Zaino Z9 leather cleaner...

W

wannafbody

wannafbody
I busted out the Z9 to clean my seats yesterday. I opened the car this morning and was greeted with the smell of a leather shop. This got me thinking, Sal really missed the boat by not offering Z9 air fresheners.
 
I discovered Zaino 26 years ago, and loved it... Z9 Leather Soft Spray Cleaner is perfect for cleaning all leather, and then Z10 Leather In A Bottle, Treatment and Conditioner, finishes it off.... And yes, that Leather smell !!!! This man pioneered it all... Thank you, Sal, thank your family, for sharing you with us... :) I get all my products from LA Zaino....Have never seen Zaino in a black bottle... All mine are in the white bottles...
 
Still a big fan of this stuff. In fact, I just ordered a bottle recently and decided to throw in some Z-16 as well, for nostalgia. I'm actually using ZAIO topped with ZCS on my ebike. It's fun using the old stuff once in a while.
 
I do agree a rinseless and at least a coating-lite would have been great to see from Zaino. Sal vehemently suggests his polishes are better than ceramic and insists they have been continually tweaked and updated to remain current. This coming from an email conversation I had with him a few years ago at this point. I ended up using DG rinseless with anything I had Zaino'd but I strongly dislike the smell so I kind of stopped using it. I can't imagine using a "cleaner only" rinsless like N-194 or Wolfgang Uber would interfere in any way with the Zaino stuff.

On a related note, anyone who wants a good laugh should check out Glare's website and read what they have to say about how their stuff performs against ceramic. That is, if you can stomach the Geocities website layout for more than a couple minutes. I wish Zaino would pump some life into their website, too.

Edit: I dug up the email and this was the response I got from Sal specifically talking about ceramic coatings:

"When you have somethign that works, and is paint friendly, you stay with it. I do keep improving Zaino as science allows me.

I designed and formulated a ceramic coating over 5 years ago, just to see if I could perfect a ceramic coating.

However as a former body shop owner and painter, high quality ceramic coatings, not spray ceramics, because of their extreme durability make it very difficult to repair and repaint, especially paint matching high end colors.

So I decided not to release it and never regretted that corporate decision. None of my customers are going to apply a product to their car and not do anything else for 2 years...again to me, high quality durable ceramic coatings, most of which are from overseas and if something happens to your paint long term, good luck on getting satisfaction.

They do have very good water beading, but I do not like their gloss factor and most people agree or they would not be (topping) putting other products over them.

Zaino your vehicle and take it from there..."

This was from February 22, 2021.
 
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Ha, Sal. The interwebs tell me he's 77 now.

As to his other comments, I've said before, in the 22 years that I've been on detailing forums, everything has changed, but nothing has changed.

TGates said:
I ended up using DG rinseless with anything I had Zaino'd but I strongly dislike the smell so I kind of stopped using it. I can't imagine using a "cleaner only" rinsless like N-194 or Wolfgang Uber would interfere in any way with the Zaino stuff.
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Wolfgang Uber, at least in the old days, was not a "leave nothing behind" rinseless, or are you saying what Uber leaves behind would interfere with the Zaino beading? One of those pink ones, DG or the Uber, smelled like cherry urinal cakes, I think it was the Uber, I don't remember having a problem with the smell of the DG.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
Ha, Sal. The interwebs tell me he's 77 now.

As to his other comments, I've said before, in the 22 years that I've been on detailing forums, everything has changed, but nothing has changed.



Wolfgang Uber, at least in the old days, was not a "leave nothing behind" rinseless, or are you saying what Uber leaves behind would interfere with the Zaino beading? One of those pink ones, DG or the Uber, smelled like cherry urinal cakes, I think it was the Uber, I don't remember having a problem with the smell of the DG.
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Uber may leave something behind in terms of polymers. I guess I shouldn't lump it in with the "cleaner only" rinseless washes. I was more suggesting it's a "pure" wash where as the Uber Si02 is a "protectant" wash. Either way, I don't feel like the non-Si02 Uber would leave enough behind to interfere with adding a fresh layer of Z2/Z5 after a Z6 wipedown. So much of this is subjective and anecdotal, who really knows?
 
I also just went to check out Glare's website and lo and behold, they've updated the looks! No longer Geocities! Still heavy on the ridiculous claims and hyperbole in product descriptions, though.
 
TGates said:
Uber may leave something behind in terms of polymers. I guess I shouldn't lump it in with the "cleaner only" rinseless washes. I was more suggesting it's a "pure" wash where as the Uber Si02 is a "protectant" wash. Either way, I don't feel like the non-Si02 Uber would leave enough behind to interfere with adding a fresh layer of Z2/Z5 after a Z6 wipedown. So much of this is subjective and anecdotal, who really knows?
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The one car I used to use Zaino on, I only washed it with the Zaino wash or DG rinseless. In more recent years I've strayed, I think it has TEC582 on it now; it needs a polishing then I'm not sure what I'm going to put on it...if I ever get to polishing it.
 
Sal might have a valid point about the extreme coatings. I used a coating on some wheels and over several years it seems to have degraded. I ended up sanding them and repainting them.
 
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