My review of the new Zaino

I hate to say I warned you about the :shocked you would get about the usage rate. ;).

Looks great and your initial adventure to Zainoland is making me tired ;) and jealous.
 
blkZ28Conv said:
I hate to say I warned you about the :shocked you would get about the usage rate. ;).
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Yeah, I always sort of though my BF bottle was as full as when I first got it, now I know it just may be. Since it's a big 16 oz. bottle, it was hard to tell how much I really used. A 1/4 ounce seemed like a pretty small amount, and thus a reasonable guess. Seeing 1/2 an ounce in this little bottle really gives me some perspective. A 1/4 ounce is a lot! More than enough for 2 coats. Thank goodness I read your post (and thank you for posting it) about trying 1/2 an ounce first. Boy would I have a lot of wasted product.



blkZ28Conv said:
Looks great and your initial adventure to Zainoland is making me tired ;)
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LOL, yeah yeah... :p
 
Aurora40,



If you get a Z5 haze, the best way to get rid of it is mix up some Z7 and water. 1/2 cap of Z7 and 12oz of water in a spray bottle will resolve the haze. Don't use Z6 for haze as it will only spread the Z5 around.



Gotta love those DF/CBT towels for final wipes!



I use Z6 between coats and again a light amount on the applicator.



Looks very nice! Keep up the good work! You'll love Zaino! Wait till after several coats of Z5, then when you switch to ZFX/Z2, stand back and admire the gloss! I'd use a bit more ZFX per 1oz of Zaino.



Regards,

Deanski
 
Well, my wife's car battery died (after 9 years and 151,000 miles! I was gonna change it to be safe, but thought "man, this things lasted a long time... I wonder how long it can go?" Apparently it can go exactly 9 years and 151,000 miles). So she called as I was finishing buffing off the second coat. I had to drive out and jump her car (then jump it again on the highway when it died idling at a light from her headlights/radio/fan/etc all being on... Needless to say we swapped cars and I drove it the rest of the way home with no further troubles).



Anyway, it drizzled a bit on the way home, so no more coats for now... I washed her car real quick with the leftover Z7 water (her car is easy to wash fast, plus it really needed a wash) and threw some of the Z5 on top of her Klasse SG. I only got the roof, hood, and trunk when it started drizzling again. So I buffed it off in a steady drizzle... Who knows if that even worked... But it can't hurt anything, and all that stuff was gonna have to be tossed anyway...



I'll go buy a battery tomorrow (I'm on vacation if anyone wonders why I have so much idle time) and put it in. Maybe I'll get a chance to rewash the car, or maybe wipe it down with Final Inspection (cheaper to spray a lot of since the car ain't clean no more) then Z6 then apply some more coats...



I'll post more as I get a feel for the look and behavior more. The car looked real nice when it was out, but it was pretty overcast and getting a bit dark. Would like to say it beaded well, but it didn't really rain enough to tell. So far, no complaints (well, ok, the cost...). :)



Oh, Deanski, I ended up using 1/2 an ounce, not an ounce, hence the small amount of ZFX. And I didn't have any haze problems. Heck, you could barely see a haze before trying to buff... :D
 
Ok, so I finally pulled my car outside today. I took some pictures of it with Zaino on. Here it is in the driveway.
 

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Here's my car at the local candy store... The eye-candy store that is. It's my local Ferrari/Maserati dealership. They recently moved to new digs in a much more visible location. I liked when they were tucked away and no one was ever there... Oh well. Now there's a lot of foot traffic.
 

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Here's the car hitting the apex just right at the local track... err... parking lot. They have set the curbs in the parking lot up like at the track. Kind of a neat touch.
 

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And some that I figured I'd add to my gallery:



2657gall1.jpg




2657gall2.jpg




2657gall3.jpg
 
More commentary, more commentary! I'm addicted to this thread. It's making me want to try Zaino exclusively on my wife's forthcoming 2004 Electric Blue MINI Cooper S!
 
I think these pictures are pretty good because the car is in a variety of lighting conditions. Though, there aren't any that are more overcast but still in the sun.



I certainly wouldn't call Zaino "plasticy". And I wouldn't say it lacks depth (though Souveran certainly has a bit more). I think the car looks great! Compared to Blackfire, it seems to have more shine/reflection and a bit less of the metallic pop. However, the metallic pop that it has (and it definitely has some) is a bit more natural looking than the Blackfire pop.



However, Blackfire has a lot of reflection too, and the metallic look is really cool. I enjoy the way both of them look, and the difference really isn't all that large.



To a very large extent, it's the paint that has the depth, pop, and shine. The protectants just tweak it a bit to get different emphases. I like the look Zaino has, and I also like the Blackfire look. And of course, I love the Aurora look! :D I look forward to seeing the Z a bit more, seeing how it behaves over time, in rain, and so on. These will probably be the aspects that determine if I stick with Zaino, or go back to Blackfire (or go for a combo). They both look pretty awesome. I also look forward to trying the Z2, which I haven't used yet.



If I were recommending it to someone, cost would be a factor too, but of course, I already bought it all. Blackfire really only requires the protectant (I don't use the polish anymore, and you really don't need the shampoo/QD), plus there's a chance you can get it on sale. Z2/5/6/7/FX is like $80, and the only deal is maybe a free applicator... For $80, I could buy Blackfire protectant, a gallon of Final Detail, some Swirl Free Polish (which I'd need with the Z too) and probably a bunch of bottles of #00 car wash. Though the Z6 really did impress me. It's a very nice QD, but then Final Detail really impresses me too.



I think I could get the same number of applications from the two 8 oz. Z's as from the one 16 oz. BF because they both go on equally thin (thin enough I can't imagine ever buying either again!). Plus, I've never had to pour BF out, though I also can't slap on 3 coats in one day. Pouring out almost as much Z5 as I poured from the container made me :( And of course BF's prep is easier. I put it on right after the Swirl Free Polish, buff, and that's that.



So in summary, is Z super awesome incredible that makes everything else crap? No way! Is it a really great looking product that I'm glad I tried? Heck yeah!! Do I look forward to more time with the Z? Oh yeah! :D



Edit: I hope this doesn't read wrong. I really think the Zaino is great stuff. It's just that I was already using great stuff. But it's only been a week, and the car's been in the garage most of that time (where I noticed whenever I went out there that it had more reflection). So there's still time for me to get blown away. :wavey
 
Nice work and nice review! :up Great Pics!!!!



Wait till you add more Zaino! It just keeps getting better with each coat. More wet and more depth.



Yes it's more labor intensive than other products, but the results are well worth it.



I found the new Z5 did smear a bit while removing, but a little Z7 and water in spray bottle took care of that. Once several coats are on, I switched to ZFX/Z2 with Z6 between each coat.



I love the way Z6 works, but true, FD is cheaper and I use it now for most light QD work, then switch to Z6 for prep for a Zaino coat.



Enjoy the new Zaino!



Regards,

Deanski
 
Aurora40 said:
Here's my car at the local candy store... The eye-candy store that is. It's my local Ferrari/Maserati dealership. They recently moved to new digs in a much more visible location. I liked when they were tucked away and no one was ever there... Oh well. Now there's a lot of foot traffic.
Click to expand...



Would that be Ferrari of Washington on Route 28 in the Sterling area?
 
tcl said:
Would that be Ferrari of Washington on Route 28 in the Sterling area?
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Yup! They used to be off of Pacific off Old Ox. Very out-of-the-way. Now they are right on the corner of Rt. 28 and Waxpool with CarMax and Nissan, BMW, and Volvo dealerships. Very right-in-your-face. They have a lot more room now, though. I used to stop by the old place every once in a while at lunch and the cars were really packed in there. Now it's all spaced out and airy, but also there are a lot more people milling around. I doubt many people buy Ferraris on impulse, so I doubt foot traffic means anything for them. It might help for Maserati, though.
 
Aurora40 said:
Yup! They used to be off of Pacific off Old Ox. Very out-of-the-way. Now they are right on the corner of Rt. 28 and Waxpool with CarMax and Nissan, BMW, and Volvo dealerships. Very right-in-your-face. They have a lot more room now, though. I used to stop by the old place every once in a while at lunch and the cars were really packed in there. Now it's all spaced out and airy, but also there are a lot more people milling around. I doubt many people buy Ferraris on impulse, so I doubt foot traffic means anything for them. It might help for Maserati, though.
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I live about 15 minutes from there and have passed it a number of times. Thought about stopping in but didn't want to be tempted by cars in that price range. Even the Maserati would be hard to manage with my daughter's college tuition bills kicking in next year. My Nissan 350Z is enough fun enough for now.



Good review of Zaino versus Blackfire.
 
On the way to work today, I kept noticing how shiny the hood looks. It really has more reflection than anything I've ever used. While I was stopped at a light, it had sort of an SG polished type of look. I really am impressed by how reflective it is.



I wonder if a layer of Blackfire would increase the pop without affecting the reflection? :D
 
Well, it's raining out today. I drove in it on my lunch break. I'd call it a steady, strong drizzle (not strong rain, strong for a drizzle). The Zaino really does bead in tiny little beads. However, it doesn't roll off the car nearly as readily as with Blackfire. On the windshield, I still needed to use the wipers a lot like if I had nothing on the glass. Blackfire on the windshield was a lot like Rain-X and everything flew off.



On the paint, the beads really are tight. There are just more and more tiny beads until they can't take it. Then it all goes flying off in big blobs and starts building up the tiny beads again. With Blackfire, the water all just flew off as quickly as it landed. With the car parked in rain for a bit with Blackfire, the slightest bump of the car would knock tons of water off. Just getting in the car and closing the door and you'd see the water that had gathered on the hood go flying off the sides. I parked the car on the street for about 5-10 minutes in the drizzle today while I ran into a store real quick. When I got back there were a lot of swollen tiny beads all over the hood (and the rest of the car). I got in, and even when I accelerated back onto the street (up a slight incline even) the beads on the hood didn't move. It wasn't until I got going more and the wind effect increased that they finally big-blobbed it off the hood. This would have happened differently with Blackfire.



I personally prefer the Blackfire behavior even if the beads were a tad bigger (of course, I've only been in one rain with the Z so far, so this preference could change). It is definitely better on the windshield as it is like Rain-X that actually lasts a long time.



I also wanted to make an observation on the "plasticy" look that Zaino is often accused of having. As I've had some more time with it, I've noticed more about the appearance. I have noticed that in some light, Zaino has a look that is very similar to the Klasse SG look. It looks very polished, however it is also incredibly reflective (not that SG isn't reflective, but not like this). I think it is this combination of the polished look and the reflection that some people call "plastic". It isn't a nice natural look for paint, sure. But it doesn't look like plastic, and it isn't sterile (it's quite the opposite). As many an SG user knows, it looks downright cool. Besides, who really wants their paint to just look like plain, clean paint?



I think you can see this "plastic" look a bit in the middle picture of those three larger ones I posted. I don't think (though I could be wrong) too many people will say that the car looks crappy in that shot.



For me the jury is still out on whether I prefer the higher reflection and polished look of Zaino over the very metallic, popping look of Blackfire. But they both look pretty darn sweet. :)
 
Well, after reading this, I hope I get some time this weekend to apply my Z that I got in the mail a week and a half ago! Great work!:bounce
 
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