i asked Sal Zaino about putting carnauba as a topper...

I have had several conversations with Mr Zaino. Nice, to the point and polite. I was not looking for a friend or to take up his time but he did take the time to answer my concerns and offer suggestions. Of course his slant is toward his type of system but he realizes my slant ( he does read Autopia) also and was not critical but did disagreed with some of my assessments. All of my conversations were initiated by Sal after I sent questions via e-mail and he replied by asking me to call him. Kind of cool.:xyxthumbs

We have had long conversations ( one on a Saturday morning) about Zaino's appearance, importance of prep, more discussion on the importance of prep, other sealant on the market,etc. I listened and spoke about my experiences verses his extensive experiences and I listened some more and absorbed as much info as possible. He RESPECTIVELY disagreed with some of my opinions and/ or experiences and conclusions.

All in all a nice experience with the info needed to correct my less than perfect 1st experience with Zaino a couple of years ago ( Poor Prep).

JMO and experience with Sal. :wavey
 
Because there has been so much discussion about using a Carnuba topper over Zaino....I tried it....and, yes, I was impressed with the shine and slickness.



After the carnuba wore/washed off a month later I went back to Z2 and I couldn't tell the difference between the Z2 and the carnuba.



In my opinion, Zaino is all you need.
 
Luster said:
Because there has been so much discussion about using a Carnuba topper over Zaino....I tried it....and, yes, I was impressed with the shine and slickness.



After the carnuba wore/washed off a month later I went back to Z2 and I couldn't tell the difference between the Z2 and the carnuba.



In my opinion, Zaino is all you need.



I was looking at your car pictures and the shine is incredible but I can see some plasticity look.



Some people don't care others do.



That is the reason I top my car with P21S. My torch red Vette looked like the paint was not real (plastic). The plastic look went away when I started using P21S to top Z.

Carnouba makes the color darker so for me worked in my advantage due the torch red has some orange color in it. The TR looks more red now a beautiful red with a deep shine.



I liked my shine without the carnouba but IMHO looks better with P21S toppings.



Please don't misundertood my posting I am not looking down your car it looks incredible.
 
OK. I gotta weigh in here. When I first bought Zaino (last fall) I was unaware there was any hype at all. I just saw a Zainoed car and thought .. "huh, I want to try that." Loved it. Won some Jag Concours trophies with it. After hearing folks here talk about the "plastic" look, I tried topping it with S100 (mind you, it's a white car). I was seriously underwhelmed. The carnauba didn't enhance reflection or depth at all, in my eye. But maybe that's just my perception.



I have never have talked with Sal. I work with a dealer in the Carolinas, who has gone not just the second mile, but the 3rd, 4th, and 5th miles to answer my questions -- literally being available at all hours to help me in a pinch. I could not ask for more.



As for Zaino being expensive: GET REAL! 12 months after my purchase, I'm still working on my first bottle of Z2 and ZFX. In my book, that's value!
 
Maybe, you Z rep, have a thing for you lol;)



Joking aside, i have Z myself, but havent tried it yet, but will in about 3 days.



Take care :up
 
:lol ChipDouglas -- wish it were so. But considering the hours at which I've called him (late Friday night from Galveston, wee hours of a Sunday morning from Mo.), I think he would have to be a saint to tolerate my poor business! Poor guy, I only seem to call him when I'm in a Concours panic at an ungodly hour from some out-of-the way place.



If you're about to try Zaino, just read thru all the webpages on the Zaino site. (I gotta say, they have a lot of good info, but it's scattered around in a lot of different pages, and it's not really well organized.) And read Nick T's Zaino Tips and Tricks in the Hall of Fame forum. Maybe you'll love it. Maybe you'll hate it. If you hate it, be sure to post your leftovers in abay! :D Or just PM me. I LOVE to buy Zaino leftovers.



It continues to amaze me why the mention of Zaino or Griot's brings up such vociferous reactions. Neither of them is perfect, but there's some good stuff there.



That's my story, and I'm stickin' with it! :up
 
Lynn said:
OK. I gotta weigh in here. When I first bought Zaino (last fall) I was unaware there was any hype at all. I just saw a Zainoed car and thought .. "huh, I want to try that." Loved it. Won some Jag Concours trophies with it. After hearing folks here talk about the "plastic" look, I tried topping it with S100 (mind you, it's a white car). I was seriously underwhelmed. The carnauba didn't enhance reflection or depth at all, in my eye. But maybe that's just my perception.






I have the same result. I have posted the results from my 2 cars a torch red and a white truck in another thread. :D



Zaino works good with any color. With light colors you don't need anything else. :cool: With dark colors if you don't like the plastic look (I said if you don't like) it is better to use carnouba as a topper. :xyxthumbs Carnouba will give a deep shine and the plastic look will go away but the reflections from Z will be there. :xyxthumbs



Lynn said:
It continues to amaze me why the mention of Zaino or Griot's brings up such vociferous reactions. Neither of them is perfect, but there's some good stuff there.
:nixweiss





I agree if you mention Zaino you could expect some big reactions but If you said other products is more "civilized". :nixweiss
 
Lynn said:
[BIt continues to amaze me why the mention of Zaino or Griot's brings up such vociferous reactions. Neither of them is perfect, but there's some good stuff there. [/B]

I would agree that we get some lively discussions about Zaino, but we certainly get it from both sides of the argume.....er...discussion. ;)



Me? I'm just waiting for more updates on Aurora40's Zaino test. I count it as one of the very few detailed, objective and well-thought-out reviews of a very hotly contested product.
 
StickKing1 said:
I would agree that we get some lively discussions about Zaino,



But my question is.....WHY is Zaino so hotly debated?????



What's the controversy?



How can one product be loved by some and absolutely despised by others?



I don't get it.



I love the stuff.
 
Luster said:
But my question is.....WHY is Zaino so hotly debated?????



What's the controversy?



How can one product be loved by some and absolutely despised by others?



I don't get it.



I love the stuff.



It goes both ways. I usually post to some detailing related forums on several Ford Mustang sites. I continually get bashed by Zaino users for daring to recommend Meguiars products. Fortunately the majority of people are open minded :) People do tend to get passionate about their own favorite process and sometimes it blinds them to other ideas or opinions. I use and experiment with a lot of different products and that includes Zaino but, I happen to prefer Meguiars products most often.
 
I should have chosen my words more carefully....I don't mean to imply that Zaino itself is under question...I just meant to say that it is a very active discussion topic.



And not all points for or against it have been discussed in a very meaningful way. That's why I really enjoy good threads about Z, such as Aurora's. I'd rather have one thread like that, then 100 more of the "Zaino is THE WAY vs. The dreaded plastic-y look". We don't get nearly as much of that here, but on other websites its gotten pretty harsh. If you've ever been to the Edmunds forum, they had to seperate the two...I'm serious! There is a thread for Zaino and a thread for everything else.



Autopia is certainly more civilized than most other boards, thanks to our Mods and the vast majority of mature posters on the forum...and I hope that we continue to have lively discussion and experimentation on the topic...it would be very boring here without it.
 
see I think if Sal made a carnuba topper, similar to P100, he would sell TONS of it, even though it would go against his "z system." Not rippin on him, I use zaino and havent used anything else in 3 years, but from a business perspective he would make a lot if he invented a zaino carnuba. Just my 2c.
 
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