I've been pretty happy with my Zaino Z5/6/2, but the previous owner of my car didn't care for the body quite as well as I would have liked and there's some things that the Zaino just can't take care of, particularly on my hood. I have decided I would like to get a powered polisher and a good polish and attempt to take care of some light and medium-light scratches that way, as well as to bring some of the luster back to the paint, which doesn't seem to shine as brightly on the hood as on other areas of the car.
What I would like is some product recommendations (including a powered polisher, pads, and polishing compounds) and what type of process to use--technique, preparation, etc. Please keep the recommendations as cost-effective as possible.
Thank you in advance, I appreciate your help. This damn black car shows every little thing
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get your orbital from lowes... its only 109$, u can get it from the website with a discount too i think, then u will need to get pads and a backing
get your pads from this site, there on sale only 6 bucks per pad... get the kit with the backing plus an extra polishing and cutting pad.... a total of 3 polish/ 2 cut/1 wax/ and a couple other things........... http://www.properautocare.com/
the first one is your compound... it is very heavy and u need to use the cutting pad, after that use the second one to take out the hazyness and u should be swirl free/fine scratch free, use the polishing one with that
the first link, AIO, is a verry easy and gooood paint polish/cleaner.... you can do 2 coats of that with the polishing pad, then for the second link u have your SG.. u can apply this with the gray finishing pad or by hand, i have heard mixed opinions...
Thanks schneider, that's some great info. That helps a lot.
Anyone else have recommendations/experiences they can share?
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If this was me personally working on my car and I absolutely had to use Zaino I would do a full treatment with the buffer using other products first then a week or so later I would do the whole Zaino treatment by hand.
I don't have any pics that close up, but there's just some spots of minor scratches, particularly around the door handles, and there's a patch of fine scratches on the right of the top of the trunk lid, like someone lifted something out of the trunk and then dragged it sideways across the opening. The hood seems a little "blasted" as well; it just seems that it could use a good polish.
You mentioned something for light colored cars, but mine's black = swirl marks show up easily. Do you have any personal experience with products for black cars? Thanks for the links...I'm checking them out now.
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Well, after reading some of those great articles, especially about caring for German paint, I coughed up the dough for a Porter Cable, the German pad kit, and a couple other accessories. I think it'll make a big difference. Thanks for the help, everyone! I'll try to remember to take before/after pics when I do it...I can't wait for the stuff to get here!
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I went with the Meznerno that he raves about all over the site. I'm going to stick with my Zaino Z2 for my finisher polish.
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hope the menzerna turns out good for your!! I was going to chooose the IP and FP menzerna at first but after further investigation i found out that yes menzerna looks and works great but you only get those results on a circular buffer. it looks ok on the orbital but compared to the 1Z polishes ( u can find them on the autopia site) there not. but hey give it a try!!! make sure u pick up some regular pad too! I havent heard much about the special german pads but they should work just fine. remember tho.... only one product per pad! dont mix them since the pads can get "caked" with liquid. If i were you I would pick up a yellow cutting pad ( if the orange pad with the kit isnt getting the marks out) one or two polishing pads since these are the ones u are going to use the most and uould use these with your zanios... (cheak out this article to help u with your zainos experience lol http://autopia-carcare.com/zaino.html) and then i would get the gray finishing pad if u ever want to top of your zainos with some paste wax!
sooo it would kinda look like this:
M IP: orange or yellow cutting pad
M FP: green huge pad
Zaino: White polishing pad
wax?: Gray finishing pad
Well I must not be doing something right. All of the stuff arrived, and I tried polishing out some very light scratches on a section of the hood, and I sare say it looks no different than before. I followed all of the tips on ProperAutoCare.com. I used the orange power pad with the Menerza IP, and I did figure-8 patterns over the affected area with the Porter Cable on about 3.5, starting with about a nickel-sized blob of polish. I can still clearly see the scratches, and these are TINY scratches--can't feel them with the fingernail or anything, so I'd think that a polisher could at least take care of most of it.
So I must be doing something wrong. Let me ask you guys--how long should I go over the area with the polisher? A minute? two? And how hard should I press? Perhaps I was babying it too much this first time, and that's why I didn't get any results...I was worried about overpolishing or burning the clear coat. Any additional advice would be great.
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Originally posted by mrogers@Jul 6 2004, 05:22 PM Well I must not be doing something right. All of the stuff arrived, and I tried polishing out some very light scratches on a section of the hood, and I sare say it looks no different than before. I followed all of the tips on ProperAutoCare.com. I used the orange power pad with the Menerza IP, and I did figure-8 patterns over the affected area with the Porter Cable on about 3.5, starting with about a nickel-sized blob of polish. I can still clearly see the scratches, and these are TINY scratches--can't feel them with the fingernail or anything, so I'd think that a polisher could at least take care of most of it.
So I must be doing something wrong. Let me ask you guys--how long should I go over the area with the polisher? A minute? two? And how hard should I press? Perhaps I was babying it too much this first time, and that's why I didn't get any results...I was worried about overpolishing or burning the clear coat. Any additional advice would be great.
~one mans experience and opinion~
just like a suspected...to get good results with IP and FP u neeeed a circular buffer.... soo my sugestion is try the IP with the Yellow pad since the yellow is more agressive than the orange ( i hope u got some)
If that dosnt work u need to get 1Z Ultra paint polish and 1Z paint polish... When i used that stuff the other day my swirls and most of the scratches came right out. cheak my pictures i posted
dont go in a figurate motion.....go back and forth... for the hood, trunk, roof go up and down and for the sides go side to side.
Autopia for the most part has alot better information IMO and are alota help especially on there forums... all of those articles helped me alot more than pac. From what i read it seems that PAC is just trying to sell there own special products in the articles and they dont suggest to use the best stuff u can use.
if i were u i would pick up a Yellow pad (from PAC cause there on sale for 6 bucks)
and I would pick up a can of 1ZUPP and 1ZPP
save the IP and FP for when u get more experienced and want to upgrade to a circular buffer
start out on a low setting (3-4) and press down very little...about 5 pounds. after u notice the polish start to work in you can stop it and turn it up (5) dont put any pressure on it now, u can follow up on a quick sweep with it on the sixed setting if u like.
Depending on the product depends on how long u stay in one area... some pruducts should stay wet when your done...some turn to powder. Some u should use less some u should u more. For this question i would diffenetly head over to the Autopia forums and ask some one more experienced!
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