Wax, polymers, or this?

[bodysnatcher]

Hi,



I`m having some trouble deciding what to use on my yellow rex. The paint is taking a real beating where I live since i don`t have a garage or carport and the trains go right by my place at all hours of day and night, also, the fallout and air pollution are pretty bad (welcome to Atlanta). Anyway, back when I had my supercharged white Miata, I was faced with horrible soot build up from the over-rich mixture and oil burning of my car. On a white car it was really a problem. I tried all kinds of products including Meguiar`s cleaner/wax and even bug & tar remover. Nothing worked until I tried a product called "Premium Auto Polish & Protectant" from Driven Performance 1-800-835-6149. It is a thick liquid/paste. It goes on pretty easily (on a clean car) and buffs to a great shine while applying on one section at the time. This stuff was nothing short of miraculous. It removed all the soot and left the car in beautiful shape. You can tell immediately where you`ve used it by touch alone. After a section has been treated, it becomes very slick, not oily, but very slick to the touch. When you rub the car with the polishing rag and you hit an unpolished spot it is like hitting the brakes!

Anyway, so why am I asking questions? Well, when you use this stuff you can see the color of the car come off on the applicator. A friend told me that it was removing the clear coat and I needed to apply a *real* wax to the car to protect the paint job. Also, the "slickness" and shine do not last forever. I actually don`t know how long it lasts since I`ve nevber actually kept track but I suspect it is not more than a few weeks, if that long.

I did a search about wax and read a lot of stuff. lots of praise of Meguiar`s products and also Zaino`s products. I must admit that I have not used the Meguiar`s #20 or any of the Zaino products, but I sure would like to find a good way to beautify and *protect* my car finish from the hostile environment. Has anybody out there had any experience with the "Premium Auto Polish & Protectant" from Driven Performance? If so, what do the cognoscenty say about it? I`m about to run out of the last of that product and i sure would like to know which way to go next. Also, I sure would appreciate any leads on a professional in my area who will do a good job of cleaning my car and applying a good paste type, carnouba wax.



Thanks,



Manuel

[imported_StyleTEG]

If color is coming off on the applicator, it means the polish/protectant you are using has some abrasive properties in it. This makes sense since it is labeled as a polish.



Many people on this forum prefer polymer sealents over carnuba, due to there ability to last longer, and superiour protection properties.



The more popular choises are Zaino, Klasse, and Blackfire. These sealents all have the ability to be layered. Each layer provides more gloss, and better protection for your paint.



Do a search on these products, there have been a lot of posts about the pros/cons on each of them.

[Michael H]

Manuel



Welcome to the BBS. Good choice of car! I have a Black WRX Limited Edition and a White WRX STi (which is after again;) ). I suggest:



1. Clay the car



2. Use a good paint cleaner, eg Meguiars Prep & Swirl Remover. Depending on the state of the paint you may need to use Finesse It II to cut the paint.



3. Once the paint is clean I suggest Klasse All in One and then a couple of coats of Klasse Sealant Glaze - you need protection where you are.



4. Finish off with a quality wax, the 3M Show car wax is a decent wax for a fair price, but Pinnacle Paste Glaz really goes well on a Yellow WRX (Souveran does a great job as well).

[bodysnatcher]

Thanks for the input. I`m really not sure about these products. The "0Premium Auto Polish & Protectant" claims to be non-toxic, biodegradable and non-abrasive. I guess maybe they are not really telling the whole truth? I must admit that as a cleaner, it is almost impossible to beat and it does leave a nice shine. I wonder if using one of the Zaino products over this will work. Or maybe I should wash the car with a harsh detergent and just start over with Zaino from the beginning. Also, what is the best way to get the car ready before using something like the Zaino wax?



Thanks

[Andre']

Also do a search on [rail dust] this may help.

[bodysnatcher]

Thanks Michael,

You beat my question with a good answer. How long does it take to "clay" a car?

[Michael H]

I strongly suggest you do NOT use Zaino. I have used it on White WRX and had problems with stains in the Zaino layer. Its level of protection was not satisfactoiry and that was for a car that was garaged. You are better off to try Klasse or Blackfire in my opinion in your case.

[Michael H]

Claying does not take very long. 20-30 max for a REX.

[bodysnatcher]

Thanks for the input Michael. I thought that Zaino was about as good as it got from reading some posts to the Subaru forums. I know that my exoerience with Meguiars was not as good as I expected based on what other folks had said.

Perhaps I should try a local "professional" shop? I`m also a little leery of some of those detailing shops too. They use liquid cleaner/waxes and charge a pretty good price. I thought those products where just not good enough to last. The stuff I`ve been using is easy enought to use and seems to work OK (except for the paint residue on the rags plus the short life).



I`ll keep your advise in mind. Thanks again!

[imported_Intermezzo]

Yellow rex, don`t expect good comments about Zaino from someone who happens sell primarily carnauba based waxes and a few other (non-Zaino) polymer sealants on his website. He dogs Zaino every chance he gets. :)

[Andre']

I agree with that Intermezzo330I.

[DETAILKING]

There are thousands of happy zaino customers. Zaino`s customers are it`s only way of advertising (word of mouth) so if the consensus was not happy with it, Zaino would not be in business.

Those carnubas mentioned in an earlier post are the wrong products for you to use. They are high quality waxes, but in your environment you wnat something durable that will protect the paint from the contaminants that you listed. Zaino is a good choice. It is durable, and slick. Nothing sticks to it.

I would dawn wash the car, clay it, and apply zaino.

Here are some links to yellow cars zainoed so you can see the look you will attain.....

http://www.fototime.com/B79042F2558F7D0/orig.jpg (`http://www.fototime.com/B79042F2558F7D0/orig.jpg`)
http://www.fototime.com/2A7AADBE83474E8/orig.jpg (`http://www.fototime.com/2A7AADBE83474E8/orig.jpg`)


Hope this helps,

DK

[db2]

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid29/p907c752c49b497fe046b8a7c995fa3e5/fdf479f8.jpg http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid29/p1312d43b877cf05bc6884e62b153c9fd/fdf47a92.jpg http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid28/pcee198f77e9b5b5f5fb28ea098ce0f26/fdf77e02.jpg

[Preachers Sheets]

If I were you I would clay the car, use a polish to get the paint 101% perfect then use Klasse (just a example) to seal the paint and do NOT use wax.



If you do, it is going to attract all kinds of crap that you currently worry about and you won`t be able to layer on more layers of Klasse without starting over. The shine difference from Klasse Glaze to Wax is not all that great, not worth the trouble at all.

[Turbonator]

yellow rex, you stated that the color of the car comes off when using the Premium Auto Polish, but you didn`t state if this was on the Miata and Wrx or just the Miata. generally speaking, when the color comes off the color that easily it`s pretty certain that you have a single stage paint - no clear coat to begin with. it waouldn`t surprise me if your miata was a single stage paint job. the foreign automakers are notorius for this in order to keep prices down, particularly if the car was an older model. i know late 80`s early 90`s toyotas are particularly bad; i`ve had the paint coming off in the wash water when the car was badly neglected. just saying that a single stage paint may be the cause of your problem. anyway, i use zaino on my white truck that stays outside 24/7, the protection is great and the stuff is so easy to use it`s hard to resist putting in extra layers every chance i get.:D