Pampering Your Smart - Waxing

[saronian]

Exterior - Waxing/Sealing
This is the payoff step! With a clean car and smooth paint, applying a wax or sealant is very easy. I have two favorites and each is amazing. Zaino Z-2 Pro + ZXF is a highly protective sealant which goes on like a thin wax that is buffed off. Equally as good and very easy to apply is Ultima Paint Guard Plus. This is a no buffing formula so it takes only a few minutes to apply. Gloss is the highest I have seen.

I used the Ultima Paint Guard Plus on the body panels, clear top, high-gloss plastic panels around the rear hatch and wheels. I decided not to use the sealant on the headlamps, and instead used 303 Protectant.


Exterior - Quick Detailer
The king of all super high gloss quick detail products, Zaino Z-8™ Grand Finale Spray Seal. Quick detailing sprays are for adding extra gloss or removing soils between washes. To help economize I put the Z-8 in a small bottle which makes a finer spray. Only a small amount is needed so this one bottle lasts a year or two.


Scott

[saronian]

Here are additional photos of my car after completing the application of Ultima Paint Guard Plus. All the various surfaces have a deep high-gloss shine.




Once the surfaces were coated and dried you can see a variable in black depth between the different materials. The Tridion has the deepest black, the panels diffract more light under the clearcoat and look a bit lighter than the Tridion, with the plastic around the tailgate falling between the two.

Under most lighting conditions all the parts look black, but with direct sun you can see that the black polycarbonate isn't as deep as standard black paint.

[chieftmc]

saronian,

In your experience, does the Ultima Paint Guard Plus also work better (last longer) using the small spray bottle?

[Dunerunner]

[quote=saronian;57472]Exterior - Waxing/Sealing
This is the payoff step! With a clean car and smooth paint, applying a wax or sealant is very easy. I have two favorites and each is amazing. Zaino Z-2 Pro + ZXF is a highly protective sealant which goes on like a thin wax that is buffed off. Equally as good and very easy to apply is Ultima Paint Guard Plus. This is a no buffing formula so it takes only a few minutes to apply. Gloss is the highest I have seen.


Great Post!! I worked like a dog to keep my 2001 black beetle sport looking good, even took it to a detail shop and it never had the deep shine your black smart has. Thanks

[SmartAzz]

Looks great saronian!

We tried the Ultima Paint Guard Plus once on another car (have the starter kit Autopia sells) but haven't used it again... just not really convinced by it.

Used Prima Epic synthetic wax on the body of the Smart and Plexus on the roof (guess I should Plexus the lights too)- will use Prima Hydro when washing later, maybe some Black Wow on the black plastic bits.

[saronian]

Originally Posted by chieftmc

saronian,

In your experience, does the Ultima Paint Guard Plus also work better (last longer) using the small spray bottle?

I bought the UPGP in a kit which included small spray bottles of each product. The sample kit was only available for a limited time, but may be offered again. I have heard that the full-size spray is also just as fine. Unlike the detail spray, the UPGP is sprayed onto a microfiber cloth and then rubbed onto the surface, so the spray is not critical. Very little liquid is used for each application, which is about 1/4 oz for the whole smart.

[saronian]

For 3+ years I used Zaino Z-2 exclusively on the Nissan I had and now on our Scion xA. Last year I switched to Ultima Paint Guard Plus on the Scion and it took a couple of tries to learn how to apply just the right amount. If too little is applied it doesn't shine, too much and it streaks. Now I find it easier to apple than Zaino and it lasted for the last 6 months without being garaged.

All the Prima products look good, and the results I've seen are some of the best. But I haven't tried it yet.

[SmartCard]

Looks great...I've always been a big fan of Zaino.

So the bottomline here is that the panels ARE clearcoated - whether they are the painted metallic or not?

I'm about to place a Zaino order myself.....i've always ordered #2 before for my other cars, so I just wanted to make sure I didn't need #3 (for non-clearcoated finishes) for the smart.

[Fredvon4]

smart exterior facts:

The metal Trition is a Powder coated Plastic coating. In one of the final stages of chassis prep on the assy line, is a set of young ladies who carefully polish / buff it to a high shine...there are no other coatings on this section

The body panels come in 6 colors
3 of them are Molded In Color (MIC) the White, Black, and Yellow...
3 of them are painted with water based paint, The Blue metallic, the Red metallic and the Silver.....
all 6 colors are Clear coated with water based paint

The headlights and Clear Poly roof are UV stabilized in the formula with no factory applied external coatings

This car can be washed and waxed just like any other painted car

The one exception is the clear Poly roof should be treated tenderly and NO abrasive cleaners used. You can wax it with traditional waxes or other modern tech products but you should NOT use any of the "CLEANER" or "POLISH" wax/synthetic products that have abrasive additives in them

For the clear Poly top Plexus is about the best product there is...

I personally used RainX ....just because I have a bottle and one small bottle will last long enough that I end up disposing of 50% or more every two years (I have no idea on shelf life... but tend to distrust stuff that sits in a non climate controlled environment for long periods)

Both Plexus or RainX need to be put on perfectly clean and DRY surfaces and VERY VERY light coat...If you desire second coat wait a full 24 hours for the first to completely cure for easier application and polish out

[chieftmc]

Originally Posted by Fredvon4

smart exterior facts:

The metal Trition is a Powder coated Plastic coating. In one of the final stages of chassis prep on the assy line, is a set of young ladies who carefully polish / buff it to a high shine...there are no other coatings on this section

................

Both Plexus or RainX need to be put on perfectly clean and DRY surfaces and VERY VERY light coat...If you desire second coat wait a full 24 hours for the first to completely cure for easier application and polish out

I too am a fan of Plexus. I've been using it for years on all my motorcycles/scooters. Those aviation guys know how to make a great product ;).