Quote:
Originally Posted by Rob T
Exactly right!
Far too many people who have swirl marks in their paint (like this one did) remember reading a lot of positive reviews about Zaino so they purchase a few of their products and put Zaino protectant on their paint and wonder why the swirl marks are still there.
POLISHING (preferably with a random orbit polisher) is what is takes to do the job correctly.
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90 percent of the final apperance (or more) comes from the paints condition before any wax/sealant, ect... is applied. If the paint is in great condition, then little prep work is needed.
This was the case of this Lotus I detailed for forum member qball. I did no polishing on this car for several reasons. One the paint had very little swirls, and after claying, the paint was glossy. If I would have machine polished the paint, then I would have simply been taking his money, because the improvement would have been slight.
The same as this Lotus that I detailed several months ago. The paint was in great condition. In these two cases, the Zaino is "standing on its own" but was able to enhance the paint, since the paint was in great condition.
However on darker colors, or when the swirls are visible in direct light, those scratches act to diffuse the reflected light (that is the scratches aim the light in different directections instead of directly back to the viewer) and paint looses its "gloss". On lighter colors this effect is not as noticable, however on darker colors (since they reflect a higher amount) the effect is pronounced.
The darker the color, the sooner it may need to be polished to keep it looking great. Not to mention the joy of closely examining your paint in direct sun light, and seeing a perfect, crystal clear reflection of the sun with the paint surface looking like a still pool, reflective and no scratches or imperfections in site.
The point of my rambling is that yes, prep work, prior to applying the wax/sealant is what is responsible for 90 percent or more of the final gloss. On darker colors, prep plays an even larger role. When a black or dark color is prepped perfectly and a high quality wax or sealent (in this case Zaino) is applied on to off perfect paint, the results are jaw dropping.
This car (I hope you would agree Chris) was JAW DROPPING in the sun light. The reflections where amazing, and the car seemed alive, sitting still. Walking around the paint and changing the angles of the reflections, would transform the Lotus from a mirror to a dark blue pool, depending on the angle.
The truth is many people never see a car prepped to perfection in person, because it takes a lot of time/skill/dedication to get a car to 100 percent, and most "pro detailers" don't have a clue how to do it right. Check out a website, like autopia.org (where us really sick and dedicated detailers hang out) and you would see unbelievable work all the time. If you notice a car that looks better, wetter, slicker, and find yourself thinking, man thats a great paint job, chances are you have seen a properly prepped surface.
Here is a door of a Ferrari I worked on last weekend. I taped the door in half and polished one half of it to perfection, then removed the tape and captured the door in full sunilght. This way you can the difference, side by side of a pefectly prepped section vs. standard paint. Niether side has wax on them, making the comparision more dramatic.
Now here is an after shot of the car (notice this is a 1980 Ferrari 400i with original paint, an now it looks better than brand new).
Sorry for the long post, I'm just passionate about this and I could ramble on and on
