Spent a few hours detailing the car today. Very pleased with the result
http://oi66.tinypic.com/2rr40sz.jpg
Nice and shiney GREAT JOB
Current Garage Highlights
2003 525iT TiSilver
2002 M5 TiSilver
1998 528i KASCHMIRBEIGE METALLIC (301) (Goldie)
Former Garage Highlights
2005 X5 4.8is
2004 325iTs (2x)
1973 Pantera L
1971 Dodge Dart Swinger "Lite Package"
1970 Dodge Challenger T/A 340 Six Pack Alpine White
1970 Dodge Challenger T/A 340 Six Pack GoManGo Green
1969 Road Runner 383
1968 Barracuda Formula S 340 Sea Foam Green
What are your favorite products? Off the shelf at Pep Boys or fancy German Chemicals?
Griot's Products only.
Current Garage Highlights
2003 525iT TiSilver
2002 M5 TiSilver
1998 528i KASCHMIRBEIGE METALLIC (301) (Goldie)
Former Garage Highlights
2005 X5 4.8is
2004 325iTs (2x)
1973 Pantera L
1971 Dodge Dart Swinger "Lite Package"
1970 Dodge Challenger T/A 340 Six Pack Alpine White
1970 Dodge Challenger T/A 340 Six Pack GoManGo Green
1969 Road Runner 383
1968 Barracuda Formula S 340 Sea Foam Green
NOTHING CARNUBA!!! All Griot's stuff (local guys) is carnuba. Great for a car show, horrible for real life. Carnuba is a natural product, nature loves the ease of breaking it down. Nanotechnology has come a shockingly long way.
"Fire Glaze plus" by RMP. Buy it, use it or make your detailer use it. Hands down the best. 3 year warranty, cheap, easy and the only thing I'd recommend for a car's paint other than a ceramic coating like CeramicPro (I'm a distributor of both to be transparent. I'm a believer.)
I've detailed for a long time and this Fire Glaze is insane good.
Contact them directly @ autopolish.com, don't buy it from me. Tell John Lee says "hi".
If you don't agree, I'll buy your bottle from you.
Last edited by Plattus1000; 03-14-2018 at 10:48 AM.
As an example of how thorough a detail can be; my friend and I started to clean the interior at 9am and by 9pm, we still have the interior glass, leather seats (front and back) and the final carpet extraction, left to do. Today, at some point, we'll get to the exterior paint, trim, wheels and glass. Perhaps one more day.
This wasn't even a planned event. I normally "clean" my car once a year but never on a roadtrip.
My car already has a Ceramic coating (4 layers deep) but at the body shop, they nackered it pretty good in the back and so I'll use the Diamond glaze+ on the rear hatch, wheels and side glass/mirrors.
I just wanted to show what I meant by "detailer" and I'm a boat detailer by trade. Cars are my buddy Dan's speciality.
Anyone in the Washington, Oregon or northern CA (Redding on up) area who wants to see the benifits of either coating are more than welcome to touch and see the finishes. I'll smack it with something hard and you can see the mark rub off with your t-shirt afterwards. It's really quite impressive.
I'll add to the Fire Glaze+ comments above :
I'd mentioned that Dan, the guy who once owned this car and who goes off the deep end when detailing. 7 years ago, he polished my car (before his divorce and I bought the car out from under him via his lying ex-wife (who never told me that he wanted the car but told me he was cool with me buying it, not exactly the truth but Today Dan loves the 4.6 and the sound she makes at 130 - when the detector went off forcing us back to 65 and cleaning my brake rotors)
Anyhow, he saw the shadowline trim on my car and asked me if I had a garage, "nope" He then said "well, you did a nice polish job on these pieces." Again, "nope" I told him that if they look good, it's because I polished them with Fire Glaze+ the 1st week I had the car which was about 3 years ago and I go through an automatic car wash about once a week.
He couldn't believe that they weren't scratched up or faded (there's some scratches but nothing serious) . When he used Fire Glaze+ last night, his eyes lit up, he's a believer now too.
Last edited by Plattus1000; 03-18-2018 at 04:29 PM.
What do you guys recommend for interior trim pieces? I have my vavona pieces wrapped in brushed black but I have a stash of technical graphite that I'm thinking of swapping in. What is good to clean and then polish up?
I'd have to defer you to Dan, the expert. (I'll ask) On my wife's Volvo, her keys hang down over the varnished wood trim so she asked me to coat these pieces with a ceramic coating. They've resisted scratching for over ayear now.
Dan did have a specific polish for the trim pieces so I'll get that info asap.
(just received his reply
Hey, Lee, Glad you are doing great. We used a Zaino product on your wood trim and I have used it on all wood trim that is sealed, with excellent results.. The product name is. - Z-AIO. All-in-one. Cleaner Polish Protectant... It has an emulsifying cleaner, a very mild abrasive, and leaves a glossy and strong protective layer.. Does your wood trim look good ? Yeah it does ! I have your email address so I will send you a link to this on the Zaino website.
(I'll include the link once I have it)
Last edited by Plattus1000; 03-20-2018 at 05:05 PM.
do you think that is specific to the wood? is the laminate/plastic material on vavona the same as the plastic used on the non-wood trims?
It's a good question. I think what he's suggesting is whatever you use, it should have a small amount of abrasion coupled with a protective film after buffing. Most "cleaner waxes" have this formula in varying degrees. The trick would be to find the one that lasts the longest for whatever materials you are working with.
I prefer to use more aggressive compounds to polish
up things, clean them off and seal them with a polymer of coating of some sort. Basically make them new and lock out the environment with a nice coating of something resilient. This is of course a boat detailing thing and might not translate to cars directly. (I'm not nearly a great car detailer, I can do it but I'm not good enough to charge for my work. Boats on the other hand are my world)
Dan continues :
"Sal Zaino is to me, the man who had the vision to create a true Coating way, way, way, back when there was no such thing.. I'm thinking it's been about 20 years since I first discovered his products, and I believe they even go farther than that..
For the longest time, Zaino Z-2 and Z-5 were the only products that were considered Coatings in a world of Carnauba waxes, solid and liquid, and really nothing else..
It was possible to layer his Z-2 and Z-5 and get some incredible looks from it..
The Zaino Rep in my area of Bellevue had a red Toyota Solara that had an incredible look to the paint because of I don't know how many layers of Zaino on it..
And at the time Sal Zaino invented all of these products, the application was all by HAND, including the correction, etc..
Yeah, that's how long ago this was -- even before someone tried out the Porter Cable 7424 Sander out on paintwork..
There has been talk for years that Zaino and a company called DuraGloss had a relationship, etc., and I have never had the time to follow up on that..
I used to hear a lot of people talk about all the awesome products that Duragloss made, and they were always very pleased with the results..
I assume that the Zaino line was more expensive (and it is), so that may have been 1 driver that moved people over to this line..
Eventually, real Sealants and Coatings finally evolved, and Zaino kind of went back in the line, but there are still entire car communities totally using nothing but Zaino..
There were some Corvette Forums that used nothing but Zaino..
As you know, I still use and love their 2 leather clean and protect products ( I gave you a couple of bottles), and of course, the Zaino AIO (All In One) is the ONLY product I will use on wood, painted, carbon fiber, etc., trim, dash and door, etc... It just rocks and improves any trim, especially if it is lightly scratched, as most pieces are..
Despite all the new products out every year in the Coating Marketing World, Zaino is still there !! This has to be a testament to its unique, niche and absolute quality..
See if there is a local Zaino Rep in your area.. Try to google Local Zaino Rep in ___________ and see what comes up..
Here is the link for the Zaino product we used on your Rocket !!!
http://www.zainostore.com/mm5/mercha..._Code=washprep
I can't remember it being that expensive, but perhaps it was..
One bottle will last forever, and it can be used on auto paint of course, but I experimented with it well over a decade ago and it really made wood trim, plastic trim, look -- well, like your trim does today.
Best,
Dan F"
Now that's what I call an answer.
Last edited by Plattus1000; 03-21-2018 at 02:06 PM.
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