My zaino arrived today (ZFX, Z2, Z5, Z6, Z7) and I'm getting ready to spend the time to do a proper detail to the Z. There are light swirl marks and fine scratches almost everywhere but for the most part the paint looks great for being 12 years old. I do not own an orbital buffer so all the work will be done by hand.
My question primarily concerns removal of the swirl marks and scratches; what polish/abrasive will effectively remove them by hand without diminishing the effect of the zaino? Also, should I wash the car after polishing or leave it under the Zaino application?

 

my advice would be to get a porter cable 7424. it will take of the swirls and light scratches quickly and effectively. you can get them as a kit with pads relatively cheap on ebay. it will take you forever to get swirls and scratches out by hand if at all.

 

A PC is on the to do list but for now I don't have one so I was looking for input on what I can do to help (even if the end result isn't *perfect*) for now.

 

i hear the zaino zpc will get the job done by hand

 

It will work by hand, but it will be an all day job by hand.

 

I hear of people getting disasterous results trying to use it with a porter cable or similar... what's the trick to that?

 

i use a standard orbital buffer as well as hand application, and it yields excellent results. i dont understand why they say you arent supposed to use machine, it works very well with a machine from my experience.

 

if you read the instructions on zainostore.com, it says you need to use the proper pad @ a speed setting of 4.5. iwould assume it means a light cutting/polishing pad. a hard cutting pad is probably what caused the poor results since the zpc is rather abrasive.

 

i just got an email back Sal and he said to use the lighest cuting pad to apply with. if the zpc starts to duct you went too long. he says 1 line of zpc across the pad and work it for a few minutes on speed 5 or 6 on the pc.