A friend of mine recently asked if I’d be willing to wash and wax his 2002 Porsche Carrera (911) 4S. For being almost 10 years old, it has less than 50,000 miles but its fair share of swirl marks and scratches. Of course, getting my hands on a sports car like his Porsche, I said I’d be happy to. That’s when he said he’d even provide the polish and wax. At first I was a little hesitant. This friend of mine is going to trust me with his $120,000 sports car and its paint job, with a wax I’m unfamiliar with? Read on to see how it turned out.
We scheduled a Saturday for his car to get a shine, and I showed up bright and early at his house. He backed the Porsche down his driveway, handed me a box containing the Zaino products, and said to call him if I had any problems. Oh, and he also didn’t need the car back until Sunday afternoon. I drove home, got out my car washing and waxing implements, and pulled the directions out of the box.
The first thing it said was to strip any existing wax off the car, which meant using dishwashing detergent. After a wash and dry, the paint felt good, so no need for a clay bar to remove any grit or grime from the Porsche’s paint.
The first Zaino product I applied to my friend’s Porsche was Zaino’s Z-5 Pro, a paint polish. It went on quickly and fairly easily, and buffed off just as easily, leaving quite the shine. I used the included applicator pad and small dollops of the polish, and it was as easy as applying liquid wax to a car. Buffing it off was along the same lines as a liquid wax as well.
The next product was Zaino’s All-In-One (AIO), a chemical which is greatly effected by temperature and humidity. The instructions highly recommend mixing in Zaino’s ZFX, which quickens the drying time of the AIO. The temperature was in the low 80s when I did this, but humidity was well above 50%, which led to a 1 hour drying time. If you try to remove the AIO product before it’s fully dried, it will smudge, and you’re basically moving the product around, rather than buffing it off.
I gave the Porsche 2 coats of Zaino’s AIO, at which point a few friends had gathered, and they all agreed with me: the second coat gave the car a brilliant and deep, shiny finish. A lot of the swirl marks and scratches disappeared, a testament to the chemical engineering that went into the creation of Zaino’s products. At this point, I returned the car to its owner, who is quite pleased with the results, and is already looking forward to me doing it again next spring!
Overall, I’d say the idea of mixing chemicals to create a wax product for a car whose MSRP is over $100,000 is above my amateur detailer pay grade, but the results speak for themselves. Now that I’m familiar with the products, the next time I use them I expect it to be much easier. For the do-it-yourself home detailer, I wouldn’t shy away from the Zaino products, but make sure you give the AIO wax plenty of time to dry between coats. It took me around 6 hours to wash, dry, apply Z-5 Pro, and 2 coats of AIO, so it’s not a quick process.
Zaino sells their products on their web site: www.zainostore.com
by John Suit
Thanks to Jack for lending me his Porsche for the day and giving me the opportunity to drive an iconic sports car as well as try out a new car care product!
