Paint Protection

[capt512]

Morning all,

I just picked up my new Marauder yesterday and would like any suggestions on how to best protect the paint and make this black beauty really shine.

When I got mine home and in the garage which has flourescent lights I noticed alot of fine scratches in the paint .

I took it right back to the A**hole dealer who said "thats just part of production cars".

Well anyway after 30 Minutes of arguing the dealership agreed to pay for detailing the car and taking the scratches out.

I want to make sure once I get it back to use something that will really help prevent those minor scratches and harden the paint so to speak.

Also can anyone tell me where to find the Bobby White decals everyone is talking about.

Nice to be with you guys.

Thanks,
Mike
:)

[jrzygrl]

www.bobwhitedecals.com

[MMM2003]

Hello and congrats to the car.

Several people on this board went "all the way" and couldn't recommend it any more!!!

Order:

ZFX Flash Cure Accelerator Additive for Z-2, Z-3 & Z-5 * NEW *
Z-2 Show Car Polish for Clear Coated Finishes
Z-5 Polish for Swirl Marks & Fine Scratches
Z-6 Ultra Clean "Gloss Enhancer" Spray
Z-7 Show Car Wash
Z-9 Leather Soft Spray Cleaner
Z-10 "Leather in a Bottle" Treatment and Conditioner
Z-16 Perfect Tire Gloss
Z-18 ClayBar

This will come FREE with your order, but for $2.50/I'd order a couple more
#314 Custom 4x5 Polish Applicator

Print out and follow the directions. Plan on a long day for the first application and from then on it's just maintenance.

I personally haven't done that. I just do the Zymol 2 or 3 times a year. Also do search for "waxing".
Lots of info about that stuff on this board.

Welcome and enjoy the ride !

[TripleTransAm]

Originally posted by capt512
I took it right back to the A**hole dealer who said "thats just part of production cars".


BS.

Good on you for getting the dealer to get the car cleaned up. I've had good results from Mothers car wax products on my cars (the multi-step stuff, not the lower-grade all-in-one stuff) and have also seen great (if not better) results from Meguiars on other black cars during one of our local "waxapalooza" sessions (a half-dozen black Firebirds and Camaros getting waxed for the first time).

That being said, I've decided to try Zaino myself (tomorrow, in fact) and am open-minded to seeing how it performs in comparison to the traditional waxes. If it works out, I'm not going to hesitate being vocal about my switch-over from the traditional waxes.

[MassMarauder]

Capt - I wouldn't let the dealer touch it. Buy the Zaino system.

[DLoreanMARAUDER]

I took mine to the dealer for my complimentary detail, and wound up with swirl marks on the trunk and rear door. now its all hand washing for me. trust me the zaino is expensive, BUT WELL WORTH IT! especialy on this Black car. i know the Z products have been descussed to death, but go for it. you'll be happy. i just started using and im loving it! no one can pay more attention to your car than you!

[jgc61sr2002]

When I picked my MM there had been a recent snow and the car was not as clean as it should have been. The dealer promised me a full detail ( in writing) when I bring the car in for service. I will NEVER bring it back for service unless there is a recall. John

[nexstar7]

was that bright bay

[jgc61sr2002]

nexstar - No Country - The MM is the second car I bought at Country, just never went back for service. John

[TripleTransAm]

Originally posted by DLoreanMARAUDER
i know the Z products have been descussed to death, but go for it. you'll be happy.


I finally bit the bullet (Bullit?) and spent about 9 hours today prepping and applying one coat of Zaino. Started by the Dawn wash, very thorough due to the extreme amount of crap on the car, followed by a clay job on the entire car. Never have tried clay before so that was a cautious experience. Followed by a Z7 wash, a coat of Z2 mixed with ZFX, wipe down, then a quick application on about 2/3 of the car of the Z6 enhancer.

I'm tired.

Thankfully, I'm sure the next session will be much much much shorter.

The results: well, they're good. Lots of reflection. But after the Dawn wash, I was getting tons of reflections too with NO wax/polish left on the car. *shrug* I'm a bit skeptical of all these reflection photos circulating around the net. Heck, I could get the same photographic results using my Mothers products on my old GTA:
http://firebird.freeservers.com/gta/gtahood2.JPG
or the WS6:
http://firebird.freeservers.com/ws6/ws6hot2.JPG

But... I'm banking on the fact of the Zaino stuff being easier to apply. The sun wasn't a BIG issue today, but with garage space at a premium around here with 4 black cars, I'm expecting to hold Zaino to their word about being able to use it in the sun.

As far as durability, I notice there's a big emphasis on the 'gloss enhancer' after every wash. A few years back, I read this about Zaino and decided to start using the Mothers instant-detailer after every wash as well. Sure enough, my wax job lasted a WHOLE lot longer than if I just washed it every couple of days... seems the instant detailer refreshes whatever's left on the paint after the wash. So...

Anyway, the true test of whether it's truly going to outperform my Mothers stuff is in the coming days with rain in the forecast. We'll see if those dirt-repellant claims are true or not.

[TripleTransAm]

Damn this car is huge.

It took a LOT more energy to wash and apply one coat of polish on this car than it would for any of my F-bodies (perhaps the non-T-topped '78 comes close).

To add insult to injury, my 5'8" frame was unable to fully wash the roof of the damned car without leaving a ridge of dirty area down the middle. I had to resort to using a STEPLADDER!!! (I guess I didn't want to get too close to the sides of the car when reaching across the roof, but still....)