New Ride Soon - Easier Detailing system + wash question

[eleven11]

Hey gang. My AW 135 will be here soon. With my current JB 335, I did the whole Zaino deal. Looks great, but way more effort than I'm interested in. I've still got all of the stuff. What I'd like is something easier. I'm considering Zaino AIO. With that, my plan upon delivery would be wash, clay, aio, possibly Z-CS.

- thoughts on this plan?
-wanting a better, more suds shampoo (using zaino +/- ONR now) - ideas?

Thanks for the input!

[rsjean]

Sounds like a good plan. What I would finish off with is Blackfire Wet Diamond. BlackjackMulligan turned me on to the stuff. He is familiar with Zaino too but like a a lot felt that its paint seal life was relatively short. Cap off your Zaino routine with Blackfire and you wind up seeing that wet glass-like look last for weeks and weeks and the beading when it rains seems to never wear out. The stuff is fantastic.

[eleven11]

Cool. Thanks for the advice. Any good suds to suggest?

[REVNU]

Originally Posted by eleven11

Cool. Thanks for the advice. Any good suds to suggest?

I really like Optimum Car Wash. You need very little, maybe 1/2 ounce per 1 gallon of water. Lots of suds, cleans paint great, and smells good. I also like Chemical Guys Citrus Wash & Clear or Citrus Wash & Gloss. Both are pretty cheap when you consider how much you DON'T have to use to create a bucket of suds.

[NL-J]

Never used Zaino or ONR shampoo so I can't compare, but I'm happy with Chemical Guys Maxi Suds II.

[BlackjackMulligan]

Originally Posted by rsjean

Sounds like a good plan. What I would finish off with is Blackfire Wet Diamond. BlackjackMulligan turned me on to the stuff. He is familiar with Zaino too but like a a lot felt that its paint seal life was relatively short. Cap off your Zaino routine with Blackfire and you wind up seeing that wet glass-like look last for weeks and weeks and the beading when it rains seems to never wear out. The stuff is fantastic.

Glad I could help!

I've also developed a nice quick wash routine that could be helpful to the OP looking for low effort. Of course, this depends on having a good LSP such as Blackfire so that most of the dirt comes off with the hose:

In my driveway, I spray down the car with the hose completely, using a higher pressure setting on my nozzle. I concentrate on the wheelwells with the spray as well as the lower body surfaces that can pick up a lot of dirt.

I then pull it into the garage to slow down the drying process and mix one ounce Optimum No Rinse in a gallon of water, and also fill up a second bucket with plain water. I then wash the entire car with a cotton wash pad by dunking in the ONR, washing a panel, rinsing in the clean water. Remember, with ONR there's no need to rinse after washing. After I've washed the entire car (except for the wheels) I take 2 waffle weave towels and spray wax and begin drying a panel at a time: first ww is for the initial panel wipe, then a very LIGHT spritz of spray wax, and the second ww to buff it to a shine.

After the car is dry and spray waxed, I grab my dedicated wheel mitt (and an old swivel desk chair lol) and have at the the wheels. I use whatever ONR is left in the bucket, wash the wheel down then dry it with my dedicated wheel towel. I also attack the inner wheel arches at this time.

After that, you're pretty much done. I clean the windows with Stoners Invisible Glass, dress the tires with Optimum Tire and Rubber dressing, and dry the convertible top with a big old beach towel. If I need to, I'll shake off the mats and dust the dash.

Total time spent: 45 to 50 minutes depending on how perfect I want it to look (50 minutes gets me to "wow did you just detail your car?")

have fun!