bamatt, I agree there are other excellent window cleaner products around. I was just saying the ArmorAll window cleaner is not a bad cleaner, unlike the rest of thier product line.

Mosr folks are not, uh,...uhmmm,..as nutty about the care and cleaning of thier car as the folks in the detailing forum are.

Me, I am all about OCD as it pertains to the care and cleaning of my cars.

 

Ok my Clarity formerly challenges your Armor All to a window cleaning duel
<slaps upside the head with a glove>

 

Calm down bamatt, or you might poke out someone's eye with that thing.

I did not say Clarity is not a better product. You made a blanket statement about Armorall. One I mostly agree with. I was just letting folks know their glass cleaner is not a bad product. It is cheaper than Clarity and easier to come by. In a pinch it ain't bad. Far better than Windex.

I do not use it myself, anymore.

 

Zaino is fantastic. i use it on my black cars....nothing compares.

Another product that I love & does not stain black trim is a Klasse AIO.
Its a versatile product that does everything....combine it with Zaino and its pure hottness!

 

Did you mean Z-2 PRO Show Car Polish for Clear Coated Car Finishes

 

Ok here is another question... how about all the glossy plastic and 'plastic glass' in the cockpit? The dinner plate sized speedo has a bunch of clear plastic that would get scuffed easily. The piano black finish I have also does. Any good tips/products for cleaning that stuff without making it dull and scratched?

 

Use peanut butter to remove the wax . smooth ,the crunchy is a ***** to rub in lol

 

I use Prima Hydro on my red colored dash & door inserts. It hides scratches, protects, makes it shine, & smeels good to boot I use Clarity to clean my speedo & other plastic gauge faces (it cleans but does not remove any scratches, there is some plastic polish out there but I have never tried it).

 

Thanks... I thankfully don't have to remove any big scratches yet from my speedo/etc. I am just trying to avoid putting them in.

 

ICE works.... makes the plastic trim look great too. I use it on my windows/sunroof too (except windshield). Super easy to apply/remove and seems to last longer than the Zymol I've been using in the past.

Here's the thread that turned me on to it.
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...light=ice+nice

 

I bit of advice. I have asked a couple of very experienced and very skills body shop owners about what kind of wax and similar products to use. Both said: use anything from Meguire's; use nothing from Armorall. For years I have heard it said over and over from many sources that Armorall is bad for vinyl and tires.

Unfortunately I can't answer the original question. Wish I could because I got my car yesterday and after a bit of cruising about I applied a coat of wax, and predictibly I got some on the black plastic parts.

alas,

But, man, I love that little car, even if it has some gray spots. I only wish I did not have to go to work tomorrow; I want to drive. At least I have a four day weekend and plan to do a two or three night solo camping trip in beautiful Northern New Mexico.

Joe

 

I am very meticulous about detailing my cars, I've found that prepping the car with painters tape is the very best way to avoid the inevitable wax getting on the trim, once it's on there that wax is a pain to get off, it seems to just keep coming back over and over. So go get some blue painters tape and don't do it in direct sunlight. Another trick I learned is to get lint on the tape like from your clothes so that the sticky residue won't stick to your car and it will come off instantly when your done waxing, it works for me all the time

 

UGH just keep ignoring me

I swear to you Wizard's Trim Renew totally & permanently removes wax residue from trim & it is effortless to wipe on. While I agree with using painter's tape to try to avoid marring your bits, if it happens get some Wizard's & <poof> it's gone

 

um Im not concerned about was residue, thats actually not a problem, its the waxes and polishes that actually damage the plastic trim and bleach the color out of it turning it grey.

that doesnt come out no matter what you use. all you can do is cover it up and make it look wet and shiny for a little while, then it looks grey again.

thats just not true, I just gave you a link to a great wax that does not damage the plastic trim and works better then just about every other wax
I've tried.

like I said its not getting the wax out of the plastic, its not doing the damage in the first place. all that crap you buy at target and auto zone
is junk plain and simple and just about all of it damages plastic so in that
respect your correct.

but a little research and testing you can find much better products that are available online that have tons of proven results.

im a fanatic, ive problem tested over 200 products in the past few years (see my sig, thats a black car, which if youve owned black is a complete bear to get and keep clean) most of the stuff is mediocre at based
just based on ease to put on, to take off, does it streak, does it stack (can you put more then one coat on), how long does it last, does it leave a lot of residue, does it damage the plastic, how well does it protect. most failed some of those tests.

but some have done very well. (oh btw that ICE stuff someone mentioned does seem to work, but the protection it provides is questionable).

some waxes are just awesome but are so caustic or damaging to the plastic I wouldnt put it near my car.

others dont damage the plastic but do not provide good protection for the paint.

its a tough combo to find, but its out there. check out zaino, some of the most **** people in out car club swear by it, and its the only one I use anymore.

yes, and then finish it off with some Z-8. The window glass cleaner stuff rocks as well.

for inbetween you can use the high gloss stuff or just put another layer of the Z-8 on if you dont have much time.

(ps in response to the mcquires products(there are so many lol, seriously)
some of it is actually pretty decent, but we found that a lot of it just
didnt last very long on the car, but much of it made it past a lot of the tests I mentioned before).

 

Get a bigger soap box to stand on bamatt.

 

Some times I do as I am told...not today.

Wizards is good stuff. I put it on before detailing and I generally do not tap anything off...

 

I mean no disrespect, but it's time you updated your knowledge a bit. First of all, if a wax or polish is bleaching your trim, it's time to stop using that product. Second of all, plastic trim can be dressed, or it can be cleaned, or both. Just like human skin that gets dry and cracked, there isn't one lotion you can buy that will forever make your skin soft with one application. Some dressings look better than others, some last longer, and some also remove builtup waxes. I've got a product that removed 2 years of product buildup and turned white faded trim back to black again in just a few minutes, and it will stay that way for months.

Next, if you can't spell Meguiar's, do you really think the experience you say you have about their products is really believable????

Zaino makes good products. There are plenty of people, you included that I classify as Zaino Zealots that think it's the best thing since sliced bread. I would counter that there are other systems, Meguiar's and Prima included that offer equal or superior results to Zaino. Sal Zaino is a brilliant marketer. From selling little tubes of ZFX that forces you to use up all the polish before it gets hard, to convincing users that 12 layers of Zaino looks better than 2.

All the best to you. Everybody should use what works for them, but the biggest problem with most wax products today, isn't that they are bad, but that people don't know how to use them properly. They either use too much, or don't wait long enough for it to dry, or they don't understand what products to use when.

Richard

 

If some product will bleach your trim... imagine what it will do to your paint finish

I said I had not found a POLISH that would not mar my black bits. I said there are plenty of good WAXES that do not mar

Still waiting patiently for the release of "the stuff"

 

Yes you are. It's in production right now. End of the month I will be shipping.

Richard

 

in production shipping soon

 

(In my best curly blond little girl voice...)

To-morrow... To-morrow... O.G says.... To-morrow....

It's always... a day a-way....

 

my opinion about zaino has a lot to do with 1) testing tons of polishes, waxes, some known, some unknown and 2) the results I received when testing all this stuff on a black car.

im not a zaino biggot in that sense, I didnt even hear of the stuff until I hung out in the cobra forums. but since it, one doesnt leave much residue, doesnt hurt plastic trim, doesnt leave streaks (not likely to see unless you have a black or dark colored car) and the fact the more you put on the shinier and slicker the paint feels (referred to as "stacking") its not a gimmick, you can put more on and it does get smoother feeling. All that was what has me suggesting zaino, but im not a fan boy of zaino, im a fan boy of what works.

on top of that I found zaino to last weeks longer then a lot of the other products (even ones that seem to give better intial results)

as for the hardening stuff for zaino, i never use it, you dont need it, all it helps the stuff do is dry on your car faster so you can buff it sooner.

zaino is not the best, im sure there is some other products I havent had a chance to test, but so far, looking at it from many sides it was the best one.

sure there are others that might initially work better, have a better shine or
feel slicker when done, but often times they are harder to apply, harder to take off, leave streaks on dark colored cars, leave tons of residue everywhere, etc.

so thats all im saying, using that criteria zaino does a solid job.

but as always, use what you like, after all this is just an opinion based on experience but your experience may vary

 

Klasse does not leave marks on the black trim either.

 

cool, and just to show im not really biased i ordered some prima since some of you have praised it. Ill give it a shot, do my normal round of tests and let you know how I think it compares.

anything you guys recommend im more then willing to put it through its passes and give you a report about. Just leave a link to where I can get anything you recommend and ill check it out