Nezil

Yes... my car is Black... simultaneously the best and worse colour for a car to be.

Ooh... nasty. I wish there was a better way to remove pollen. I've dreamed about approaches in the future where something in the bodywork of the car actually repels dust, sort of like how sensors in DSLRs have an ultrasonic self cleaning feature these days. Wouldn't it be great if you could just get up to speed (around 30mph), press a button, and all of the dust just blew off and disappeared...

Just thought of a few other points... 1. I have seen some horrific copies of the original California Duster. I bought one once, when I was living in Korea, that was actually held together with very fine copper wires. If you parted the strings on the brush itself, at the base of the head it was more like wire wool! That thing went straight in the trash, so I'm only speaking about the genuine article here. 2. I do also use Adam's Waterless Car Wash, and find it to be superb. I find that I can go for about a week with dusting the car in the mornings, before other more persistent marks start appearing. These might be tree sap, or other dust that is more sticky I suppose. At this point, I'll use Waterless Car Wash to go over the whole car, followed by Adam's Detail Spray (can't wait to try the new formula by the way... which is waiting for me at home; delivered today!). 3. I always keep a small size bottle of Waterless Car Wash in the glove box of my car, along with the appropriate towel. This is to combat bird bombs, which my paint seems to be affected very badly by, even when coated with Adam's sealants and waxs.

I've got my wash down to around 40 minutes now, including a full clean of wheels and wheel wells. The only way that I've been able to do this is by using a foam lance on a pressure washer. To answer the question re. pollen however, back on topic, I use a California Duster extremely lightly every morning before I pull the car out of the garage. It takes me about 5 minutes to go over the car, perhaps a little longer, and I'll only ever do it if it hasn't rained outside. I know that a lot of people complain about the California Duster, but the famous 'Junkman' did a fantastic video on YouTube about it, and I've never had any problems. I always dust with no pressure, not even the weight of the brush itself, and I always go in the same direction. I started doing this to identify any swirls (which would obviously follow the direction I was consistently dusting in), and I've since continued doing this out of habit. I have never seen any swirls from using the California Duster in this way, but I've seen a hell of a lot of problems from people who rub the paint with it.

Since writing that last post, I've been thinking of a better way to describe the Zaino vs Adam's end results... Zaino gives an amazing amount of reflectivity, but that reflectivity is like it's sitting on top of the clear coat (I realize that all sealants and waxes sit in top of clear coat, but I'm describing the appearance here). Adam's, and other carnauba based waxes leave a deeper gloss, that seems to come from inside the paint, as though you're looking into a sea of color. Some people claim that Americana will still bead water after six months, which is pretty long for a wax. I can't comment on this, because I, like others have suggested, gone with a sealant, topped with a wax. In most cases, the last product you apply will have the most prominent affect on the end look. One final tip if you're new to Adam's products, after using Zaino... Make sure to use the Adam's microfiber towels; they're super soft, and I had smearing issues with their Detail spray when using Zaino towels... switched to Adam's towels and the problems were gone.

David, I was a Zaino user for the last few years, but wasn't happy with the reflections it gave on my new pearlescent black car. Don't get me wrong... They were shiny, and wet looking, but the reflections looked almost like a plastic wrap, perhaps a touch synthetic... It's hard to describe. I decided to give a wax a try, and started with Meguiars Gold Class... I was really disappointed with this, and simply couldn't get rid of the smears that it left behind. This is when I got looking for alternative waxes or sealants, and it came down to either Adam's Brilliant Glaze & Americana, or Black Fire Sealant and Wax. I decided to try Adam's first, so I can't comment on the Black Fire combo. I could not be happier with the Adam's combo, or their entire line of products that I've tried so far. I first tried Brilliant Glaze, followed by two coats of Americana, but for various reasons washed this all off and did a single coat of Adam's sealant, followed by a single coat of Brilliant Glaze (after waiting for 24 hours) and then two coats of Americana Wax (12 hours apart). My understanding from reading these forums and the Adam's videos, is that layering of most products isn't recommended. Brilliant Glaze is a beautifier, not a protectant, so you could apply this weekly if you really wanted. Americana can be layered twice; any more could cause clouding, and isn't recommended. In the interests of proving my impartiality, while I do think that Americana is an amazing wax, and far above others that I've tried at that price point, I do think there are better waxes out there, but you have to pay a lot more for a miniscule improvement. I'll therefore continue to use Americana for the foreseeable future. Hope that helps.

Well let's not forget that body shops almost always use a rotary buffer and compound after painting anyway, so I don't see any logic at all in waiting before polishing. If the paint is not fully cured, it might be softer and more sensitive to polishing, but if you're careful, there shouldn't be any problems. Not sealing does have some logic to it, by letting the paint fully cure, but even this is questionable. Most paints these days (to my understanding) do not air dry, and cure by a chemical reaction process. There might be some gaseous by-products of the chemical reaction still taking place for a few weeks after it appears cured.

I've always found it to be a matter of some debate about when to wax a freshly painted panel. Some body shops say that you can wax it from day one, and some say to wait. Others still will actually wax the panel for you before they give it back! When you talk to different detailing product suppliers, you also end up getting different answers. I heard that Sal @ Zaino, who used to be a painter, said that it's safe to apply their sealants immediately. Some of the staff at Meguiars say to wait, some say it's fine. My personal opinion is that it probably depends on the paint that was used; hence the reason that it's best to ask the body shop, or better still the paint supplier if they'll let you know who that was. Obviously the safest solution is to wait for about 60 days, since even if it wasn't necessary, you won't have done any harm that can't be corrected with a very light finishing polish. Watch out for bird bombs though, because they can eat into even protected paint within hours, and you don't want that on your nice newly painted panel!

Jim, I didn't realise that the Zaino Blondes were cotton and not MF. In fact I was so convinced otherwise that I did a quick search and you're absolutely correct! I also discovered some confirmation that the towel is in fact only single sided, with a different weave on each side; something I had suspected, but never seen confirmed before. John, I had a chance to try the Adam's Single Soft Towel that I received with the recent 24 hour special of detail spray. I have to say that I am very impressed, and yes... no streaking at all! . If only they weren't so expensive! I hadn't used the Single Soft before because I had three clean Zaino Blondes that were just sitting there, and I didn't want to start using a new towel un-necessarily. It seems as though Jim has a point about the absorption rate of the two towels making a difference to the streaking of the finish. As I said, I hadn't noticed this before with Zaino detail sprays, but I guess that's to be expected from their own towels. As time goes by, I'm noticing more and more that if you stick to all Adam's products, and use them exactly as the videos tell you, you get 100% good results. Deviate much from that, by using other company products, and your results can be varied... You may have success, but the chance is far lower.

So believe it or not, after posting last night, I went over the whole car with (apologies, but I just can't afford to buy every Adam's product yet) Meguiars Ultimate Polish, which is a combined fine polish and glaze, using my Porter Cable. I then did an IPA wipe down to leave a totally clean car. Following this, I applied a coat of Machine Super Sealant, again using the Porter Cable, and then after waiting ~30 mins, buffed off and called it a night (around 11.30pm). This morning, I buffed over the whole car again in case I missed any bits, or the machine sealant had further cured. It's looking very shiny now, but not deep like the Brilliant Glaze / Americana combo does. I'm going to leave it to cure until later tonight (~18 hours since the MSS was applied) and then hit it with a coat of Brilliant Glaze and first coat of Americana. If all goes well, I'll do a second Americana coat on Tuesday morning before work, and I'll be back to the state I was in yesterday afternoon, only now with MSS underneath it all! I hope this works better, and as Tim & Michael suggested, I'll get some Waterless wash to keep in the car for just such an occasion. It seems a shame to use the Adam's waterless microfiber to go at a bird bomb, but I suppose it's better than having it etch into the paint. Thanks for the tips guys!

I do have some Adam's towels, both Single and Double actually. I've not tried the single one yet, but I have tried the double, and found it to be a bit difficult to work with because it was so 'puffed up' for want of a better description. I chose to use my Zaino towels because they were a premium towel, and thought they were more suited to a detail spray role than Adam's towels which were more general purpose. Of course I'll give the Adam's towel a go soon, but wasn't so much asking for advice, as offering it for anyone else who'd had my issues.

I used a Zaino Border Free Blonde towel. It's an extremely soft towel with quite long fibers. Zaino recommends them for detail spray rather than removing polish residue, and I'd agree with that. Do you think I'd have less issues with Adam's towels?

I recently moved to Adam's products after using Zaino for the last few years. I'm loving the way that Brilliant Glaze / Americana looks on my pearlescent black car, but have recently run into an issue... About two weeks ago, I detailed my whole car, removing all swirls and then protecting with Brilliant Glaze, followed by two coats of Americana. Since that time I've been dusting off the car after each drive, and hitting it with Detail Spray every morning before I leave for work; it's been looking great since it's not rained here in Northern California for ages. Today I went for a drive with my family, and noticed a bird bomb when we came out of a restaurant after eating lunch. As soon as we got home, a couple of hours later, I cleaned of the bomb but it had already etched into the clear coat! I have tried polishing out the etching, but it's really very deep. I've been able to improve the appearance quite a bit, but the bigger questions are 'How did this happen?' and 'How can I prevent this in the future?' I realise that Americana is a wax, and therefore lasts for less time before needing to be re-applied, but I didn't think that it protected any less; was I wrong about that? Should I be applying Machine Sealant under the Brilliant Glaze / Americana Wax combo? Would that have prevented this?

I've recently moved over to Adam's products from Zaino, and I'm loving the way that the Brilliant Glaze / Americana combo looks on my car. Although I'd read really good things about Adam's Detail Spray, I really couldn't get on with it, despite having bought nearly two gallons of the stuff in all. Basically, I couldn't seem to stop it from leaving a streaky, patchy finish on my black paint. Before anyone asks, yes I did try in direct sunlight, out of direct sunlight, cool panels, warm panels, hot days, cool evenings etc... Nothing seemed to work. Today I tried a new technique, and solved all of my problems: After spraying the Detail Spray onto a panel, wipe the panel with one side of a folded microfiber towel. Don't stop wiping until the product disappears leaving no streaks. Only when there is no streaking, flip the towel to a dry side for a final wipe. My problem was that I'd wipe the Detail Spray into the panel just once, obviously leaving streaks, and then switch to the dry side of the towel too early, effectively setting the streaks into the paint! I hadn't noticed this problem with Zaino Z6 or Z8, but I don't see it as a flaw in Adam's product, just a different application method. I'm posting this in case anyone else has these streaking problems... hope this helps someone

Samers, I have tried some M************* in the past, and that got rid of some of them. I'll give a finishing polish a go and see how I get on. I have quite a few polishes from other brands, and I've already spent hundreds of dollars with Adam's over the last few weeks. I can't justify getting a set of Adam's polishes just yet... but I may have to give in to the urge sooner or later.