impressed with zaino so far

alee said:

Hey now Z isn't so bad is it?

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well, I do like the ease of application that zaino offers and you do have to rely on "the force" when using so little because you can't see that you've applied anything to the paint. this is especially true on white cars.

I can NOT say that the shine that I got with zaino is any better than the shine I've been getting with medallion. see pics.

zaino is indeed slicker to the touch than I remember medallion being but this isn't really a fair comparison. other than when I use it for claying the car, I've NEVER applied final inspection spray after a full wash and wax with meguiar's products. while I suspect the zaino may still feel slicker to the touch, comparing clay+z5+z6 isn't a fair comparison to clay+show car glaze+medallion (NO final pass with a quick detailer).

medallion does last in my experience. in fact, when I stript it off using dawn this weekend, it still had a deep shine and was beading water decently. I applied it ~3.5 months ago and only applied a quick detailer after washing ONE TIME.

the follow two pictures were taken at almost the same time of day (within an hour). the first pic is after a full meguiar's treatment (less Final Inspection spray) and the second pic is after a zaino tratment including Z6 spray. the shine is pretty decent in both cases. looking at the driver's door, you can see the reflection of my subaru parked on the curb ~25 feet away.





and here's a pic my subaru about a month after treating it with medallion. in fact in this pic, the car hadn't been washed for a week. I'd say that mdeallion works pretty well!

I am definitely interested in your long term results although having owned a white car prior to this, I would have to say white is the hardest color to impress with.

Don't get me wrong... I trust your good eye on this... but I think there is something special about how Zaino shines.

I'm still flip flopping between switching to either P21S or Griots. Longevity is probably the least of my concern because I end up washing my car once a week anyway and waxing every 2 weeks... just because I can.

I'm not trying to advocate that Zaino is better than medallion or sound like a typical Zaino zealot, but just thought I'd add my two cents to what you wrote.

When you say that the slickness comparison isn't fair, you are right, it's not fair. You did more paint prep when using the Medallion (Meg #7). Furthermore, using Z-6 right after applying a coat of Z isn't going to increase slickness. With or without Z-6, a fresh coat of Zaino is by far the slickest product I've ever used. However, Z-6 will do a great job of rejuvenating slickness on a coat that's 4-5 months old.

Also, IMO, Zaino's shine isn't its best quality. I like Zaino because it is so easy it is to use, doesn't stain, stays slick, the shine 'seems' to improve over time, and most important of all..the way it smells!

With that said, I'd be willing to bet that in a contest between a freshly applied coat of medallion vs. a freshly applied coat of Zaino, medallion would win. Like I said before, Zaino's shine is it's second best quality. Medallion contains oils and silicones which make for a beautiful shine. Zaino, on the other hand, contains no oils at all. It's water based. It's primary ingredients are polymers and a high quality resin.

BTW, great pictures! Both the medallion pics and the Z pics look terrific. They are some of the best I've seen!

Tony

alee said:

I am definitely interested in your long term results although having owned a white car prior to this, I would have to say white is the hardest color to impress with.

Don't get me wrong... I trust your good eye on this... but I think there is something special about how Zaino shines.

I'm still flip flopping between switching to either P21S or Griots. Longevity is probably the least of my concern because I end up washing my car once a week anyway and waxing every 2 weeks... just because I can.

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yes, I admit that folks with other colors will likely have different results. but I do have a good eye that has grown accustomed to white paint. every new car I've ever purchased has been white. that makes 7/7 new cars 2/4 new morotcycles. there were even a few used cars and bikes that were white.

the ease of use is a pretty strong argument in favor of zaino (not that it's that much easier than meguair's but it is easier).

using the product sparingly is key but I'd also like to know what it will end up costing me over time using the stuff long term.

while I can wash the car once a week in the spring/summer (the subaru every two weeks), I can't really spend a whole day polishing more than a few times a year for each car. that doesn;t even take into account the extra work of applying lexol a few times a year. it's not a big deal but still time consuming none the less.

my goal is to get the best, longest lasting results with as little time and money spent as possible. in the long run, zaino may indeed fill this requirement the best

Intermezzo said:

When you say that the slickness comparison isn't fair, you are right, it's not fair. You did more paint prep when using the Medallion (Meg #7). Furthermore, using Z-6 right after applying a coat of Z isn't going to increase slickness. With or without Z-6, a fresh coat of Zaino is by far the slickest product I've ever used. However, Z-6 will do a great job of rejuvenating slickness on a coat that's 4-5 months old.

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since zaino is itslef a polish (as is show car glaze), I disagree with the first part of your statement. to my fingers, z5 is indeed very slick by itself but it was made even slicker by applying the z6. yes, I do feel that it will still be slicker than 7+medallion+FI but I just feel that the difference is minimized when comparing z5+z6 to medallion+FI.

as I've mentioned either here or on autopia, I may become a permanent zaino user due to the ease of use because I am already satisfied with the medallion shine and the longetivity. it works for me. the kicker would be if zaino actually cost less to use over the long term.

that said, the shine is indeed oustanding.

sorry, I gotta post thess pics again (really proud of them):

31st330i said:

since zaino is itslef a polish (as is show car glaze), I disagree with the first part of your statement. to my fingers, z5 is indeed very slick by itself but it was made even slicker by applying the z6. yes, I do feel that it will still be slicker than 7+medallion+FI but I just feel that the difference is minimized when comparing z5+z6 to medallion+FI.

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Don't mean to split hairs, but a polish in the strictest sense is anything that shines up your paint. It's just a matter of semantics. You can't really compare Zaino Show Car Polish to Meguiar's #7 or anything similar to that. Although they both serve to shine up your paint, they play completely different roles in your paint's detailing regimen. Perhaps Z-6 did in fact increase slickness to a freshly applied coat of Zaino on my car.....but I couldn't tell. Anyway, not a big deal. Slickness, as long as it's there, is probably one of the less important elements in deciding how good a protectant is.

BTW, I just converted by black bimmer (stripped 10 coats of Zaino....ouch!) to carnauba. I'm VERY pleased with the way it looks. I'll keep Zaino on my silver car though.

Tony