Polish and wax for a black Z...Any recommendations? - Page 2 - ZR-1 Net Registry Forums

Roadster · 10-09-2016

When the PO pulled up to the tag place 2 1/2 years ago in bright sunlight, my future Black Z looked like a swirling machine.....It was the first time I saw it in the sun. Although the day I first saw the car, it was in his garage and raining outside. Looking at the paint with my trusty cell phone flashlight, I could see that there were swirls in the paint, but didn't even think that they were as bad as they were.
That being said, I knew I had my work cut out for me. Still working at the time, did what I could when I could. Now you have to understand that I have enough polishes, waxes, compounds, etc., to last me for 3 lifetimes.....and I am a sucker for new products. So I tried what I had and was only semi-happy with the results. Although I will mention the products that have and are working for me now, this is not to say that they are end-all-be-all. As there are many fine products out there that will deliver excellent results, you just have to experiment and find what works for you.
I decided to give Adams Paint Correction and Finishing Polish a try. Used my orbital buffer and went to work. Did the process 2 times. Time consuming, yes, but worth the effort. Did it eliminate all of the swirls, no, but it made quite an improvement. So not wanting to have a more comprehensive paint correction process done at a shop, I stumble across Turtle Jet Black Spray Detailer. After my own paint correction, I decided to give it a try, well let me tell you, it works. The label states that it will fill in swirls and marks, it does. So then I find Turtle Jet Black Wax for "Black Cars", and it works nicely as well. Can't tell you how many coats of spray wax and detailer are now on the 94, but it is a vast improvement of what it was 2 1/2 years ago. Not a show quality paint, but for original and its life history, I am happy with the way it now looks.

Vette73 · 10-11-2016

Hey Roadster were you at Carlyle in August? I was there Thursday and Friday at the Registry tent.......I believe I did see this car parked also there.....I said to myself - I have to get my paint to look like that".......

Sorry I did not get a chance to formerly meet you if in fact that was your car on the field........Thanks for the tips.......Heard good things about Black magic so maybe I will give it a try since its readily available at auto zone...

Roadster · 10-13-2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vette73

Hey Roadster were you at Carlyle in August? I was there Thursday and Friday at the Registry tent.......I believe I did see this car parked also there.....I said to myself - I have to get my paint to look like that".......

Sorry I did not get a chance to formerly meet you if in fact that was your car on the field........Thanks for the tips.......Heard good things about Black magic so maybe I will give it a try since its readily available at auto zone...

Yes, I was there T-F-S @ Carlisle. I was taking pics of members and their
ZR-1's. Although I lost some pics

, we probably did meet sometime during the event. And if you are referring to my Z on the field, thank you for the kind words.

Turtle Jet Black (Spray Detailer & Spray Wax) is what I recommend, not Black Magic, which may be another brand. But I do suggest doing some type of paint correction, as mentioned above before using the Turtle Jet Black products that are listed here and above.
And it is a time consuming process, especially if your not familiar with using a buffer. Plenty of You Tube videos to check out on this subject.
Keep us posted!!!

Black Red '90 · 05-26-2018

I just purchased a black 1990. There was plenty of wax on the car, but what appeared to be compound haze underneath. I clayed the car and first tried Griots Garage One-Step Sealant applied with a DA. It continued to leave a haze. I then tried both Meguiars Ultimate compound & polish with the same results. The only thing I was successful with was Zymol applied by hand. I followed that with Meguiars GoldClass past wax applied by hand.

Black Red '90 · 10-18-2020

Reviving an old thread.

The new Turtle Wax Hybrid Solutions Ceramic black polish & wax have been receiving great reviews so I decided to try them. I am very impressed with the results. Although the polish was a PITA with hazing, it did a great job removing swirl marks. I only did a few areas by hand. The product may work better with a DA. The application and removal of the wax was a little unique but easy (follow the directions). The paint is smooth as glass, looks deeper, and is a tiny bit "blacker" than with the Meguiars Gold Class paste wax I have been using.

HAWAIIZR-1 · 10-18-2020

Quote:

Originally Posted by Black Red '90

Reviving an old thread.

The new Turtle Wax Hybrid Solutions Ceramic black polish & wax have been receiving great reviews so I decided to try them. I am very impressed with the results. Although the polish was a PITA with hazing, it did a great job removing swirl marks. I only did a few areas by hand. The product may work better with a DA. The application and removal of the wax was a little unique but easy (follow the directions). The paint is smooth as glass, looks deeper, and is a tiny bit "blacker" than with the Meguiars Gold Class paste wax I have been using.

[emoji33] Wow! That looks amazing! Thanks for sharing; I?ll have to try it on my Black Z. [emoji1303]🤙🏼[emoji847]

Sent from my iPhone using ZR-1 Net Registry

DRM500RUBYZR-1 · 10-20-2020

Quote:

Originally Posted by G-Sting

I have been very satisfied with the results of this process:

1. Wash car with soap and water. Wipe dry.
2. Clay Bar entire car. (fun)

3. If the car has swirls, yes, this is a good time to get out the random orbital polisher with a Lake Country CCS orange (or the like) pad. The new "Dustless" paint correcting polishes are awesome. I like Adam's Paint Correcting Polish a lot. Watching their videos on doing it properly are important! I've also used Griot's Fast Correcting Cream with good results. The Griot's works out deeper swirls, if needed. BOTH are amazingly dustless when wiping off with a good quality microfiber towel.
4. Apply Chemical Guy's Blacklight Hybrid Radiant Finish. This deepens the black or darker colors really nicely.
5. Apply Chemical Guy's V07 spray.
6. If you want to go one step more... a good Carnauba wax to top it off. (Meguiar's is good)

It takes a good part of a day to do all these things, but can be rewarding if done right. Be sure to get good quality, large microfiber towels. You'll need 5 or 6 of them for the job.

Enjoy!

Completely agree with each of the steps as well as the products.
Only suggestion might be a more multi step polish regimen.
Paint correction (polish) needs to be sufficiently aggressive to remove the imperfections, then less aggressive to remove the finer scratches from the aggressive polish.
Here we go through either a 3 or a 5 step correction process, as light as needed to get out all of the imperfections.
It takes 1-2 days to get the car where I find it acceptable.
The practice of putting a genuine wax product over the synthetic products is what really makes it look absolutely amazing!
The Gloss Enhancer sprays mentioned in the original post take it up even further.
I have no experience with the newer Turtle products.
I avoid ceramic coatings after discussing with my painter. Most need to be sanded off to fix even a scratch. So in a case where you are trying to panel blend, you may need to sand a good portion of the car to repair a simple scratch.
I have found X-Pel to be a far better way to protect paint form damage and it is reversible.
Make it look great!

Marty

10-09-2016	#11
Roadster Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Warrington PA Posts: 1,914	Re: Polish and wax for a black Z...Any recommendations? When the PO pulled up to the tag place 2 1/2 years ago in bright sunlight, my future Black Z looked like a swirling machine.....It was the first time I saw it in the sun. Although the day I first saw the car, it was in his garage and raining outside. Looking at the paint with my trusty cell phone flashlight, I could see that there were swirls in the paint, but didn't even think that they were as bad as they were. That being said, I knew I had my work cut out for me. Still working at the time, did what I could when I could. Now you have to understand that I have enough polishes, waxes, compounds, etc., to last me for 3 lifetimes.....and I am a sucker for new products. So I tried what I had and was only semi-happy with the results. Although I will mention the products that have and are working for me now, this is not to say that they are end-all-be-all. As there are many fine products out there that will deliver excellent results, you just have to experiment and find what works for you. I decided to give Adams Paint Correction and Finishing Polish a try. Used my orbital buffer and went to work. Did the process 2 times. Time consuming, yes, but worth the effort. Did it eliminate all of the swirls, no, but it made quite an improvement. So not wanting to have a more comprehensive paint correction process done at a shop, I stumble across Turtle Jet Black Spray Detailer. After my own paint correction, I decided to give it a try, well let me tell you, it works. The label states that it will fill in swirls and marks, it does. So then I find Turtle Jet Black Wax for "Black Cars", and it works nicely as well. Can't tell you how many coats of spray wax and detailer are now on the 94, but it is a vast improvement of what it was 2 1/2 years ago. Not a show quality paint, but for original and its life history, I am happy with the way it now looks. __________________ Tom 1994 ZR-1 #009 "captured test fleet car" 1974 LS4 454 Vert 1974 L-82 355 Vert. 1982 L83 CFI...now a retired "dd"....Sold WAZOO Member Last edited by Roadster; 10-13-2016 at 01:07 AM.

10-11-2016	#12
Vette73 Join Date: Nov 2014 Location: Brooklyn ny Posts: 1,045	Re: Polish and wax for a black Z...Any recommendations? Hey Roadster were you at Carlyle in August? I was there Thursday and Friday at the Registry tent.......I believe I did see this car parked also there.....I said to myself - I have to get my paint to look like that"....... Sorry I did not get a chance to formerly meet you if in fact that was your car on the field........Thanks for the tips.......Heard good things about Black magic so maybe I will give it a try since its readily available at auto zone...

05-26-2018	#14
Black Red '90 Join Date: May 2018 Location: Virginia Posts: 79	Re: Polish and wax for a black Z...Any recommendations? I just purchased a black 1990. There was plenty of wax on the car, but what appeared to be compound haze underneath. I clayed the car and first tried Griots Garage One-Step Sealant applied with a DA. It continued to leave a haze. I then tried both Meguiars Ultimate compound & polish with the same results. The only thing I was successful with was Zymol applied by hand. I followed that with Meguiars GoldClass past wax applied by hand.

10-18-2020	#15
Black Red '90 Join Date: May 2018 Location: Virginia Posts: 79	Re: Polish and wax for a black Z...Any recommendations? Reviving an old thread. The new Turtle Wax Hybrid Solutions Ceramic black polish & wax have been receiving great reviews so I decided to try them. I am very impressed with the results. Although the polish was a PITA with hazing, it did a great job removing swirl marks. I only did a few areas by hand. The product may work better with a DA. The application and removal of the wax was a little unique but easy (follow the directions). The paint is smooth as glass, looks deeper, and is a tiny bit "blacker" than with the Meguiars Gold Class paste wax I have been using.