In the voice of George Costanza......"The sky was very angry that day". Aighty, so the previous detail job kinda went to the crapper when my neighbor decided that he would hire some shmucks to paint his siding on a day with 20+ MPH winds, of course, my MONIQUE was parked directly in the line of fire. Needless to say, I had my drivers side covered in white dots of splattered WHITE FRIGGIN PAINT!!! So black G + white speckles of house paint makes Drew an angry man!!!! Not to mention, I apparently didn't get all the swirls out last time so I needed to touch it up anyway! Nothing aggravates me more then swirls!!! Nothing seems to be going right these days, work sux as usual (but at least I have job that allows me to afford a G and for that I'm greatful) and the commute on LIRR is getting worse n worse...yadda yadda yadda. So this weekend I just wanted to vege. Well today I woke up early (getting old sux I can never sleep on my damn days off!!!), so I figured, damn it is too nice to not be outside, but My G is toooooooooo dirty to drive! Well, time to remove the white paint and go to my personal therapy session with Monique!!! Gave her a nice bath, pedicure, the works.....almost, (I'll tickle her inside and give her engine compartment a little bit of a hows ya father - tomorrow).

So I begin around 8:30 AM and decided that I would wash her then test the hood with different steps to see what exactly Monique required. Turns out she was in need of more attention then I thought. I decided to start from scratch! Dry her off and break out the CYCLO!!!

Here are the steps I did in case you don't feel like reading the novel of BS above.

1) Wash n dry - I use an air compressor to blow the water that collects in the wheels. I love these wheels but man, after a wash or some rain, it's like a lake in there! I am waiting for trees to start growing in there or sumtin!

2) CYCLO - Detailing Dynamics Step1 with Coarse pad (Clay wasn't needed as I did it only about 4-5 weeks ago)

3) Next I used Detailing Dynamics Step 2 with the middle grade foam pads on the cyclo. Man she started looking purty again. After this step, I noticed only very minor swirls remaining so I opted to ...see next step

4) Use Step 2 again but with the finest pad. Really smoothed it out!

5) Blew off all the dust, sprayed her with some detail spray. She was looking and feeling good!

6) To top her off, I opted to go back to my tried and true ZAINO!!! The Detailing Dynamics sealer I found to be very good and extremely easy to use, but my first love is ZAINO. So I mixed enough ZFX and Z5 for 3 coats. I begin applying the first coat and about 3/4's of the way done applying......

7) The fcukin rain starts! YOU BELIEVE THE F&*$%@G SHIAT!!!! I apologize for the vulgarites, but as you can imagine, I was very ummm yeah lez say angry!

8) So I start looking up to the heavens and asked the ZAINO gods to just spare me 40 minutes or so to allow me to protect my days labor!!!! (It was about 4:50PM)...

9) The Zaino gods answered and the drops of rain stopped. I finished applying, immediately began to remove (thank god for ZFX) even though it could have used another 30 minutes or so.

10) Removed and followed up with Z6 to remove the streaks.. I had to waste the remaining 2 coats of Z5 b'c I mixed it with the ZFX and you only get 12 hrs max working time!

11) Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, time to take pics and slap the cover on!!!

12) Keep in mind the shine isn't that great yet because there is only 1 coat of Z5 which doesn't make it pop as good as the Z2. I plan on adding at least 2-3 coats of Z5 the onto the Z2 and the coats will be a flowing!!!

Hopefully all the swirls are gone now!!!! LOL

BTW, As you can see in some pics the clouds were coming in fast so I didn't bother with the tire dressing! Plus I plan on washing her tomorrow and getting some more Zaino on her!

 

Few more - I was messing around trying different camera setting so some of the above may appear a lil blurry!

 

car looks good man

 

do you guys use a buffer when applying zaino or doit by hand?

Also sorry for sounding ignorant but the clay bay how do you apply it?

I'm looking to buy Zaino Total Protection Show Car Kit for $85.

 

I apply Zaino by hand. You have use apply Zaino SUPER SUPER SUPER SUPER thin...I tried posting pics of Zaino on the car but it barely shows up. That thin.

Clay Bar - Pick up a clay magic kit at Peps boys or whatever. Or if youorder the Zaino-it should come with it. When you get the Zaino - be sure to start early in the day b/c it takes alot of prep! Wash the car using Dawn liquid detergent. This will strip all old wax. While the car is still wet (do not dry it), use the Zaino Clay bar (flaten out and make it like a pancake) and your lubricant (Half cap of Zaino soap to 12 ozs water I believe), spray a small section, say 1/4 of the hood with lubricant, get it size n sudsy, now put the clay on that section and work it over the paint. Elbow grease is not needed. Just let the clay work over the area, you will hear it picking up dirt and see the clay get dirty. After claying a section, wipe up wuth a MF or rinse off. After a few section reowrk the clay into a ball then flatten out. You will see that the clay gets dirtier faster on the rear bumper then anyplace else (except for maybe the lower side skirts - do these parts last!) Just keep moving from section to section. Once ur done, Zaino reco's to wash the car again and then dry it.

 

Thanks, now what the hell are you doing to the G!!!! LOL Gotta be sumtin BIG!!!!
lol Are you goin June 4th?

 

Dang Drew would you come do my G too? I spent 3 hours in the 90F Florida sun doing the Z7/Z8 Saturday morning ritual, went to a BMW meet and if course it started raining. Thank God for Zaino which kept the water spots away for the most part, but the doors and wheels are filthy now. I'll be washing her all over tomorrow..

Btw I always meant to ask you what's an easy buffer to use? I don't want to get the Porter cable and mess up my paint. And would it be any good to apply Zaino with it?

Luckily we have some detailing gurus (or should I say maniacs) on this forum

 

drew nice work man i ll be working on mine tomorrow. i use 3m swirlmanrk remover then follow up with meguiares nxt it s alot of work but it s worth it afterwards

 

haven't made my mind up yet

 

A chance to go to FLA even to detail a car is worth it! LOL. I have the cyclo and love it but many peeps love the porter cable random orbit. You won't mess up the paint. The random orbit doesn't generate enough heat to burn paint.....Maybe if you deliberately tried to, maybe...maybe you can cause damage, but I doubt it. Anyway - for applying Zaino, nothing works better then good old fashioned hands! I used a foam pad yesterday and must admit that it was much easier to apply the Zaino thinner and more evenly. I will never use the Zaino applicators again! I always had trouble applying it evenly and thin with those applicators, even after I learned the trick to moisten the pad with a lil Z6 first! So I would not reco an orbital for applying or removing Zaino - You would use way too much product anyway and Zaino isn't exactly cheap. If you have scrathes, swirls etc and you like detailing, I would strongly recommend investing in an orbital. Especially being in FLA, you can use it year round!! I chose the cyclo over the PC for several reasons - the cyclo seems to be made better, can be rebuilt but I doubt with my usage I would ever have to, dual heads nice weight, very easy to operate (one handed if needed) and just a lil better design. If you look at the handle placements the PC has theirs on the side vs the cyclo which has it above the heads. When using an orbital you want to apply even pressure which you can't do if the handle is on the side.

 

Please tell me you use the cyclo machine for all these coats. I have no idea how you stand there and apply these manually....

Car is sick!

 

i like the rims on em... looks like the concept Skyline posted a while back.

 

Don't be so sure, it's 85F out and it's 8PM!!! You can't stand outside for 5min in that heat, much less detail a car even at night. Thanks for the detailed review, man those cyclos are pretty expensive, that's my Crawford plenum right there What I'm thinking of doing is find someone in my area on autopia or detail city who has an orbital buffer and ask them to help me.. that way I won't have to guinea pig my G with a buffer

 

You should see if a couple of the guys in the Florida club would be willing to split the cost and then share it!! VERY WELL MADE MACHINE. Matt from Detailing Dynamics was even telling me that he tried the PC but after a few months under a commercial wok load, it crapped out on him. He has several cyclos and rebuilds his every few years (just changes the internal brushes) Keep in mind that the machine is being used for at least a few hours a day, 6 days a week!

Speed - I used the cyclo for the polish and the zaino by hand. today i added 3 coats of Z5. Car looks clean, still have a few streaks to remove - no biggie, just parts that were too hot for the quick detailer (Z6) and dried up a bit. You'll see it tomorrow...scratch that, in a few hours!!! LOL I can't wait to get the Z2 Pro on there so it will shine. Now it looks clean, but Z2 makes it pop!

 

A little bit of "How's your father"...that slays me! LMAO!

I know the feeling! I use a leaf blower to blow the water from my J8's. Mine are not as wide as yours so I only get shrubs growing in there, not trees.


All that hard work is paying off. Your coupe is beautiful. My @ss is too lazy for all that so I pay a guy to do mine.