Hey folks! Figure it's time to introduce myself!
I used to own a 2003 Mazda Protege, which I was quite
fond of. I lurked the forums, looking for paint chip advice. I drove 90K miles in 2 years, 35K of those miles in harsh New England winters. I drove past those highway salting trucks and my front took a pummeling like you wouldnt' believe. My front bumper looked like someone went over it with a meat tenderizer, and the front of the hood (and plenty of other places) were had serious chips. I swept the snow off using harsh brushes with ice frozen in them... ugh, I cringe at the things I've done that have caused swirls. My wheels were curbed left and right... Still, the car got regular automatic car washes and looked cleaned and nicer than most average Joes' cars (in the winter it was nice to not
drive around like this, but
instead like this.
In the end, the Protege had tons of swirls (but nothing SUPER bad), and it kept bugging me more and more. I was going to do the whole swirl remover thing with a PC (would have to learn how to use one and all), but then I realized that I should cover up all the paint chips first. I bought Langka after reading up about it on here and got to work. Unfortunately, the touch-up paint didn't seem to apply correctly: it was too light (but I *thought* it was the right touch-up paint, came from the dealer anyway).
But before I had a chance to makeover the Protege, I threw financial sense out the window and bought my dream car on Aug 25th: the Mazda RX-8!
(I'm glad my dream car came out to $26K, and not $260K). I changed the year and the model, but kept the make and the color. OK, so well, the color was slightly different.
So I decided to do everything RIGHT with the RX-8. It's my baby now, and she's gettin' detailed proper!
Unfortunately, the first mistake I made was letting the dealer do their usual prep wash. The car did come with swirls out of the dealership (relatively minor). I was so happy I got the car though that I didn't care until a few weeks later.
Immediately I got the clear bra. I paid top dollar ($800) for the whole front at a guy that was supposed to be really good. M3 owners bring their cars to him. Overall, yeah, he did a good job, but not a great job. There are some wrinkles still, and a little bit of film is peeled on the side. I've been putting off going back to him to point it out (not enough time during the day), maybe I'll wait until the spring hits. Still, glad that I got the clear bra: there's already quite a few rock chips that it saved me from (and some that it didn't). With all the winter driving, it will sure be nice to not have the front bumper look like someone went over it with a meat tenderizer in a few years' time.
Initially, I had a part-time detailer off rx8club forums wash, clay and
Meg's Deep Shine wax my car. It looked nice. But I wanted that crazy Zaino reflection and the protection of a synthetic sealant.
By the time I decided to splurge on the Zaino and got my stuff, it was early November and I was scrambling to find a day that wasn't rainy, that was above 50deg and I actually had time to work on the car. In the end, I took a half-day off work and my first "real" detailing job, I did:
Dawn wash, claybar with Z-18 and Meg's QD as lube, Z-7 wash, then one layer of Z-5 and a finish of Z-8. Unfortunately, all I had time for was that one layer of Z-5. The good part that it definitely did reduce the appearance of the dealership's swirls. They were minor to begin with, and they were much much less apparent with Z-5. I wish I had time to put on at least one coat of Z-2 Pro, but time and weather was not on my side.
So this first winter, my car is getting through without the protection it SHOULD have, but at least it's some protection.
These are the immediate after-Zaino pics (I'm really SORRY about the dirty wheels
: and tires, I had to run to work and cleaned them in the evening with a flashlight):
(click for higher-res photos)
reflecting those dirty wheels:
look ma, almost no swirls!
side reflection:
Overall shot:
The clear bra is not as optically reflective after all the waxin': (will need to work on that)
Another overall shot:
PERSONALLY, I was pretty happy with my first detail/waxing ever. Nothing to "click and brag" about amongst you guys here, but it was my first time and I still have so much to learn from the wisdom well that is autopia.
down:
My plan for the spring is:
* Dawn wash the car
* claybar the car
* remove swirls using a PC using some stuff that a friend of mine had... learn how to use the darn thing
* full-out Zaino application, Z-5, then many Z-2Pro's
* wash, clay and triple-coat Zaino the stock wheels
and 
!
You and that STi next to your car in the third to last pic need to go and have a photoshoot together. Two gorgeous blue cars *drool* anyways, welcome to the forums!
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