My Zaino vs. NXT Tech Wax Results (Rosso Nero 348)

Here is my Email to Sal Zaino, and his response...

Hello Sal: Thank you for providing such great products. My 1983 Ferrari has won several car shows, and I always get great praise for the finish and shine. My brother-in-law told me about your product, and told me I could improve the finish of my car, but I really had my doubts because the car is 25 years old, so I thought nothing but a new paint job would bring more shine. Obviously, I was wrong. Now, after exclusively using Zaino products on my car, I find myself being asked all the time about the shine. In fact, one of the judges at a show, couldn't look at the car on the sunny side because of the brightness. Again, thanks and here are some pics to do whatever you want - enjoy!

Michael


Sal Zaino wrote:

Michael -

Thank You very much. I really
appreciate it.

I am a word of mouth business and any comments or endorsements are
greatly appreciated.

Glad you like Zaino Polish products. I will always strive to
manufacture the best products in the industry.


Thank You,
Sal Zaino
(732)833-8800
http://www.zainostore.com

 

I bought a set of Zainos just 2 days back after doing some research, minus the zfx as I plan to leave the car for 24hrs and than carry on with the detailing as per recommendation.. Will try it out tomorrow.

I have seen many full time car groomers who use Zaino product all the time.... With outstanding results.

I would suggest checking out Autopia.org for some insight into this car detailing world...

(p.s. I have also noticed some car groomers who mix and match Zaino with other brands with claims that it works for them.)

 

I've used Meguiar's #26 for years. Tried all of them. Had black Z8 with softest paint I've ever seen, no clearcoat. Detailer I used occasionally used Zaino. Never looked as good as #26. I actually alternate #26 and NXT now NXT 2.0, and they work great. Bought a car with lots of swirls, I hate buffers usually. I used #9, and the red cleaner of the 3-stage stuff they sell. Used scratch-X on bad spots. Worked great, covered with #26 and it was great. Can use filler glaze too, but I usually don't. Old GM Imperial stuff was great too, many many years ago. IMHO Zaino, P21, etc. are overrated and overpriced. If it works for you great, but I've shown a lot, and I use fluorescents to judge cover. Never let down by above. NXT is really easy for touchups, and alternating covers great. FWIW.

 

NXT has always impressed me when using it. Really brings out the shine.

 

I use both and have several jars and bottles of both in my garage.

My Car is RED

My 355 had no clear coat
My 360 does have a clear coat

My detailing bay has 1350 watts of 18 spot lights shining down on the car at different angles to show any imperfections. I also have windows for sunlight and surround lighting to help out. I am very meticulous about what goes on and touches my cars.


Zymol Ital - Provides a beautiful deep rich color. It makes the red more red. You can see it coming from a mile away. The car feels slick after you apply it.

Zaino - Provides a reflective shine like you can't imagine. The deep rich color of Zymol is not there but the shine is like nothing else. The paint becomes so smooth that when you rub your hand across it, it feels like your hand is sinking inches into the paint. Its a really bizarre phenomenon that my family and friends like to try.

I have found that if you use a couple of coats of the Zaino Z5 Polish before the Z2 it DOES hide swirl marks

As far as protection goes, the Zaino just lasts longer. Anyone would come to the same conclusion by just feeling the paint after 100 miles with each product.

You need a lot of experience to have Zaino work really well. Contrary to what other people say on FCHAT, I use a lot of hard rubbing to apply and remove the Zaino. I don’t understand why others says it goes on and off so easy. Think of it like polishing brass to a high luster. You need repetitive pressure and speed to achieve a nice sheen.

The Zymol is $400 per jar

The Zaino is $18 per bottle plus the cost of the ZFX



With that said, the best advice I could give anyone about detailing is to spend about $200 on Griots Microfiber towels. (white, yellow, AND the new blue) Use them once and then wash them with ONLY LIQUID TIDE and the Griots microfiber cleaners (so just buy the big jug). Discard the microfiber towels if they touch the ground or a dirty wheel well.


This is just my opinion, but comments by others seem to justify my judgment on the matter.

 

I agree and like the NXT better, now using the 2.0 which does the job also. I have a black MB 320 and after clay bar, I use Meguiar's Pro DACP to strip all waxes and detail touch-ups, and then apply the NXT. Afterwards, paint feels soft like baby's butt. The DACP removes all swirls and spider scratches. I use a porter cable for all applications, seem to be the safest. The 'red' pad for darker color cars and the 'yellow' pad for lighter color cars. I try to keep it simple. And seems to work for me.

 

From the top...

I am a big fan of Zaino products (and many Meguiars products as well).

The issue of visual apperance of paint really comes down to how flat it is at the micro(and macro)scopic level. As with every surface known to man (or atleast to me) the flatter we can make a surface and tighter we can push the molecules together, the greater the reflectivity (light reflection vs. light refraction). So how does this apply to Zaino vs. NXT wax?

Modern, catalyzed, clear coats are actually cross linked in nature. Under a microscope they have a lot of valleys and peaks inherent to the design: not very 'flat'. Moving out a level, paint is also micrscopically scratched every time it is touched. Moving out further, everytime an object harder than the paint (dirt, sand, grit, stiff fibers, bug exoskeleton, etc, etc..) is rubbed against it, it lightly scratches the paint at the macroscopic level, which appears as surface marring or swirl marks. All of these factors contribute to an uneven surface that fails to reflect light, which causes the paint to loose gloss.

To get maximum gloss back from the paint we need to either a)re-level the paint so that it becomes flat again or b)'fill' the paint so that it appears level again.

Meguiars NXT (and NXT v2) lists kalion clay as one of its ingedients. Kalion clay serves two functions. One, it is lightly abrasive, so that it 'cleans' the paint as it is applied. This is important because NXT is sold on the shelves of Autozone, where Joe Shmoo might want to wax his 1982 F-100 with orginal paint. The clay cleans the paint (removing previous wax, oxidation, etc) to ensure the wax adheres to the less then perfect paint.

Kalion Clay also has the another benefit in that it 'fills' in the scratches that rob paint of its gloss. The effect is short lived, but the difference can be dramatic on less then ideal paint. The downside is that it is hard to get long durablity out of products that use kalion clay, as witnessed by the less then ideal life of NXT.

Zaino on the otherhand has all cleaners, fillers, clays, and oils removed for optimum clarity and incredible results. So while the results can be better (on proper paint) they can also be worse. If Joe Schmoo tried to apply Zaino to his F-100 he would likely think it is the worst wax in the world. It would not work on his paint.

As with anything, there is no best, just ideals of situations.

 

^
^
^

Excellent post.

 

It always amazes me when one of these threads pops up on fchat....how many different products and methods are out there that help us improve the appearance of our cars. In my opinion, you want to AVOID putting anything on your paint that has silicones in it - this stuff may get a nice deep shine but at a cost in the long run. Try putting some silicone on your windshield and see how much fun it is. I will admit...I'm guilty of using products with silicones on rare occasions.

Like many....I've used almost everything out there. A well detailed car takes lots of time an effort, much more than most people realize. They see a great detail job and think: "Oh....that looks very nice, he must wash and wax it all the time". It's soooo much more than that. It's avoiding tree sap, dirt roads, not following trucks too closely, never touching the paint when the car is dusty, keeping others from touching it.....it's a full time job to keep a car in extremely nice condition. A perfect detail job is truly an artform, not just elbow grease and time spent....so much more.

In my small town, my cars are known to be spotless. People always come up to the cars and look them over with a white glove and a magifying glass. So I always work very hard not to disappoint. If I don't have a lot of time and need a good shine, I will use Meguiar's products, they do produce a good result. But the best results I've had is with Zaino. It's sort of tricky to use, many factors can influence it's curing....or lack thereof. If it's a humid day that has a huge impact on the amount of time it takes to cure. Like Daniel says...on his black 348 the results were less than great. On my older black TR I too had some difficulty getting Zaino to work out, but after 3 days (yes....THREE DAYS) of work with Zaino....and lots of cursing...the results were incredible. On other colors Zaino seems to work better, but black is a toughy. Zaino will do nothing to help fill in scratches and hazing, while the paint around these areas shines up better....creating more of a contrast between perfect and non-perfect areas - thereby making imperfections show up even more.

Using the meguiar's methods and products produces a nice shine, but this shine is delicate. If you wipe over a "Meguiared" car that's dusty you will make thousands of scratches in the finish....some of these are in the actual paint....but most are in the artificial layer of "shine" that is on top of the paint. I've found that my car seems to get more dusty with Meguiar's products than with Zaino. The Zaino seems to actually repell dust - I'm not kidding....it seems to have some anti-static-cling properties or something like that.

Bottom Line: If preparation time is short - maybe only a couple of days, I will use Meguiar's products. But if I have lots of time to prepare the car, I always use Zaino products.

 

Have you tried this product out, if so what's your opinion? I used it carefully following the directions and got excellent results, (I clayed my vehicle, removed any scratches and polished the surface before applying 3 coats over 3 days, was a good workout!).

 

I haven't messed around with the Swax much so can't really comment on it but the Deep Detail I have used and use a lot. I love this QD, it goes on and off great and leaves a beautiful gloss.

 

THANK GOD someone else has seen the light!!!

I wrote about the NXT Tech Wax back in 2005 when I first used it. I used it on the recommendation of a friend back in Wisconsin who is friends with Barry Meguiar. Barry had told him when Tech Wax first came out to use it as the 3rd step in their 3 step detailing process (1st step is a cleaner wax, 2nd is a polish, 3rd is a Caranauba) instead of the normal Carnauba wax. Said it was better.

So the guy had me over to show me how to apply it (Barry showed him).

I am absolutely anal about the condition of my cars. They are ALWAYS extra clean. I took it home and tried it out that weekend on my black 328 I used to have. It was insane how great it looked AND how easy it was to apply. I follow the EXACT process that you do every time I wash/wax my car.

Hot water with Dawn
Rinse and rinse again
Griot's Clay with Speed Shine
Griot's #2 or #3 polish with the Griot's orbital (if I need to-usually I don't)
Mequiar's NXT Tech wax

That's it.

Dan, I am SO glad you are on here touting the magic of the NXT Tech Wax. I try to tell everyone about it because it is truly GREAT stuff. On a side note, I spent over $300 when I bought the Griot's whole system, including their Best of Show wax. I found it difficult to work with and LESS deep of a shine - even on my red Lotus.

Anyway, here are some pics of a Tech Wax job.......
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

I use Meguiars scratch and swirl remover, except that I dilute the potion by spraying Mothers instant detail spray on the surface with the pastey scratch remover....Hand rub with Micro fibre...super clean afterwards and apply megs...pure polish Glaze #7....Then if necess, megs yellow Wax..
Take a look

My black range Rover is even better finish...
Image Unavailable, Please Login