and nice reflectivity, which IMO silver needs. For dark colors (closer to black), carnuba waxes are a must. Darks are pretty reflective as it is and need warmth and depth IMO. I like P21s/S100 or Pinnacle's Soveran for dark colors.

ElDiabloJoe

Ditto the comments from 500AMG for the Zaino Z2 on the Brilliant Silver E, stuff looks great! Especially after the 3rd or 4th application or more! The more coats, the better. In time, the car will have a bunch of coats. PM Vraa if you wanna see what a dozen or more coats looks like on his black SL

EDJ

MB///HRV

Excellent! Thanks for the help guys.

500AMG

No problem! Let me attach a couple of my pics.

First is a roof shot of my black CLK. P21s's GEPC + Pinnacle Souveran. Car was also clayed and PCed with 3M's SMR (almost swirl free ).

500AMG

Here is a side view of my silver '95 LS400. I clayed and polished with a PC and Meguiars DACP. Then 3 coats of Zaino Z2 were applied. Almost 8 years old and it looks better than new. The key is definately prepping your paint properly...otherwise no wax or sealant will do much.

500AMG

I have more pics up at: http://www.autopia.org/gallery/showg...at=500&thumb=1

Let me know if you have any more questions! Also, if you want, visit www.autopia.org You'll probably get sick of reading all the valuable detailing info there!

mac2001

500AMG, What is Meguiar's DACP? Do you find that it's most suited for silver paint, because 3 of my car's are silver. I see that you use Zaino after Meguiar's. I understood that Zaino's products chemically complement each other (maybe a little hyped?), and similarly, wouldn't staying within the Meguiar's family of products be beneficial.

I have never used a Porter Cable, but I recently acquired one. I also should go check out autopia.com.

Thanks for posting those nice pictures.

Mac

500AMG

DACP (#83) is a polish. It is used to remove mild oxidation and swirls. The LS was somewhat neglected over the years, so by polishing with DACP, you are essentially removing a thin layer of clear-coat and bringing out a renewed layer underneath. There are various levels of "polishes", although the term gets used incorrectly. 3M also makes many good polishes/swirl removers/paint fixer products.

After DACP, I used a mixture of isoprop. alcohol and water to remove any "fillers" left behind by DACP. So after that, there is nothing left on the paint. At this point, you can use whatever you wish, because the paint is what I would call "squeaky clean". I like Zaino on lighter colors like silver because of the great reflectivity it can provide, which IMO silver could use.

HTH, and do visit autopia. You may get some information overload though. :p