Prep is everything (archive)

I have a 2001 Orient Blue 740iL and I live in Pheonix which has been referred to by coworkers as "like living on the face of the sun". It could also be known as the great dust bowl. In the dead of summer, a local news channel measured the surface temp of the hood of a black car at 187 degrees F. It's so hot here that I've never had much luch with waxes. Seems like the waxes stay soft on the surface, and the dust is not only attracted, but it also sticks and dusters won't take it off. I tried Zaino based on all the WEB posts I've read and my conclusion is that it's shine is fine, maybe not much better or worse than the other good products, but when I follow the wash up with their Z6 shine spray, the dust stays off much longer. I even did an experiment one time where I did one half the hood with Z6, and one half without Z6. The half without Z6 was dusty after one day (Dark blue shows the dust really well), and it took about 4 days for the Z6 side to get as dusty.

People complain about the amount of time to do Zaino, but that's just the first time application. After that, you only do one coat of Z2 and that lasts 6-12 months. It takes me about 10 minutes to apply, and 10 minutes to wipe off and I'm a total detail freak and terribly picky. The secret is to apply them very sparingly.
Because I have the dark blue and I hate dust, I apply Z6 every wash. It only takes me 10 minutes to apply wiping as I go, and it can go right on the rubber, tail light housings, everything.
The Zaino products are extremely easy to wipe off, zero effort.

Also, using the clay bar first gives an amazingly smooth finish. I find that every 6 months or so the horizontal surfaces start to get a little rough. A quick wipe down with clay, and they are smooth as glass. I recommend clay no matter which product you end up using...joe

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