'03 Black Cobra Wax and Detail Pics

[SteelersVenom06]

After roughly seven hours, I got the first two coats of wax done on my Cobra. Here's the steps I took and a few pictures of the results. As this was the first time I waxed her, I went all out with the Z-KIT1 from Zaino. I plan to do another 2 coats of wax or so - one with Z5 and a buffer to get out a couple surface scratches and finish with Z2Pro.

1. Wash with Dawn liquid soap
2. Z18 Claybar entire car
3. Wash car again with Z7
4. Dry thoroughly
5. Touch up a couple small scratches and rock chips
6. Z5
7. Z2Pro including wheels (All wax removed with microfiber towels)

Overall, I was pleased with the Zaino kit. The big things I liked was the ease of application of the waxes and the fact that the waxes didn't leave any whiteish residue.

After application of the the Z5 and Z2Pro, I did notice the two surface scratches I wanted out didn't go away, probably because I did the whole car by hand without an orbital buffer. I'll give her hell with the buffer and see what happens.

Any input from the detailing and waxing experts is appreciated.

 

[mblgjr]

Looks nice!

Zaino is a sealant; not a wax.

I really wouldn't expect Z5 to be too aggressive on your scratches, so you might want to look at other polish options (Poorboy's SSR's; Pinnacle XMT; etc.) or even the Z-PC.

I'd also seriously consider using the CS as a maintenance product for shear ease of application.

 

[66temp]

Looks good, but make sure to do your wheel wells next time, it really detracts from the car's overall appearence when you have nice gray wells

All I do is get a nice cheap brush from wallmart (Little one with a handle and semi-stiff brushes) spray the wheel wells down with any APC (Simple green, Meg's APC, Zeps, cut something like 4:1) then let that dwell for a minute, then scrub the wells with your brush (I slide my jack under the car to help me get everything) then hose off/pressure wash off, and then dress your wells with a tire foam, I guarantee it will look 10x better when you're done!!!

 

[SteelersVenom06]

Looks good, but make sure to do your wheel wells next time, it really detracts from the car's overall appearence when you have nice gray wells

All I do is get a nice cheap brush from wallmart (Little one with a handle and semi-stiff brushes) spray the wheel wells down with any APC (Simple green, Meg's APC, Zeps, cut something like 4:1) then let that dwell for a minute, then scrub the wells with your brush (I slide my jack under the car to help me get everything) then hose off/pressure wash off, and then dress your wells with a tire foam, I guarantee it will look 10x better when you're done!!!

Thanks 66, I couldn't agree more. I still have a bunch of other detailing stuff to finish up the car (including the wheel wells after you mentioned it). I just wanted to get a few pics of the wax because we all know how black is. Ten minutes outside and it's dusty. I'll go with Bleche White and a brush like you said.

 

[SuperFastFord]

I'd get a different set of wheels. I had a black 03 and the stock wheels looked like shit and didn't flow with the car.

 

[66temp]

Thanks 66, I couldn't agree more. I still have a bunch of other detailing stuff to finish up the car (including the wheel wells after you mentioned it). I just wanted to get a few pics of the wax because we all know how black is. Ten minutes outside and it's dusty. I'll go with Bleche White and a brush like you said.

Bleche White the tire cleaner? Anyways, I was just pointing it out because after I was through oogling over how good the car looks, I saw the wheel wells hehe. Even I only do the wheel wells like, once every 6 or 7 washes....I'm too lazy and they get dirty anyways :rolling: :cuss:

 

[vtsteevo]

Looks good man. I have the exact same combo minus the chrome wheels.

http://www.svtperformance.com/forums/showthread.php?t=385453

So far I just put a coat of wax on it (magquiars) but I plan to detail it in the near future. I have to asess it first to see if I need to clay-bar it. It only has 5k miles on it.

 

[Scott P]

I spray the wheels wells down with tire cleaner when I'm doing the tires every wash.

OP - Z-5 won't do much for swirls other than attempt to hide them after multiple coats. I would suggest a good polisher like a PC 7424 and Z-PC or Poorboy's SSR2.5 and SSR1 to tackle them.