All the raves over the Zaino products had me wondering.... so out goes the check and one week later in comes da box of that which will eat my weekend....

Last year I discovered the clay bars but just hadn't tried one out yet. I decided to go ahead with all the steps to see how all this would really do.

The history:
My two brothers and I were started out early keeping cars clean. My dad loved his cars and I remember him showing us the the "how to's" when we were quite young, probably 5 or 6. I am now in my 50's and all three of us are still very particular of our vehicles and take time often to keep them looking good. BTW: I have a chemical background and for years was a consultant to the automotive assembly plants as a coatings specialist. SO... yes I know a good DOI when I see one.

I have used a lot of products over the years and there have been some improvements but I do feel that none gave us as a dramatic difference as much as clay bars.

I currently have a bright red '97 F150 SC (stepside) and I love how it cleans up. Always gets some looks and comments. But I have noticed that it was getting harder to get that deep deep shine unless I really got after it with some body scrub with my buffer. The last few years I have been using the full Mequiar system and I must say, it is some good stuff but as I said, it seemed harder to get it to a slick deep finish unless I used the body scrub which of course takes quite a while.

This clay bar is the greatest detailing medium I have ever seen. It was so easy to use too. I took the time, as usual, preparing the surface of both my vehicles, washing with dawn, clay bar, another wash and dry before a coat of the Zaino Z5/ZFX mix. Goes on so smooth and comes off well too. Then a coat of Z2/ZFX mix on top of that immediately. This was an all day job on my F150 and my Camry. The results are simply amazing.

MY TAKE on all this:

The clay bar makes the difference in getting your vehicle shiny or liquid. This red on my truck looks like poured glass. The first year I had my truck, this is how it would look after a good Mequiar system clean up and buff. Now it is back and I fully believe the key is the clay. The Camry was dramatic but the gray didn't come out nearly as deep as the red.

Zaino: The ZFX system makes their system much quicker to use and this is why I finally tried them. I was very careful about putting it on as thin as possible and found that is very necessary since thicker coatings sure were harder to remove. Zaino could use a little more marker to their coatings cause you can barely see where you've been until it "fogs" over a little. I restrained myself and made sure I put on very thin coats (as some of you have advised) and used only about 1.5 ounces of mix per coat on my F150 SC.

As I mentioned, I fully believe the clay is the major player in all this. It makes all the following work of polishing and waxing wothwhile and the results are just amazing. I can't say that the Zaino is that much better than anything else but I can say that the clay bar is a MUST before the other steps.

Thanks guys for all your posts on how yall do yalls detailing and because of yall, I have changed my habits a bit. We are always looking for that next step to make out vehicles look good. I know I'm an old fart next to most of yall but I am no less proud of the looks and compliments I get on my truck. As a matter of fact, both my brothers and I are known for having the cleanest trucks around here!! With the clay bar, I've definitely added a worthwhile step.

Perhaps this lengthy post will help some of yall who are trying to "qualify" adding this step to your habits. Kudos to yall who have already added it and for posting your results in order that some of us old dogs can learn new tricks.