hey fellas... just wondering how you NBM people get the deep wet shine on the blue paint..... I just bought another camaro and never really had any experience with dark colored cars... always had a light colored one...

 

Is the paint in good condition, you will need to claybar it if paint is rough to touch. Depending on how deep your wallet is you could pickup Zaino car Polish (I use it on 3 black vehicles) or try poorboys wax. If the paint has some hazy cloud appearance, then you may need new paint and clear coat there.

 

Zaino, here are a few of my old car, 165k on it:







Not the best pics of the car, but I don't have too many from that car.

 

I've used the (previously known as) Tropi-Care Sealant and Black Carnauba Wax.

They are now called: ShowroomFX Acrylic Paint Sealant and "Crystal Black" Carnauba Creme for dark colors.

It made my NBM car into a mirror:

Well, those products and around eight plus hours spent Clay Bar'ing, Compounding with Menz SIP and then a Swirl Cutter. Then I left the first coat of sealant on overnight, put on another coat of sealant the next morning, then 3 coats of the Black Carnauba Creme.

I kinda like the results of the products I've used. We've all heard great things about Zaino.

But really, just take your time, use the right products for your car and fit your budget, but definitely clay bar the car.

 

Zaino is a great product if you stick to their system and never diverge.

I prefer Menzerna Polishes (namely the SIP) and some Klasse Sealant for darker colors....makes it seem like its wet and mirror-like. Optimum's Spray Sealant is also one of my favorites, its so easy to use and its spray and wipe....very simple. Makes darker colors look like glass.

Menzerna SIP:
http://www.detailedimage.com/wax.php...P124/32-oz-S1/

Klasse High Gloss Sealant Glaze:
http://www.detailedimage.com/wax.php...P55/500-ml-S1/

Optimum Opti-Seal:
http://www.detailedimage.com/wax.php...-P279/8-oz-S1/

 

Before you get 50 replies for a wax/sealant recommendation, you would be best suited to properly prepping the paint (claying and compounding/polishing) to get most from the finish. Anything will look good once you've done that.

 

thanks fellas now at least i have a starting point to look into

 

The deepest/wetest shine I've ever obtained has come from Blackfire Wet Diamond followed with their Carnuba wax. None better

 

meguiars #26 always gives a good shine on my NBM TA. it's cheaper than most of the above recommendations and readily available at autozone/strauss.

i'm sticking to off-the-shelf stuff for now. picking up a porter cable later this month. we'll see how that goes. i plan on claybarring it again, then meguiars fine cut, glaze, and wax.

 

Zaino Z5pro topped with Z8. As good as it gets.

 

A good wetsand and buff will make it look better than new and will take out all the orangepeel, etc. Its not to fun or for somebody who hasn't done it before though.

 

Definitely Zaino!

 

Right on there. I'm really happy with the "wet-look" the Meguiars three-step system leaves though.


Shay

 

no offense to zaino users, but there certainly are better options out there, even OTC products. if you want to know how to get a deep shine with any color, go over to autopia.org and read some posts. those guys know how to detail and what to use. zaino is definitely a product whose advertisement has been deeply intensified by ls1tech users. i'm not going to diss the product, in fact i have seen some great looking shines come out of zaino uses, but rarely has the car been treated 100% with zaino, rather a zaino product was just part of their polishing process.

the list of things you need to do in order to obtain a deep shine unfortunately is quite time-consuming. what i did is followed suit from most of the instructions from autopia, bought a porter cable polisher and initially had to use a deep cutting polish to take out swirl marks that you see dark cars get very often. now i use a tropi-care polish to remove light swirls. i only do this about once a year. in the interim i tack on nxt 2.0 wax which is found OTC and is actually a very good product, but it doesn't last very long so the best way to preserve the shine from it is to cap off the nxt with a deep carnuba wax. i use meguiar's #16, which is actually pretty tough to find these days. it is a very good, durable, and long-lasting product. usually with this combo my car keeps a relatively deep shine for about a year until i repeat the whole process.

this is my car after about a year of having this combo on it. i didn't take this picture for the shine quality, but you get the idea. i'm working on it again next week during the holidays for the first time since october of 2008. i will try and take pictures after i am done. i love the combo i use because i can find nxt and #16 locally, but there are certainly better combinations out there. it's only partially about which products you are using, but more about technique.

during the year i wash the car when it gets dirty. i buy optimum no rinse which doesn't require but one bucket of water and no rinsing. you literally wipe on and wipe off and it doesn't scratch your car. after i wash i use a product called fk1 which is a very effective quick detailer which preserves the wax on the car. doing this process every other week when i wash keeps the wax in good shape to last about a year. the way most people treat/wash their cars, waxes rarely last more than 3-4 months before needing another application. if i had to machine polish/wax my car every 3-4 months, i can honestly say it wouldn't happen. for me shine and longevity are the two most important things, and i've found by trying many options that this combination works best for me.

 

100% Zaino user here. And I didn't spend a billion dollars on all my stuff like some people do. I like that its NOT a wax and you use so little of it it lasts forever! Also the protection lasts forever as well. But to each their own.

 

tuffluck the car looks great. I went through the whole cutting/waxing process but cause of washing it improperly that wax didn't hold, and the paint damage came back quicker. If you can afford it, having all the right stuff to was the car properly with helps it look better longer as well. My wash mits swirled my paint in like a month. I hit it with a little slick mist to keep a nice shine on it, but its a quick easy bandage.