weekend detail P21S VS Zaino comparison

[Hawkeye_TDI]

Well I did a total overhaul this weekend on my 00 Carbon black ///M5. I wanted to do as much swirl removal without filling as possible, in preparation for Zaino so this is what I did, step by step.



1. Dawn wash.

2. Pinnacle poly caly. (didn`t really like this clay, it began dry and crumble quickly)

3. Z7 wash

4. PI III Mg with CMA yellow pad.to remove swirls.



Along the way I kept pulling the car into direct sunlight to see the results. I wasn`t completely happy with the level of swirl removal so I stepped it up to PI III rubbing compound. I had some scratches I wanted to get rid of too. To make matters worse my yellow pad slipped of the PC and fleww into the mud. I had to use a lake country white pad to finish.



So back to step5.

5. PI III RC

6. PI III MG ( great stuff!!!)

7. Z7 wash.



As anyone who uses Zaino knows you need as near a perfect base to start with. This was why I choose a non filling product like PI III MG. I still wasn`t completely happy. There were still some streaky swirls left after my final Z7 wash. ( I suspect either my swirl removal technique was Ng OR, OR............. I still haven`t perfected my wash detail. That`s another post in itself.



So I decided to do the GEPC, P21S route. I knew it would fill the remailing spider webbs and micro marrs that were left So I applied GEPC with a PC and a Lake Country white pad. I still had some unfavorable streaks but the next step took care of that, an old favorite P21S carnuba.



So here`s my comparison, as objective as I can be.



Zaino definetly has more pop and shine. Some have refered to it as "plasticy" I might say "candy coated" but never plasticy. It definetly brings out the metal flake more then P21S.(Carbon black has a really dark blue metal flake, it`s really quite stunning) Zaino also feels slicker, and we all know it lasts longer than just about everything. I think it looks better then the P21S, but that is a persnoel choice. (I think it looks better than anything else period, again just my choice). However, completely removing swirls and streaks on a black car is a near impossibility, at least with the tools, experience and material I have.



P21S seems muted and dull in comparison to Zaino. Some may say it`s deeper and darker, I would agree. It certainly applies great, like butter. The final result is a very deep, dark shine. Being a carnuba I realize it will attract more dust than a poly but it`s a trade off. I keep it covered in the garage most of the time anyway.



The bottom line is the prep. With a black car OHMYGOD, the prep is to damn much work. I tihnk I`ll stick with Zaino for sliver and other good swirl hiding colors, and carnuba preceeded with a good GEPC or equivalent for my dark beasts.





My .02



Bruce







:bounce :bounce

[blackvette]

Good Post.



This weekend I spent all day Sunday (16 hours) washing and prepping the Vette (99 Black Convertable):



1. Wash

2. Z-18 Clay Bar (Great Stuff)

3. Wash

4. 3M SMR (PC with Yellow CMA pad)

5. Dawn Wash

6 Z-2(ZFX) / Z-6 / Z-2(ZFX)



The SMR did a pretty good job with the swirls, but I have come to the realization that it`s too much work to keep swirls out of a black finish.



While I love Zaino I`m thinking of trying some different waxes for their filling capabilities.



Would be interested to see what others post.

[ahunt01]

Blackfire for swirl hiding? What about using Meg#7 then topped with Z2? I`ve heard that it works.

[SK2003TypeS]

Nice write up. Black is a really really tough color to work with because it shows swirls so easily. However, it is amazing if you get it right. You have 2 M5s and a X5 ?....I salute you. :xyxthumbs




Blackfire for swirl hiding? What about using Meg#7 then topped with Z2? I`ve heard that it works.



I was thinking of this (#7 and Z2), but it sounds like it the Z wouldn`t bond to well. So I`m just going to try the Z and top off with S100. Here`s my post a little while back, don`t want to change the subject here though.

http://www.autopia.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=25274

[m3pilot]

Here is my $0.02. I had used zaino for 2.5 years on my black trans am. I loved the way it looked, the look was different, but I liked it and did not think it was `plasticy`. However, I always had fine swirls and scratches with the zaino. Z5 would help some. but they were still always there. If I used smr and then re-zainoed, the swirls would eventually come back. I had over 30 coats of zaino on the car so my guess was that the swirls were only in the layers of zaino. I came to the conclusion that zaino was not the thing to use for black and it also attracted dust like crazy. So this spring I bought a pc to finally get rid of the swirls and then souveran. I got rid of 95% of all the swirls/spiderwebs/fine scratches. In the sun the car looks almost perfect except for a stray scratch here and there, which is impossible to avoid. I took A LOT of work though, I probably worked on it for about 2 weeks on and off having to go over areas several times to get rid of the swirls with several different products. Then topped with a couple coats of souveran and it looks great. I think I like the look of zaino better, I can finally say that I am finally happy with the way it looks in the sun. And souveran seems to attract less dust than the zaino. I don`t know what it was but zaino was like a dust magnet on my car. Car is only driven on weekends so durability is not an issue and with the zaino I was putting atlest 1 coat on every 2 weeks to try and fight the swirls, so if I have to re apply the carnauba every 3 weeks it is not a big deal.

[jaim]

jpws6,



Finally, after reading your post above, I am now convinced not to switch to Zaino System.



I am currently using Klasse Twins.. I think I will stick to what I have right now!



I hate dust magnet toppers...