Clay????????????????

A long time ago this was stuff you made into shapes and then baked. When I bought the Camaro people started using it as a verb as in, "have you clayed your car?" Well, I hadn't and I struggled mightily with the concept. Really, what could "clay" possibly have to do with making a car shiny? Well, When I finally ordered some Zaino I ordered the clay too. I was unclear on the concept, but I knew this: the people who admitted not using clay were sent back to start over and clearly told that without clay there was no point in bothering. So, I ordered it! When the package arrived it was the first thing I looked at. Partly because it was the most unknown thing and partly because it was the only thing you could open and hold. The jar held two small bars of clay sealed in plastic. The clay was yellow, as it's been until a couple of weeks back when it turned red. I'll try the red next time my car needs claying but until now I've always used yellow clay. I pondered it for a while and then put it away to wait for "Zaino day."

The next Saturday morning I got up early to start the process. Step two is using the clay bar. I mixed up the required dilute car wash and water mixture in a spray bottle acquired for this purpose, then I find and unwrap one of the clay bars. Having never seen a clay bar used and having never had anyone give me a decent explanation of it's use I stare at it for awhile, squish it a bit and generally get over my fears that this lump of clay will harm the paint on my new car.
I start by squirting some car wash and water (lubricant) on the hood of the car and gently rubbing the clay bar back and forth over a very small area. At first it's very rough, like rubbing clay on fine sandpaper and then after a few times back and forth the roughness diminishes until the clay bar glides across the paint like a bar of soap sliding around on the shower floor. Very odd, I knew the car was spotless, it was only four months old and I'd washed it every week since we'd gotten it. Yet something unexpected happened. My beautiful clean car was disgustingly dirty and all my years of washing cars had not tought me how to really get a car clean.
Quite the unexpected result. So I kept going and soon, well, soon is such a relative term, but soon, half of the car was smooth. In the process of claying the clay turns color as it picks up the dirt it removes from the paint. Not having figured out what to do when that happens, I turned it over and used the other side. At some point both sides became so dirty I had to figure out how to clean it. I tried kneading it, I used to bake bread and so knead meant something to me. It must have meant something else to the people who used that word, because the clay was close to impossible to knead. Having been through that disaster I continued but even though the people on the forums had told us over again and again not to drop the clay, it slipped away and fell. Darn! On to the second bar. After finishing that step I washed, rinsed and dried the car. Interesting, a car that I thought was clean turned out to be disgustingly filthy and while I thought it looked clean after washing the first time, now it sparkled in a way it hadn't ever before.

Not a bad first day, but not the best first day either.

So now that I've decided that it's worthwhile and been using Zaino for five years or so I've figured out a few tricks to make it easier and help avoid the kneading and dropping issues. Actually, it's a lot more than worthwhile, it's about the best thing you can do to a car before you put something on to protect the paint. And it makes the paint feel just wonderful. I'm always amused by people's reactions when I ask them to feel the paint on my car.

So what have I learned? First, never use the second side of the clay bar. Use one side until it's dirty, then flatten it out and fold the dirty side on itself so there is a layer of dirt in the very center of the clay and two clean sides on the outside. Each time one side gets dirty repeat this until you stop getting clean sides.

Always keep your attention on the clay bar. I've found from experience that it only slips when my attention lapses. If something comes along that wants your attention, stop claying until it passes.

Also, if you're concerned that it will slip anyway, wear a surgical rubber glove because the rubber sticks to clay much better than wet fingers.

Use enough lubricant. The lubricant floats away some of the removed dirt and keeps the clay from sticking to the paint.

Don't press too hard, clay requires only gentle pressure.

Be very careful near edges as there is very little friction between the clay and the car and it's easy to slide right off the edge, especially on curvy surfaces like fenders and bumpers.

Don't be in a rush. It's perfectly reasonable for it to take an hour or two to first clay your car. It's also reasonable for it to only take half an hour if the car's in good condition.

It's OK to only clay one panel. I commonly do just the hood or roof if I notice something that I don't like.

I clay only on days that I'm going to put a coat of polish on the car. Paranoia! I want to fill in any holes or bare spots that the clay might have caused. Don't have a clue if it matters, but it seems like a good idea so I do it.

The Zen of applying Zaino

All the instructions for applying Zaino polish stress that you should apply it as sparingly as possible. Sounds simple enough. You mix up some Zaino Polish and ZFX in the mixing bottle, probably 1/2 a mixing bottle and 4 drops of ZFX to start. That's about 1 ounce of polish and for most beginners it looks like hardly enough to do the hood of their car let alone the 2 to 4 coats experienced users claim it's good for. So how do I manage to get that many coats out of such a small amount of polish?

First you should understand the current requirements.

Z-2 Pro should be put on thin
Z-3 MUST be put on as thin as possible
Z-5 somewhere in the middle but thin is way better

The technique I use to put on the thinnest possible coats is:

Dampen the applicator as necessary, start with a squirt or two of Z-6 or distilled water and after that, keep a spray bottle of distilled water handy to use as necessary.

Start by applying 3 parallel evenly spaced 1/8" wide lines of polish across the long dimension of the applicator pad. Spread the polish as far as you can. When it's thin enough you should essentially not be able to see the polish. Do not apply more polish to the pad until absolutely necessary, if you can spread it more, keep working. After the first application of 3 lines of polish you should probably drop back to 1 or 2 lines of polish for each additional application. If you notice the pad getting dry and the polish getting hard to spread, a fine mist of distilled water should get the polish spreading again.

That last paragraph should have been rather obvious. Add polish to the pad, spread, add more polish, spread repeat until done adding distilled water as necessary. For those of you with dark colored cars figuring out when the pad isn't applying polish any more is not to bad, you can mostly see where the polish is on the car, you have it easy. If like me you have a light colored car, you might not be able to see the polish on the car when it's applied as thinly as I recommend. For the first year or two, I would move my head every which way trying to get enough of a reflection off something that would let me see the very subtly distortion in the reflection caused by the polish. Eventually I realized that I knew how to apply it and I didn't have to make sure it was there. Part of that was remembering where I'd been and part was learning that the pad against the car feels different as it runs out of polish to spread so I could pay attention to how it feels applying the polish and know when to apply more polish.

Ira

Washing rims

I've always kept my rims clean by keeping a coat of Zaino on them. If you keep it up, a hose gets about 1/2 the brake dust off and a light wiping with a damp cloth gets rid of the rest. I'm a bit behind on the Zaino at the moment so I pulled out my copy of the Guru Reports Wheel & Tire Care Guide to see what they recommended for cleaning rims. Their only grade "A" in the Wheel Cleaner test went to Eagle One All Wheel Cleaner A2Z so I put that on the list for the trip to AutoZone to pick up new knock sensors for the Camaro. But I washed the car before AutoZone and I was feeling curious and lazy so I grabbed a bottle of Castrol Super Clean, lightly sprayed a wheel, counted to 30 and then rinsed it really well with a hose. What to say but WOW, instant clean with no work. I'll still go buy the A2Z stuff because I know how nasty Super Clean is and given that it's time to Zaino the wheels again I'd like to have something that easily get's them clean before I put the Zaino on.

I'm a bit over the top when it comes to Zainoing my rims. First they have to come off the car so I can get every square inch of the rim spotless. Then I apply Zaino everywhere, inside, outside, down the lug nut holes, everywhere, even those places that never see the light of day. That way when it's time to do it again cleaning all those hard to get places is just a matter of wiping with a damp cloth.

And while I've just learned that it's possible to clean wheels with essentially no work, I still thank that keeping them Zainoed so they clean up with a damp rag is better for the long term health of the rim's finish. It's not such a big deal, a couple of coats of Z-2 Show Car Polish once a year or so is all it takes to keep the wheels easy to clean.

How much soap

Interesting question, you're mixing a bucket of soap and water to wash your car and you want to know how much soap to use. Well, it depends, the dirtier the car, the more soap you need. The only way to really know is to watch the suds. The suds are there to let you know if there's still cleaning power left. Add the amount of soap to your bucket of water that feels right to you. As you wash the car, pay attention to the suds. If they go away and blasting the bucket with a hose for a second doesn't bring them back, you didn't add enough, if after you're done washing the car it seems like there are more suds than you started with, then you could have used less. After a few times you should be able to figure out how much soap your bucket of water needs. The recommendation on the Z-7 bottle is 2 or 3 capfulls per gallon and I wouldn't recommend you mix much more than 2 gallons at a time or you waste a lot of car wash.

The first day

Well, you need to start at a reasonable time to finish before dark so 9:00 I head for the garage. First I mix up a bucket of Dawn and water and proceed to wash the car, rinse and dry? After that, it looks clean and beautiful. Next comes Clay. Don't know about you, but I'd never seen a clay bar before and had no idea what it was about. First I mixed up a pint of water and a teaspoon of Show Car Wash. Then I starred at the clay for 15 minutes before finally being willing to spray some soap and water on the car and glide the clay across the paint on a film of water. But it didn't glide, it was more like rubbing a pencil eraser on fine sandpaper, at least it felt like that for the first few strokes, then it got smoother and finally the clay just slid across it like a bar of soap on a wet shower floor. Really seemed odd. So I pulled the clay away and felt the paint. The clayed part felt smooth, like a wet china dinner plate, the rest felt like fine sandpaper. My new car was filthy, yet I'd washed it every week I'd owned it! I finished claying the car and at the end the whole thing was smooth as silk. Now it was time to wash with the Show Car wash and water, then rinse and dry. Looked a lot better than before, astonishing how much shine was hidden by the dirt I didn't know was there. Next I put on a really thin coat of the Z-1 Pre-Cleaner and Gloss Conditioner and right on top of that, a layer of Z-2 Show Car Polish. After that, I waited, it was cold then, so an hour or so for it to dry completely. Then you remove the dried polish with a white cotton towel. Now it really looked shiny and it felt shiny to boot, weird, I'd never touched a car that felt that way. Lastly a quick spray and buff with the Z-6 Gloss Enhancer Spray and it looked as good or better than any car I'd ever seen and it's Silver, not a color normally associated with stunning good looks.

Learning about Zaino

Once I'd bought the Camaro it seem I should learn about it so I found a few forums and started reading. In the detailing forums, many products were mentioned but none so fervently as Zaino Show Car Polish, www.lazaino.com . In fact it was often so fervent it was hard to believe it wasn't religion or snake oil. It took me 4 months before I finally broke down and printed the order form, filled it out, got the wife to write a check and mailed it all to NJ. Yet another part of the reason I was skeptical, I mean in todays world who makes you send a check to NJ to buy car polish?

And then there were the steps. On the first day you're supposed to:

Wash the car with Dawn dishwashing detergent and water
Rinse and dry the car
Mix some Zaino car wash with some water in a spray bottle
Use that mixture as a lubricant to Clay the car
Wash the car with Zaino car wash and water
Rinse and dry the car
Apply a very thin coat of Z1
Apply a very thin coat of Z2
Let them dry
Remove with soft cotton towel
Sparingly apply Z6 Spray with a soft towel

What happend to:

Wash, rinse dry, apply Turtle Wax, buff?

So I read and read and started to notice 2 things; There were no negative comments about Zaino and a large number of people kept saying, I used to use that, now I use Zaino and nothing would make me go back. Finally in March I broke down and bought the stuff, expecting to use it once and send it back. I was tired of not being able to talk about it and wanted to be able to participate.

The Camaro, the reason I'm here

I attribute everything here to my cable modem, without which I likely wouldn't have bothered to have a look at www.carorder.com that Friday afternoon in September, 1999. Luckily I did have a cable modem so when a PC Week editorial mentioned CarOrder.com, a website I'd never before heard of I set PC Week aside and logged on. The car I was looking for with no expectation of ever buying was a Camaro Z-28 so that's what I put it and after 15 minutes of playing with the options they offered to sell me a new 1999 Z-28 for the seemingly impossible price of $12,578, tax, license, delivery and all. I pondered that for a bit and then figured if it was a scam, Amex would protect me, so I clicked buy. Three days later, Friday to Monday, a T-shirt and a thank you letter arrived via FedEx. A few weeks later I called to ask about my car and after a bit of shuffling papers the gentleman on the other end commented; you know, you saved over $10,000 on this car, turned out to be closer to $14,000. Sometime in December they delivered a brand new 2000 Z-28 with 9 miles showing on the odometer and $28,000 or so as the bottom line on the sticker.