Hey guys, for quite some time now I've heard about zoops seal. Well.. when I bought the wheels last summer I also spent the $80 and thought I'd give it a try. I bought the:
ZoopSeal Jr. Protective Sealer Kit (Part #95502)

I wish that the pics I took could show the results. But all I have is my 2mb camera phone. I took pics.. but you just can't see the details. So sorry.. no pics.


I just wanted to give some real life feedback on the product. After all this is very expensive stuff.

Well, I have a set of MT classic 2 that are bare polished aluminum. I let them go for a few months and then as soon as they started putting down salt it only took a few days for the alumium to start and corrode with those white-ish specs. So over the Thanksgiving weekend I removed the wheels and using a mothers powerball, mothers "billet" polish, a few towels, and just soapy water I got the wheels up to a smoother and more glossy shine than when I first got them from summit. They looked absolutely SHARP!

So onto the zoops. I followed the instructions to the letter. I washed them with the special cleaner at a 15:1 ratio. This definately is working. Burns your skin too btw.. (yes I got a little on me )
The aluminum didn't look any different. But grey was coming off on the rags.
I then used the zoop sealer. This had about the same look as clear powder coating. It looks good as is.
But then I used the zoops final seal. WOW! that was the ticket. Tht brought the shine back to the pre-sealed look. They look exactly like I just got done polishing.. but it has a almost just waxed feel to them.

Ok so now it's been nearly two weeks of driving in salt. (salted roads & snow nearly every day since)
The wheels are not only cleaner than normal. But with a quick wipe they look like I just got finished polishing.

Here is a pic of when they were new. Today they look even a little better because of all the time I spent. Oh and I switched to aluminum centers that are zooped too. This salted environment is just killer on them.

Rich

 

cool. never heard of the stuff though

 

Sorry.. here is a LINK

 

Rich your tires look like the rub almost.

 

Holy heck. That kicks butt! I'm going to have to do that! I was going to paint my Eagle Alloys because the salt has kicked their butt in no time. Looks as if I should just invest in some ZOOPs

 

Yep. It's basicly a very high quality sealer. So.. what ever your wheels look like before.. they'll look the same afterwards.

Oh also, on 4 wheels and 4 center caps I only used about 1/8th of the fluids. IMO they could sell a kit costing 1/2 the money with only 1/2 the fluids. $80 is a lot! It does work though..

Rich

 

I'm going to have to get some of that stuff for my Classic IIs

 

Looks great Rich i have always wondered about that stuff...

i just have Meguiars polish on mine now there doing ok so far but prob not near as good as yours...


glad to see those BFG's are still doing good!

 

Good to know. I can use this high quality metal polish to shine them up, and then use ZOOPS. Its either that, or I might just go ahead and paint them.

 

1.75 turns of the T-bars is all I've done. They are close but no rubbing in about 3 months of daily driving.

 

I took a pic after work tonight. This is two weeks of salt / snow and never touched since being zoops'ed.

 

Oh man I need to do this. You should see mine, its sad. I feel another afternoon of polishing is in my near future.

 

I'd like to get some of this stuff to, I feel like I'm going to be doing some polishing a few times this winter with these rims, and I just put them on! I coated them with wax though I hope it works for a little while at least, I'll clean them once a week too, I hope that helps as well.

 

If you clean and wax them about every month I'd think you'll be fine. This zoops stuff is supposed to last 2years w/o anything else being done.

Rich

 

Well for $80 it should be really good. Rich, does it work on all wheel finishes?

 

Rich, I'm glad to see that somebody here is posting up results on this product. Can you keep us informed for the long term as well, maybe a 6 month period?

 

Thier products are really intended for the car show types. If it's metal and needs to look good... thats what they do.

And yes indeed I'll keep ya'll up to date from time to time.




btw, I had a huge fiasco with these wheels when I first bought them. I had a local guy clear powder coat them. What a mess! Turns out he never did clear before, never did aluminum wheels before, and throughly messed them up. He had to have them acid stipped TWICE and then repolished.

After all that and me spending an hour on each wheel.. they now look better than when new. I could have saved myself a hundred bucks, trips to his house, and a lot of headache had I just zoops'ed them to begin with.

Besides.. they actually looked *better* zoops'ed. The powder coating is highly dependant on the process and materials used. And it'll never have that just polished look. With zoops you can adress each area by hand and make them look perfectly polished. If this last for two years in between... IMO it'll be worth it.

Rich

 

They used that on the TV show Trucks once. Keeps your underhood chrome bright and not needing to be cleaned every other day.

 

The results look amazing. Nice job.

 

Update 15Feb09:

Below is a pic of the right rear wheel / tire on 14Feb09. I've not touched this wheel since zooping them in Nov. IMO the snow and salt have been heavier thus far this winter. It's been harsh.

The other days it was 32F degrees out and I washed all the wheels / tires. The rears look like new and the fronts have some running stains from brake dust. It was extremely cold and the water was getting icy. So I wasn't able to do more than a quick wipe with a soapy wash mit. In the spring when it's above freezing and I have a chance to report back. I will with better pics.

 

They look the same as mine with just polishing them and waxing them.. interesting Thanks Rich..

 

I'll be waiting for the spring photos.

 

Wow. I am definetly investing in that stuff. I have the same rims and absolutely love them and winter is ruining them. My centre caps and nuts are all rusty now and the rims have the blotches and specks on them.

 

Update 4.5 months after Zoops:


I'm not happy with this stuff. Yes it's protected the metal. There is zero etching or staining. It does that part very well. But as you can see in the pics below. The shine is gone and they seem to have water stains galor.

The wheel pictured has only been washed once since zooping 4-1/2 months ago. Yesterday I washed them all very good with zip-wax car wash. All 4 look like this.

When warmer weather comes I'll remove the zoops and just keep them waxed instead. My whole intent here was to avoid washing, buffing, and waxing. Looks like this product won't allow for that in michigan winters.


IMO guys... this product is great for show cars that don't see the daily grind. But as you can see.. for daily use it's a waste of time and money.


Sorry for the low quality pics. My cell phone camera is all that I have to work with.

 

Ya Rich they do not look any different then mine from just using Meguiars polish


here is what i use and mine look like new again




if you wanna come over and try it just let me know..