No beading after several coats of z2

CorruptedSanity

New member
I bought a new blac Nissan Patrol. I asked the dealer not to wash it. They still did.

I received it with minor swirl marks all over.



Took it to a competent dealer who detailed it.



We washed the the car, clayed it, washed it again. Dried it.



He then used 3m Perfect it II or similar with a very mild pad to compound it.



Albeit using a very mild pad, he managed to take off 90% of the swirl marks.



Then he applied the first of 5 coats of z5. He mixed an ounce or two (the correct amount) and added 4-5 drops of zfx. Shook it, then let it sit for a few minutes.





Problem is it never cured. Neither of the five z5 coats nor any of the 3 subsequent z2 coats.



He applied the first coat of z5 by machine. Only the first coat by machine. All remaining 7 were by hand.



It never dried. We did a finger swipe at 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours. It never swiped dry.



We decided to buff it off anyways.

Applied z8.



Applied second coat of z5 but by hand this time.



Same as above. Never dried.



Buffed off, applied z8.



Applied third coat of z5 of the day. 3 hours later, still smudgy.



Next day, we made sure he used a tiny amount on the panel. Same as the zaino guy who does a product demo on YouTube on that black Ferrari.



Same as yesterday.



4th coat of z5 never dried. So 2 hours later we buffed if off. Applied z8.



This went in for the fifth z5 coat, first z2 coat (third zaino application of the day).



Third day, applied 2 coats of z2.



Same as above.



Anyways. I think nothing much of it. And leave.



Next day, at home, my car was a bit dusty. So I applied z8 and took off the dust.



Then the third day till the 8th day I didn't wash it. It wasn't that dirty. A bit dusty. But mornings were Dewey.



I'd wake up and see a sheet of water on the car. I don't know whether you call it dew or humidity. But the car was wet.



Thought nothing of it because I had 8 coats of zaino on it. Or so I thought.



Today, the 9th I took it back to the detailer to have it washed.



He uses a high pressure washer too wash it then wipe of excess water with a chamois. Then uses a blower to completely dry it.



This is where I got worrie. The car didn't bead!

See the picture: terrible streaking



20130227_192402_0_zpsf3f85a6f.jpg




The hood had bad water spots on it. From the days it had dew on it in the morning and got dusty.



20130227_192729_0_zps94f2fe1d.jpg




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I ran the back of my hand across the hood after the wash. It felt gritty. Clearly the dust/sand (I live in the middle east) had penetrated as if there was no polish.



The paint felt soft generally because of the compounding but the had areas n th hood that were clearly rough.



The best part is the detailed is genuinely interested in re-doing the whole process where necessary.



What went wrong?



Why didn't the zaino ever cure? We used zfx as instructed.



I cannot fathom why it didn't dry.



Like I said. Temps were cool at around 77 Fahrenheit. No rain. Clear skies. Wasnt humid.
 
It likely didn't stick because of the 3M oil rich product. You need to either wash the car afterwards with dawn or do an IPA wipedown, or use ZAIO as your base. Zaino hates oils.
 
What Dan said and this from the Zaino site....

Q: Ok, I just received my Zaino products. What should I do to my paint before applying my Zaino?



A: The first thing you should do is wash your vehicle thoroughly with Dawn (or comparable) dish soap to remove any wax, grease, and oil from your paint. Then, my recommendation is to use Z-18 ClayBar to remove any bonded surface contaminants such as rail dust, tree sap, bug marks, or hard water deposits from the paint before applying any of your Zaino products.Using Clay is optional, but it really does make a difference!!



Q: Z-2, Z-3, or Z-5 is taking hours to dry. What's wrong?



A: Sounds like you applied it too heavily. A neat trick that helps you get even coats without having to load the polish up on the paint is to lightly dampen your applicator pad, spray a couple mists of Z-6 on it, then put a few thin stripes of polish on it and spread the polish evenly across the face of the pad with your fingers. The object of applying the polish to your car is to get on thin, even coats. Putting it on heavy only wastes polish, and slows the dry time.



Also, keep in mind that cool temperatures or high humidity can lengthen the drying time of Zaino polishes.





Note: Apply no more than three coats of Zaino Show Car Polish enabled with ZFX™ in a 24 hour period. For optimum results, use your ZFX™ enabled polish within 6 hours of mixing. Use a fresh cotton buffing towel for removal of each coat.



Randy
 
The detailed said he washed th car.

Frankly I don't remember. I was there when he finished compounding with 3m and vaguely recall us NOT washing but he insists we washed it.



I'll give him the benefit of the doubt but even if he did wash it, I'm certain he didn't use dawn or IPA. I know because there's only zaino car shampoo in the car wash bay area.
 
Even if he washed it with Z7, using a ton of it, it likely didn't strip the oils. For a good Zaino bond, you want your paint to squeak when you drag your finger on it. A strong Dawn wash followed by an IPA wipedown will assure you get the results you are seeking. Also you should be using about 1/2oz of Zaino per coat for the average sized car.
 
Another thing is after washing the car yesterday (first time it's been washed since the detail). I noticed SO MANY swirl marks that I can swear weren't there after compounding.



I read in another forum that the oils from the particularly oil 3m nicely concealed those swirl marks but got washed off when we washed it last night.



Thing is this detailer only uses very mild pads. He's apprehensive about using anything more abrasive than the mildest pad.
 
Yeah, I wasn't going to rain on your parade, but I figured as much. The 3M stuff conceals heavily. For now you may want to look into an LSP that conceals while you figure out what you want to go.



Pads are only one element in a complex equation. You can use mild pads with a rotary and a heavy compound and get some very decent cut. You need to figure out if you want to let him fix this, find someone else or fix it yourself.
 
When a sealant doesn't "set up" and it behaves like that did, stop and make sure the panels are truly "bare". Even Dawn and IPA are mediocre when it comes to removing polishing oils. That kind of stripping approach is utterly ineffective on certain "sticky" paints.



I'm a bit :rolleyes: :nono about all those repeated attempts to apply Z when it was clearly not working properly :think: IMO that "detailer" coulda/woulda/shoulda sorted things out immediately after the first application evidenced issues.
 
Ok today we:



Washed the car



Clawed it



Washed it again



Used a Makita b06040 on rotary (not dual action) at level 2 with 3 pea size blobs of Ultrafina over the vehicle. Very lightly and slowly



Washed the car



Sprayed it down and wiped it with IPA. I'd say we used about 50ml for the whole vehicle.



It looked and felt squeaky clean.



He mixed 3/4 of an oz of z5 with 4 drops of zfx. Shook it for 2 minutes and then let it sit for 4 minutes.



He then sprayed an applicator with z6 and applied a tiny thin line of z5 diagonally across it and did a medium size area on the hood.



I'll soon post a video of the results.
 
CorruptedSanity said:
The best part is the detailed is genuinely interested in re-doing the whole process where necessary.



Sounds like a textbook case of improper Zaino bonding coupled with dealer detail fail. And who says 3M polishes don't fill?
 
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