And damn does it look good.

And no I have no pictures, cameraphone pics in the dark won't show anything anyway.

 

wow nine hours..i wish i had that kind of patience

 

Most of it was claybaring it and applying 3 coats of Zaino. Should be good for another 6 months of little maintenance.

 

my truck needs that bad...the black shows every scratch and piece of gunk that ever touched it

 

bet it was worth it tho!!!! me and a friend are going to buy that zaino ultimate package, or whatever it is.. the one that comes with everything.. he's gonna do his mustang and put it away for the winter, and im gonna do my truck, and drive it. lol, can't wait!

 

and they criticize me for spending an hour waxing my hood!

 

A true beilver in the Zaino stuff too. 9 hours, thats quick compared to 15 hours total time. Then again, I was removing well stains. I havn't put the polish or any of the quick detailer stuff on when I did the full detail in late may. I'm do up real soon, when its cool outside.

 

The new ZFX accelerator makes a ton of difference vs. the old way of using Z1 and Z2. Now you just mix 2oz. of Z2 with 8-10 drops of ZFX accelerator and you've got just enough zaino to put 2 coats on my truck. I started with a coat of Z5 polish/swirl remover, tho, and of course I clayed the entire truck first, in addition to using the Z6 spray between coats. Man, my paint was getting gritty, esp. on the hood and front fenders, the claybar made a HUGE noticable difference this time.

The 9 hours doesn't include the 3-4 hours I spent yesterday taking my wheels off one at a time to re-torque my adapters, since I cleaned and waxed each wheel as I took them off.

The one thing I still have yet to do is Rain-X my glass.

 

Yep, I have the ZFX stuff and it does make it fast. I was thinking of getting the glass polish from them for my windows. Can't wait to see them pics.

 

wow....thats a looong time...:D Bet it looks good!

 

Honestly I haven't tried the Zaino glass polish, but I've had EXCELLENT results using 90% rubbing alchohol and a crumpled up newspaper.

 

Brian, you should deffinatly take pics and explain what you're doing when you detail your truck. Put a web page together or something. I recall a post awhile back with a member doing the complete zaino process to their corvette. Mine looks like crap and i have little experience with what i'm doing. Just a thought.

 

Well its too late for pics but I'll walk you through the entire day:

I sprayed concentrated Simple Green under the front and rear wheel wells and on the mudflaps and let it soak.


I washed the entire truck with Dawn Dish Detergent and a wool mitt. I immediately backed the truck back into the garage and out of the hot sun, and dried it with an Absorber® brand Chamois.

I used a Mother's clay bar (with Meguiar's Quik Detailer for lubricant since i had it on hand) on every painted surface of the truck, and even the headlights. This honestly is the most important step; Zaino isn't abrasive like other waxes or polishes, it won't remove water spots or tar or gunk or bug guts. You have to make sure the paint is as spotless as it gets. At this point I also used polishing compound to try to get rid of some tiny scratches I accumulated during hurricane Jeanne. I had only moderate success with this.

Once the paint was COMPLETELY cleaned with the claybar, I pulled back out into the sun, and used the sunlight to inspect the paint again, as well as using my hands to feel if there were rough spots.

At this point I used Stoner's Invisible Glass to clean the exterior glass, and I went back to the wheel wells with the Simple Green and a sponge to remove accumulated dirt. I hosed the dirt and Simple Green out of the wheel wells. I also used Westley's Bleech-wite to clean the tires, using another terry towel to keep overspray off the wheels themselves.

I washed the truck again with Dawn Dish Detergent and a wool mitt. By this point the trees in my front yard provided ample shade, so I continued working outside, drying the truck once again with the Absorber® brand chamois, taking care not to allow drips to dry on the paint (like the drips that ALWAYS come out of the rearview mirrors.

At this point I followed the instructions provided with the Zaino. I used the Z1 and Z5 swirl remover in combination, and allowed the two about 40 minutes to set. I buffed this coat off with a large white USA 100% cotton towel.

following the directions on the bottle, I used Zaino Z6 gloss enhancer, and buffed it off w/ a 2nd large white 100% cotton towel.

I mixed 10 drops of Zaino ZFX with 2oz of Zaino Z2 in the provided 2oz squeeze bottle. I applied the combination with a Zaino applicator pad, waited 30minutes and buffed off with the 1st large cotton towel.

I applied Z6 again as per directions.

I applied another coat of the Z2/ZFX combination again as above, and buffed out.

At this point I turned my attention to the interior, vacuuming out the floor and the seats, using ArmorAll by spraying it onto a terry towel and wiping a thin layer of it onto the plastic, cleaning the interior windows with more stoners invisible glass, and cleaning the rubber floor with the still damp Dawn-covered wash mitt from before, and drying the floor with one of the terry towels I'd used earlier.

I finished up by using Simple Green and a terry towel to clean my exhaust tips, and applying Meguiars Endurance High Gloss tire shine to the tires (rolling them 1 turn to finish, since the ground gets in the way) and by armor-alling the top of my tool box.

I should note again that yesterday I cleaned and waxed each wheel when I had them off the truck to re-torque my adapters. I waxed the wheels with Meguairs step-3 paste carnuba that I had floating around from before I discovered Zaino.

Thats it, 9 hours of work, including a lunch break, a few bathroom stops, and over 3 quarts of gatorade to replenish all the liquids I sweated off. It looked really redneck but the bandana I tied around my head did a great job of keeping the sweat out of my eyes. Although now I have like 3 pimples on my forehead.. its like high school all over again!

 

Wow, you get into it man! I haven't even heard of half the cleaning products you're using!

I wish I could just find the time (and place) to wash my truck, let alone give it the full treatment. I've still got dirt on it from.. Centralia if you'd believe it! :-o

 

I try to wash my truck a couple times a year.

 

For some of us, our trucks are more than just a means of conveyance, thats why most of us belong to internet fan forums.

Honestly, Dave, I still can't figure out why you come here. I'm not saying you shouldn't, but seriously.. considering the contempt you seem to hold for your truck and those who mod their own, I really DON'T see what this forum has for you.

 

For me it's more what I have for this forum.

I used to wash my '92 constantly and did all kinds of mods to it. Now I have more things in my life that require my time and money. That doesn't mean I can't or don't want to help you people.

 

The only thing I wouldnt have used is armorall, I cant stand having a greasy interor! other then that excilent job!!!, bet you lost a few pounds from all that work!!! i always seem too when i wax all day! Cant wait to see pics!

 

Well, I used to have a LONG description of how I applied the Zaino. Butm here is the link to the pics of my truck after I applied the zaino.

https://www.ranger-forums.com/forum/...ighlight=zaino

 

I agree that what you do contribute on the technical front is often valuable. Like I said, I don't see you GETTING much out of being here. I guess I won't knock it, as you've been alot more helpful than critical lately.

 

That's one way to look at it, but another way to look at it is that you have gotten used to me.

 

Ive gotten used to you...

Hell, i like , and most of the time, agree with what you have to say, great addition ..

Very informative...Smart..

 

That may be.. I may have just gotten better at ignoring your cynicism.

 

So anyway, now that my GF left her digital camera in my truck by mistake and I *could* take pictures, its nasty and overcast outside. Really need some sunlight to show off the Zaino shine.

 

9 hours isnt too bad... guess I should have read this sooner. I spend about the same over 2 days clay baring and waxing my truck. Did the whole thing with a Mothers claybar and Mothers quick detailer (whatever theirs is called, i dont remember) then a coat of Mothers cleaner wax, followed by Mequires Polish, and finally a coat of Mequires NXT wax. Damn things still shining even after that mud bath I gave it last week! Who says an offroad truck cant look good!?!

Sorta off topic. I'v been working on my Mustang with basicly the same process and man is it turing out good. Tons of work though, the red paint sitting is mighty dirty.