I need to wash my car already! Any reccomendations

Many Zaino users are not so enlightened as you though LOL I've seen people get banned from boards trying to defend Zaino.

Just out of curiosity, have you seen the car detailed with anything else?

 

As for the blue, I agree about the plastic look but disagree about how I perceive it. I have 4 coats of Zaino on, but I would not go further down the plastic path. I think it looks good though, and its not all about looks for me. I sure am happy with the performance on the 3 cars that I've applied too (white, black and blue). My car is dirty and clean and just downright appealing all at the same time, and couldn't say that until I started using this stuff.

(Speaking of Zaino, where the heck is popoff? Hadn't seen him in a while.)

And your right, autopia is a much better place to have the zaino zealets run you down....

 

used plain old caranuba- turtle wax- for the first 3 months, looked beautiful but i had to wax monthly and got pretty pissed after the 3rd time. considered meguiars NXT but decided just to take the leap and get zaino.

i like waxing every 6 mo or so, i like how the water still beads after all that time, i like how the car looks nicer than all the other black cars in whatever parking lot i'm in even if i haven't washed it in a week. i like how the car looks overall.

 

You're entitled to your opinions, but if you've never detailed your black car with a high quality carnauba like Pinnacle Souveran, your opinion is uninformed.

 

That's an excellent point. Final appearance is much more dependent on surface preparation than the sealant you choose to use. And surface preparation is much more dependent on the skills of the detailer than the products he or she uses. As much as I like to bash Meguiar's, the truth is, in the hands of a sufficiently skilled detailer, you can get excellent results with their products (just not as easily or quickly, in my experience).

News flash for you newbie Zaino users: the preparation steps that Zaino recommends are not unique to applying Zaino. They're the same for every product, and have much to do with the results obtained with Zaino. Other mfgrs just assume you already know this, and don't feel the need to describe each step in excruciating detail.

 

I agree with priusenvy, you should try something else. The Turtle Wax doesn't have very good optics obviously, NXT has a pretty good pseudo-carnuaba look but the durability isn't there, and its not a cleaner free LSP so I personally only use it on one steps.

I bet if you were to see your black Prius polished out properly by machine, glazed with Vanilla Moose and finished with 2 coats of Pinnacle Souveran you'd never want to use Zaino again.

As for waxing every 6 months, I still would wax at least every 3 months with the Zaino, I doubt much of anything is there after ~4 months, especially if it sits outside.

The effect you're seeing that your car looks better than most black cars actually probably has very little to do with the Zaino itself. It probably has more to do with the fact that:

1. Its new. Most paint will bead regardless of whether it has any protectant on it at all.

2. Its regularly cared for and regularly washed, you'd be shocked how long some people go between washes.

3. Its clearcoated, a lot of black isn't clearcoated and it gets dull quick if its not maintained. See aforementioned #2 lol.

Again I'm not saying that Zaino is a bad product, I'm just saying that a lot of the benefits people attribute to Zaino aren't caused by the Zaino at all, but simply by routine care. You'd be surprised how good a modern car will look if you just run it through the car wash every other week for its whole life. I'm not advocating that obviously, but its the truth.

 

None taken...... I have never had a car before that I wanted to baby like the prius.
Except my first car when I was a teenager... nufinish was the cool thing... especially if you were poor and had some piece of crap car "like I did" that you wanted to make look nice.
My first car was a 64 olds cutlass and I polished it about every 2 days! I was offered to sell it all the time!.... I used turtle wax type products back then, but I didn't mind putting forth the effort to make it pay off back then.

Later I was very happy to find silicone!... a better looking finish with less effort and you could apply it in the sun!... yaaaa!

I'm guessing that some of the power of nufinish is the fact that it does have abrasive qualities... thats how it removes road grime and oxidation.... But it in fact may not be fit for a new finish "I don't know".

I am definately open to suggestions. It needs to be something I can do without having to have a detailing degree to learn.
Based on my old school mentality... I have avoided "waxes" that come off and wear so easily.....and have leaned more towards silicone that bonds and last much longer.

I would be interested to know about any products that are more modern and can be applied easily that won't damage. I shouldn't have to be able to devote a whole afternoon to "doing it right", and have to start all over because I missed a step or did something wrong.

Isn't there a remedy that won't hurt the finish that doesn't take all day to do every time and is easy to apply?

Maybe thats too tall of an order?

It may not look as good as "doing it right", but if it does a better job than Nu-finish.. I'm game for learning about it.

 

Exactly... Zaino may be the cats meow... but if you use it with the same care that people usually do that use cheap waxes.. then it may not fare so well!

Many products carry the phenominon... Even excercise!..... anytime something costs you a high price.. you take care not to screw it up!..

If the price was cheap... you treat it carelessly!

 

in the winter, go ahead with the touchless. but wash it by hand during the summer if you can. i notice the bottom half of my car doesn't get clean in the touchless and there are some things that just won't come off.

a good careful wash by hand will get all that junk off.

 

Tracy,

Most of the people in this forum are a bit obsessive. That's what makes it fun. But your car will be fine going through a touchless carwash. And it will be happy it is clean. Just unscrew the antenna first to be safe.

Go for it!

 

Touchless car washes that I've ever used are sucky.... they do a very poor job.. unless your car was pretty much already clean.

 

Just go to Target and get some Meguiar's Gold Class car wash. It's plenty good enough, even for enthusiasts who would never let a parts-store brand product touch their paint.