Hey everyone,

Thanks for being so helpful to us newbies in the past. All the advice I have gotten thus far has been excellent. I have a few more questions. I ordered my zaino kit, and my wheel wax is on it's way. I'm going to go through the whole zaino process on my beater truck this weekend as a "first-time" so when I go through it with my 6mt, I won't make mistakes. I'll take before and after pictures of my truck and post afterwards.

My main question has to do with towels/sponges. I found some ralph lauren 100% cotton, made in the USA towels at Ross for like 4.49 each (face/hand towels) and 5.99 for the larger bath size. I was wondering, before I buy them, if those are the ones I could use? They have a strip of "differently stiched" cotton like most/all bath towels do.. is this ok?

Secondly, what do you use on the tires? The same type of towel?

According to all I have read, I am supposed to use 100% cotton white USA towels on:

tires
paint -during wash
paint -to remove wax
rims

IS THIS RIGHT? no sponges needed? just use towels for everything? (except application of wax)

I would think the towels would be useless after one pass on the tires...

Also, how many towels to do the job? Do I need a new towel for each coat of wax?

can anyone recommend the amount of towels and size? and if I need a sponge.. what kind? How many buckets do I need?

Thanks everyone! I promise this will be the last thread on this from me..
J.

 

as far as the towels from Ross: i've heard that these aren't of the same quality as you would find in the department stores, but i could be wrong. that it says 100% cotton but thats only for a certain part of it. either way, cut off the edges. 2 large towels should suffice--use clean part of towel for removal when gets dirty.
as far as cotton towels: i only use it to remove the zaino wax. and i use the supplied applicators to apply the z2 and z5. i use MF towels for everything else. wash, dry, detail (z6)--so 2 towels should be fine if you use MF of everything else, if not you'll need more.
you will find that many people love either mf or cotton, i think either would be fine. some say that microfiber can pick up dirt and such that would scratch, but as long as the MF is clean you should be ok. make sure you read the application part of the zaino website carefully, also the tips and tricks is helpful as well. zainostore.com
good luck, its worth it!

 

well....do i get a thanks? !

 

I purchased my towels from a local Zaino dealer. Their cotton towels are awesome. As for the number of towels you'll need; it depends. I recommend no less than 5 (five) for the entire car. (YMMV)

http://www.lazaino.com/#Towels

Good luck!

 

I use microfiber towels to wash and sometimes terry cotten or microfiber to remove wax. Car always gets TONS of compliments. (Twilight Blue)

 

Microfiber towels are the way to go, microfiber isn't a different type of material it's the weave of the towel. It's completely safe to use on any part of your car, paint, wheels, interior, leather, etc (I wouldn't recomend mixing products on the same towel). It's designed to trap whatver it is you are wiping, so when you buff off wax it doesn't just push it around it collects it. This helps save you from excessively wiping the same are over and over again. However each towel can only handle so much before it starts to leave some product behind. I use about 2 (16x16) towels for each coat of wax/polish. I would recomend getting atleast 5 towels, you can wash them after your done too. Just don't use any fabric softeners or excessively heat it, they work better if you hang them, but the dryer is fine to. You can find some great deals on High Quality microfiber here http://secure.detailedimage.com/Merc...ry_Code=Drying, everything is 10% off until the end of April too.

 

Thanks everyone! Especially aszatk01.
I appreciate all of the advice. I'm going to run through the zaino process this weekend on my 2001 ford ranger (it needs it.. believe me). I'll post before and after pictures here, hopefully monday! Since it's an older truck, I'm going to use
the cotton towels, and then decide whether to use MF on the G35.. when it arrives in
exactly 2 weeks!
Thanks again, you have all been most helpful!

 

Can't wait to see the results and congrats on soon becoming a G owner. Post some pics!

 

i've used df towels and they work great. if you do use them, jus' make sure you wash 'em first (no bleach) and when you dry it, don't leave 'em in there for an hour. jus' 30 min on med. heat should be ok, and then jus' let 'em dry off naturally. the reason why you should wash 'em first is that they're very linty when brand new.