Having owned a black Porsche for a year, I have learned just how amazing pure black paint is at showing every little defect when viewed in just the right light. So - I chose the Porsche as my test subject. Mind you, most people would agree that it looked damn near perfect before I started. But again, in the right light, I could see that I was getting more and more "swirl marks" - or toweling marks - super-fine scratches in the paint over time, and they bugged me.

Over the last year I've made a study of several highly touted products, including 3M, Zymol, and Meguiar's. I met the area rep for Meguiar's who has given me a great deal of education, for which I am thankful. I do believe Meguiar's is the best line among these products - the 3M stuff is good but tends to be a little harder to use, and leaves more white residue behind. Zymol is fine too, it is just no better than the others and therefore is grossly overpriced. Suffice it to say I have enough bottles of polishes, waxes, glazes, cleaners and detail sprays in my garage to open a store. I have enough towels to wash, dry and polish a freight train. The Zaino stuff is the newest addition to my collection, and this test reflects my first experience with it.

The Test

1. Here is a picture of the area before testing. It still has a relatively fresh coat of Meguiar's wax on it. In normal light, it looks just really good - smooth and glossy.

Note that the camera is focused on the paint surface and tape, not on the reflection. When you photograph reflections in the car, normally you focus on the reflections, not the car. This has the usually desirable side effect of hiding small imperfections in the paint, making the finish look even better than it is! If you'd like to see some of the photos I've taken of my car, click here.

But again here my goal is to photograph the surface itself, doing my best to show the defects I can see when the light is "just right".

This looks pretty scary. It isn't. Again, you simply don't see these marks under typical conditions.

From here on out, the Zaino process is applied on the right, the Meguiar's on the left.

In this photo I've applied the Zaino Z-1 "Show Car Polish Lok" per their instructions, on the right side, and I've used Meguiar's Medallion Premium Paint Cleaner on the left. Both claim to clean and prep the paint for wax. The Zaino product contains no abrasives, but the docs say the Z5 polish will fill swirl marks. Since these marks were so minor, I elected not to use anything before the Zaino Polish Lok. This pic is slightly useless because the Polish Lok is still on, while the Meguiar's cleaner residue has been buffed off - according to both manufacturers' instructions. You can see the cleaner on the left has actually introduced its own scratches, but they are finer than the ones they buffed out. Unfortunately we can't see if the Polish Lok had any cleaning effect.

I used a 100% terry towel for application in both cases, and my strokes were parallel, (running left to right.) I used a Meguiar's Ultimate Wipe towel to remove the cleaner residue.

I've applied Meguiar's Gold Class liquid wax with my fingers on the left.

Neither product has any abrasive, and both products are very easy to apply.

Both sides are about the same, with a alight edge going to Meguiar's in hiding the deeper scratches.

The Meguiar's appears to have hidden more, but this is mostly a trick of the light. If we were to go on photographic evidence alone, however, this shot, in identical lighting to the "before" shot above, would suggest Meguiar's has done a better job of hiding the scratches.

It really didn't look that way to my naked eye, though, so I temporarily took the camera off its mount and took the following photo...

Both sides of the tape stripe (there is no residual adhesive here - this part just didn't get the benefit of all the polishing) appear a little darker than the area that was under the tape, which I suspect equates to a "deeper", "richer", look. This is good.

I had to get at exactly the right angle to see the tape stripe at all.

Both feel great too, but neither side feels better than the other.

Conclusions

First of all, I'm depressed. Neither of these approaches did as good a job as I had hoped of "hiding" the deeper marks. Remember, what I'm calling "deep" here are still very fine scratches, invisible to the naked eye unless in very good light.

With regards to gloss, both sides are excellent, and both as, as far as I can tell, identical. I would be proud to show off the car after treatment with either of these systems. There is a deep, glossy, glassy look. I see absolutely no evidence that the Zaino finish is superior - the camera doesn't show it, and I can't tell a difference under the special lighting, or out in the daylight. And that is after 2 coats of Z5 and a coat of Z2, which absorbed a lot of waiting time.

Zaino is not a panacea. To its credit, it is certainly very easy to apply, and it smells great. I can't speak for its effect on paint that was in much worse shape to begin with, but then, if you're reading this, you probably already have a modern finish in relatively good shape. I also can't speak for longevity. I have a black car. It gets washed very often, so it gets waxed often. Longevity is not my concern. One drawback of the Zaino is needing to wait a minimum of 6 hours between coats of Z5 or Z2, even though multiple coats are recommended for a high gloss. Another is its cost. So, we come back to the old adage - "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is." Zaino is nice, but expensive stuff. If you expect it to be noticeably difference from less expensive, more readily available products, you may be dissapointed.

Meguiar's is also good stuff. I think their Gold Class wax is excellent for gloss. I like their products in general, and they are both reasonably priced and readily available. However I still plan a "long term test" with the Zaino. I'll do the whole car with it for a while. But only because it is already paid for. This will help to identify any characteristics that can only be observed over a longer preiod of time.

Nothing save high-speed polishing (best left to the pros) will completely rid the car of inevitable fine scratches. Your best bet is to try to avoid getting them in the first place, which means very careful washing and wiping. If I was seeking perfection, I would have spent more time with slightly harsher compounds like the Swirl Removers polishing out scratches before using the Zaino. This would then require succeeding finer compounds to buff out the resultant new compound scratches, ending with the mildest possible polish, and/or glaze. In other words, a lot of work. And I'm still not certain I would be successful. However part of the allure of all of these products is that they are supposed to help hide some of this super-fine stuff, without requiring a huge amount of prep work. After all, my car started out looking pretty good - nowhere near as damaged as practically every other black car I've looked at in the last several days. I am just disappointed that the Zaino didn't live up to my expectations.

Your Mileage May Vary.

Unless you have a black 996TT Porsche, you have different paint than me. It may have been cared for differently in the past. It may be in a different state of decay now. Zaino is very easy to use and offers a nice shine. I don't think it is worth the money if your goals are gloss and hiding swirl marks. For anyone who believes my tests are flawed, you're welcome to come over and show me how to do it. Just know I'll insist on a side by side comparison with something else.