I discovered this website and this forum when I took delivery of my Mini Cooper S back in June of 2004. I thought I knew what care care was all about until I started reading and researching "detailing" and soon found that I knew nothing but wanted to learn how to detail a car properly to keep my favorite toy like new as long as possible. I copied and printed out the following from Agranger https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=37303
It is a sticky at the top of the Detailing 101 forum. As I said early on in this thread output results are proportional to input efforts. I have tried various products and their systems over the last four years but have never strayed from Mr. Granger's methods and disciplines.

If you love your car - she deserves the very best.

 

So finally got a chance to detail my car with Zaino. This is the same car I detailed with Autozone over the counter stuff a few days back. Night and day difference. I did things the very same way. Dawn, clay bar, swirl remover, wax, QD. After dawn and claybar, there was no difference. After the first coat of Z5, I could see the same results as the previous outcome, then the QD and another coat of Z5, looking much better. Then I did a single coat of Z2 and holy wowzers, talk about a wet slick look. Definitely an improvement. You definitely get what you paid for.

 

I'm a Zanio user as well and it's what I use 95% of the time.

It's finish can have a clear candy shell finish so for car shows I'll top it with Pinnacle Signature Series II Carnauba Paste and bring a bottle of Pinnacle Crystal Mist Carnauba Detail Spray for wipe downs.

I also use a Porter Cable Polisher with Menzerna Intensive Polish and Menzerna Nano Polish to prepare the paint for sealant and wax.

I use Zanio most of the time because I can wipe down the whole car in less than 1/2 hour and the sealant lasts a long time.

In these two shots I'm about 30 feet away. Both cars are Zanio Z5

 

Awesome work.

Isn't it a great feeling when achieving such great results?

You should be proud of your work.

 

BradB, who helped me with that thread and taught me alot of what I know, taught me that it isn't so much the product but the person... the skill, technique and care that you take with your finish.

I love Zaino, but I've got a Pepper White MINI. I also use it on my wife's black Caddy. If I had a color... especially one that was very saturated like red, Indi Blue or BRG, I'd think about switching. As Heather mentions in an earlier post, Zaino can look a bit 'sterile' and I think that it is especially so on saturated colors. For white and black, I think that the shine is hard to beat.

I've never understood the tedious comments about Zaino. Most of the work, IMHO, is in the preparation of the surface... something that you would need to do to get the best results from almost any product line. I guess that there is a mixing step of Zaino and ZFX, but that's the only additional step in the Zaino system that I didn't have to do with other systems I have tried.

If I were starting all over again, I'd find someone who's work that I admire and who is willing to help answer my questions. I spoke to Heather a year or so ago and she was very helpful. Richard has given countless hours to us here as well, and has made a lot of difference in my car care, too (he also had some nice things to say about Jango's finish at MOTD 2008, even if it did have 3-4 coats of Zaino on it ).

Aaron

PS: Don't dis the NuFinish... I used it for years and it's a nice, solid product that gives quick results.

 

Yeah, Brad knows his stuff. He's a friend and lives more-or-less around the corner from me. He has answered a lot of questions that have come up for me over the years (and now has some parts on his M3 from my previous M3). Wish I had his garage.

Agree about Zaino. I don't think it's tedious at all to use. Not sure why people believe it is. Actually I think it's very easy. I just finished doing my new Chili Red with it and love the result. I used it previously on my Carbon Black M3, but like it equally well on the Red. I don't really see any reason to scrap my stock of Zaino and spend money trying something else.