I need some advice about protecting the paint on my Camaro. Since I autocross my car a lot, I'm way more concerned about using a product that protects my paint from greasy tar like cone marks then getting that ultimate shine like the waxers want. Right now I polish and wax my car with Meguiars 3 step using mainly steps 2 and 3 and I do that twice a year. I love the way it looks but it seems to hold up for about 2 months depending on conditions, but I'm way too lazy to wax my car more then twice a year. Cone marks and dirt easily wash off up to about 4-6 weeks after waxing, but after that time frame, marks are stubborn to get off.

I really don't want a show car shine but I want to know if some of these products like Zaino or 5 star shine work the way I want them to work? I.E. protect the finish of the car without having to put it on more then once or twice a year. If I could get a product to really work for 6 months or even a year, then I'm willing to pay extra for it.

Have you guys tried these products and how did they work? And yes I feel stupid for asking a question like this.

Don't feel stupid, I am in kind of the same situation with my CMC car. What I ended up doing was getting a nice carnuba wax and an orbital polisher. Works great, is quick and it is easy to get off tire marks with a little wax between buffings.

Zaino has a product called Z-CS that supposed to last for 9 months. Plus it's very easy to use. It's new and I just order some. Haven't tried it yet, but I've been very happy with rest of the Zaino products. I tend to wax about 4 times a year.

Don't get me wrong, I have Zaino that I use on my street car. It is a LOT of work though to apply it. Carnuba wax can be put on thick and is a great protector besides being fast and easy.

Really? I just did my spring aplication of Z5. It took 30 minutes start to finish. If that constitutes "lots of work", then I guess we different ideas of difficult. One of the secrets of Zaino is putting it on VERY thin. I keep Z6 detail spray in the car. I use it before I put the magnetic numbers on so they don't trap dirt under them which can scratch the paint.

Application is not the hard part. It is prep for application for Zaino to work like it should. With a race car that is kinda nuts. It just does not protect like carnuba wax and have easy rubber mark removal like wax either.

Howdy,

Cosmoline is the best for protection.

:-)

Mark

Debating what wax is "the best" is like asking what "the best" oil is. Or any other variety of "the best" questions. Julie mentioned an orbital buffer and I think that's the best information in this thread. Get one of those and a couple of pads for it. That cuts down on time, and ups the results, as it gives a better application and removal than your hand will.

Personally, I use zymol.

Jason

For regular off-the-shelf wax, I like Meguiars and Mother's. I've done the 3-step process with each (cleaner, glaze, wax). Both also have clay bars you can get an any auto parts place, and it's amazing how the clay bars pick up little specs and stuff that don't seem to come off otherwise.

Sometimes I'm lazy and just use wax, but I always find parts of the car where I wish I paid more attention to detail.

I've used Zaino and it's slightly better than Meguaiars or Mother's, IMO, but I don't know if it's worth the extra $$$ for people who actually drive their cars. For my Camaro, it wasn't bad considering it spent a lot of time in the garage in between autocrosses. Maybe it will sell faster if I mention it has something like 5-6 coats of Zaino.

Pat

I agree about that. As long as you do *something* regularly (change oil or wax the car) it's all for the better no matter what brand you use.

Pat

I wax my vehicles once a year if I'm lucky, if there's time before an event. Carnuba wax paste is always the final step. Find something with as much % carnuba wax as possible. I think the cremes in a bottle aren't as durable, but what do I know. Anyways, if the wheels have a coat of wax on them, brake dust actually comes off! <-- Racing contribution



Andris

I'm not really interested in what brand is the "best" wax. I just think that race cars have different requirements for wax then show cars and that kind of data is not well published. I'm interested if anyone has found those supposed longer lasting products to really last or hold up better under racing conditions. If I could use a product once or twice a year that allows me to wipe all the oily cone marks off the car easily, that's want I want. Carnuba wax just doesn't seem to do that, at least the Meguiars wax I use doesn't.

JKnight is correct. Everyone who keeps an exceptionally clean car has their own recipe for doing so. Me personally, I go with the Meguiars over the counter stuff because it's cheap, it's on every store's shelf, and the end result is just as good as the expensive online stuff.
However, like most products we use on our cars, the devil's in the details. While I've never used Zaino before (read above comment about prefering cheap), I have read countless times that Zaino wax will last 6 months or better, even in harsh conditions. Everyone I've ever known that's used it was satisified, even with the high cost. So I'm guessing it's as good as all the hype. So if you're not a "have to clean the car everyday" kinda guy, then Zaino is probably for you.

Someone mentioned using a quick detailer spray before applying magnetic numbers. This is also something I do (and recommend). I've used Meguiars brand "Mist & Wipe" detail spray for 10 years until last year. When I picked up carcaresuperstore.com as sponsor, they turned me on to this stuff... http://www.carcaresuperstore.com/index.php...products_id=199
I'll never use the Mequiars detail spray again. That Prolong stuff is awesome. The Mequiars spray is a thin, clear liquid, with some perfume in it, that has a bad habbit of hazing. The Prolong is a thicker, milky liquid, with a citris smell, that easily wipes away and never hazes. 5-10 minutes of wiping down a car with Prolong and a microfiber cloth, at the paint glows like it was just waxed. No lie, I barely wax my car once a year, and water won't stand on it. Keep in mind, it's also a car that's garage kept, stored winters, and seldom sees rain. For those reasons, I don't need to wash it much. Just dust it off from time to time. Excessive washing will also kill a wax job pretty quick.

My recipe is as follows:
Clay bar- Mequiars or Mothers are good/cheap/easy to find. This will remove tar/bugs/other contaminents.
Cleaner wax- I prefer Mequiars Medallion paint cleaner. Not so easy to find anymore, but works better than anything I've ever used to strip off old wax , which is where most of the dirt/contaminents are hiding.
Wax- I always been satisfied with Meguiars Gold Class, and the newer NXT stuff is pretty good too.
Detail Spray- Prolong, for all the reasons I already mentioned. Pretty much whenever the car is dusty I do this. After it sits for awile, before autocross events, after autocross events, ect.
And my top secret home remedy to remove cone marks (drum roll)......................................WD-40. Seriously.

Howdy,

Btw, Jeff is in charge of cleaning the car.

Mark

(and the truck & our daily drivers & any other vehicle I own.... :-)

WD-40 kicks ass on cone marks. I've used this before as well. For removing any old wax, I've always just washed the car with dish soap. It will strip most any wax or polish in one washing. Then I use the claybar in the problem areas. I only go to these extremes once a year. Otherwise, I just wash (with car soap) and add a layer of Z5.

I ruined a paint job when I was a teenager using dish soap to wash the car regularly, so I know haw hard it is on wax and paint. Don't use it unless you intend to strip all protection off the paint.

I do a lot of detailing in the warmer weather usually. If your looking for durability I would recommend Collinite's Insulator Wax.

http://www.autogeek.net/collinite-insulator-wax-845.html

Andris has some good info here. The reason your cone marks are not coming off is you are not using wax to get them off. After every event I wash my well carnuba waxed car, then I get the black tire rubber marks off with a damp cotton towel and a dab of wax. It may take a little more rubbing if there is a lot of rubber. If this does not get the cone marks off then the paint is also off.

Another Zaino guy here.

I use it on all our vehicles, DDs, toys and track car. It may seem expensive by the bottle, but it takes less than an ounce per coat so the total cost is pretty low, plus, it doesn't leave the residue in the cracks and gaps like wax does. Cone marks wash off with just a little bit of extra effort with the wash mitt.

The prep work is no different than any other type of polish ... it's simply a question of how clean and smooth you want the surface to be before you put the protection on.

I'm kind of late to the party on this, but here's my 2 cents. Cone marks are a pain to get off. Wax may help a little but in the end really don't make it easier to get off. I would use an actual polish that has a medium to fine amount of abrasion in it. Sonus makes some good products that work well.

Another route to take would be to protect the areas of the car that see a bunch of abuse. I bought some 3M protective film in bulk and applied it to my rocker panels, on the fenders behind the wheels ect.

This is the same stuff the invisible bra people sell. The only difference was I cut it out myself. Latter on if you want to remove it you can. It will protect your paint from abrasion especially if you're running race tires that throw back all kinds of debris. The only downside I've noticed is when you do clobber a cone (which I do quite often) it's harder to get the marks off the film than it is the paint.