Question about haziness after Z-AIO treatment.

M

Midshipexpress

New member
Hi everyone,

I'm brand new to detailing products other than what you might find at your local hardware store.

I purchased some Zaino products on Sal's advice but I'm not having great luck.

After applying Z-AIO to most of the car (Toyota Black 0202) to most of the car, I noticed that there was quite a bit of haziness/cloudiness that was visible. It wasn't consistent across the car, a bit blotchy. I did quite a bit of searching on these forums and decided that I probably over applied. I went over it with another (much thinner) coat hoping to clean off the excess but the haziness remained.

Any suggestions? Should I start over with a Dawn wash?

Thanks!
 
Midshipexpress- Welcome to Autopia!



A few possibilities come to mind:



-The abrasives in the ZAIO (or your application/buffing/removal media) are leaving micromarring

-The paint needs something "more/better" before the ZAIO



I'd clean a representative area with IPA (Rubbing Alcohol) and inspect it under appropriate conditions (lighting, maybe magnification). See if the problem is marring, or staining, or...whatever it is.



You could try re-AIOing the area after this inspection, but whatever you do I'd want to get things figured out before doing the whole vehicle.



Note that with ZAIO, "less is more" generally applies. It takes *very* little to do the job properly and too much makes for issues.
 
lkotsios said:
ZAIO micro mars my finish...
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Huh, on the Corvette? I'd have expected its clear to be too hard for that. ZAIO does *not* mar my Fords, and I think of them as being on the soft side :think:
 
How did you apply it and how much are you using? I could certainly see if the paint wasn't perfect and you applied by hand, you could cause a mess like the one your seem to have. You don't really "apply" ZAIO. You use it on a machine with a polishing or finishing pad. It is an abrasive so it has to be worked into the finish, not smeared all over it.
 
Thanks for the responses. I applied by hand with a Zaino cotton pad. The second application I only used a few dots 5 or 6 per panel. I felt like it was nearly gone by the time I finished with the panel and was concerned with application consistency.

Is micromarring something different (finer) than the typical 'swirls' I see in the paint from washing?

The car is 24 years old, but hands down had the best conditioned paint out of any car it's age I've seen. I would liken it to a one or two year old car. Toyota Black 0202 is not clearcoated, if that matters.

I will clean a small area with IPA this weekend before going any further.



Z-AIO All-in-one: Zaino Store
 
Midshipexpress said:
Thanks for the responses. I applied by hand with a Zaino cotton pad. The second application I only used a few dots 5 or 6 per panel. I felt like it was nearly gone by the time I finished with the panel and was concerned with application consistency...
Click to expand...



I can't help but wonder about that cotton pad, especially after it'd been used to do a few sections. There's no way I'd expect most cotton materials to be safe for this (and no, not even the ones Zaino sells).



Is micromarring something different (finer) than the typical 'swirls' I see in the paint from washing?
Click to expand...



Eh, I don't want to overkill the semantics here...but yeah, "micro" marring is less serious than "normal" marring like from washing. Heh heh, oughta work on that wash technique if that's happening ;)

The car is 24 years old, but hands down had the best conditioned paint out of any car it's age I've seen. I would liken it to a one or two year old car. Toyota Black 0202 is not clearcoated, if that matters.

I will clean a small area with IPA this weekend before going any further.
Click to expand...



I love it when older cars are kept in great shape! Note that, generally, single stage black is a *VERY* soft paint. I'd be using the softest foam and MF on that, *not* cotton.



Be careful what you rub the IPA with.



Ya know...if that's original paint, I'd be using an approach that's more about filling. I'd lean towards something like Autoglym SRP or 1Z WaxPolishSoft topped with something like Collinite. Keeping black single stage in great shape would be a challenge, and, especially when it's that old, I wouldn't want to be polishing (i.e., thinning) it all the time.
 
Accumulator said:
I love it when older cars are kept in great shape! Note that, generally, single stage black is a *VERY* soft paint. I'd be using the softest foam and MF on that, *not* cotton.
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What would you recommend for foam and MF?



Is there a way to explain 'staining' so I might know what to look for?



Ill try to take a photo.
 
Midshipexpress said:
What would you recommend for foam and MF?
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For the foam machine pads, I'd use one of the "zero cut" Finishing Pads. There are a lot of different ones on the market these days...Lake Country has Blue, Red, Black, and Gold ones. Those are all subtlely different so see which one sounds right for you.



For MF I primarily use ones from PakShak, but the ones that John Kleven sells at Metropolitan Detail sound great.



Is there a way to explain 'staining' so I might know what to look for?
Click to expand...



Now that I know it's single stage, I'm less concerned that it might be this. But under magnification you should be able to see just what some "problem area" really has going on.
 
I agree with Accumulator, ZAIO might not be right for that older paint. I'd be sticking with the 80 series megs stuff followed by M26.
 
Dan said:
I agree with Accumulator, ZAIO might not be right for that older paint. I'd be sticking with the 80 series megs stuff followed by M26.
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Older-tech paints often seem to do best with older-tech products. Those Meguiar's Mirror Glaze products are indeed good for single stage. I might go with M09 instead of the 80s-series, using it like a glaze before the M26.



Something rich with Meg's Trade Secret Oils, topped with M26, will give a somewhat, uhm....specific look. Might be what you want, might not be. But still worth considering IMO.
 
After a hectic week at work and the inlaws in town for the weekend, I'll finally get on this again. Luckily it's been rainy and I haven't wanted to take the car out anyway.



I attached a picture of the 'haziness'. This wasn't there pre-Z-AIO, so I'm a bit disappointed. It shows up looking at different angles, so I'm assuming its micromarring.



Some angles it also looks a bit 'oily' on the black. Could this be staining?



Thanks for all the help.

-Adam
 
Midshipexpress- Check your Pic link, doesn't seem to have worked.



Using a very soft MF, one that won't, in-and-of itself, mar the paint, clean a representative area with IPA. That oughta remove the ZAIO and any "oiliness". Inspect that area and see how it looks once it's truly clean.



Then we're probably back to figuring out a different approach for that single-stage black. And I'd still be seriously considering a glaze-filler/wax combo.
 
You are going to need to get a DA polisher, pads and Optimum Hyper Polish plus 3D HD Polish. I thought that the Meguiars 80 series products (#80 Speed Glaze, #83 Dual Action Cleaner/Polish) were great on single stage paint until I ran into a mid 90s single stage white Land Cruiser. Optimum Hyper Polish, even though it wasn't designed with single stage paint in mind, greatly outperformed Meguiars #80 and #83. It wasn't even close.



A couple microfiber polishing pads will also be needed, clean them (run a brush over them every panel, then over a damp MF towel every second panel), change the first one out halfway through. Then switch to 3D HD Polish and a polishing foam pad (again with a DA polisher). Spin the pad over a damp MF towel after every panel.



This process has worked amazingly well on both jet black, single stage mid 90s Supras I've detailed.



The pads will turn black, that is normal. That's the dead, oxidized paint coming off.



After polishing, I'd go with a paste wax like Collinite 476.



You will need to keep on top of the paint if you want to keep it looking good. You will at least need to do the HD Polish + wax each change of the seasons, probably add in OHP once a year for deeper cleaning.



It simply is not possible by hand to fully bring out the finish on your car. Take it from someone who polished cars by hand the first 10 years I was in business.
 
Scottwax said:
You are going to need to get a DA polisher...



This process has worked amazingly well on both jet black, single stage mid 90s Supras I've detailed.



You will need to keep on top of the paint if you want to keep it looking good. You will at least need to do the HD Polish + wax each change of the seasons, probably add in OHP once a year for deeper cleaning.



It simply is not possible by hand to fully bring out the finish on your car. Take it from someone who polished cars by hand the first 10 years I was in business.
Click to expand...



Damn. I went with the Zaino system because after reading (mostly around here), it sounded like it'd give me the richest looking black I could get my hands on.



Like I mentioned, I'm a newbie to serious detailing. I was hoping to avoid a polisher because I'm paranoid of destroying this paint that has lasted so many years in such great condition.



The car doesn't get driven much, my sportscar season is rather short in northern British Columbia. Mid-May to mid-October is about the extent of it. I don't mind planning to do work before the car hits the road, a couple times through the summer and once before it goes back in storage.



Any advice on respurces for someone who has no idea how to handle a polisher? Ultimately, I'd love to work alongside someone who is familiar with this the first time, but I'm not sure that'll happen in my area.
 
I think you may have read some old stuff and written by zaino zealots. Zaino is great but not on black and certainly not on single stage. See if you can find Meg's 26 locally. Even Gold Class will look better, and that is very easy to find.



As for the polisher, check out the youtubes by mike Phillips. He targets them at newbies.
 
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