2004 Black Ford F-150 XLT Triton V-8

SilverLexus

SilverLexus

Super Enthusiast
Decided to help out a neighbor today who was washing his friend's Honda and we got to talking and agreed to try Zaino Z-5 on his pickup truck. He is a contractor and uses this as a daily driver to sites so the paint was a bit oxidized but in reasonably good shape overall for such usage.

Process was simple as we both were pressed for time:
Zaino Z-7 wash
Zaino Z-18 clay on hood and front quarter panels
(needed some polishing but did not have time)
Zaino Z-6 wipedown
Zaino Z-5 times 2
Zaino Z-8 Grand Finale Spray

Before shots:

ford1.jpg


ford2.jpg


Notice "greyness" of paint...bit oxidized I think...
grey.jpg


After shots:

ford3.jpg


ford4.jpg


ford5.jpg


ford6.jpg


ford7.jpg


I was impressed how the Z-5 hid much of the light swirling he had and how wet it looked.
 
Looks good. That must be a 2004 Heritage model. I have always dreaded owning a black vehicle but since coming here and learning a lot about care in washing and waxing etc. I may get my wife her new car in black instead of burgundy.

Richard
 
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I agree that the truck looks quite wet. Have been althernating layers on my own black truck with old Z2 and Z5 and have experienced the hiding of swirls already in the paint. Am not surprised by the reflectivity of the black truck. That is why I like Zaino. Wetness is just a plus.

Since it was not mentioned I can only assume that the Zaino was applied by hand.

Very nice look for a detail pressed for time.
 
cwcad, I did indeed apply by hand as always. I used a microfiber applicator from Megs I got on sale at Advance Auto. Worked very well.
 
Lee,

If you keep it up the entire neighborhood will be lining up in your drive (LOL). The truck looks really good -especially considering that you guys didn't polish.

What does it look like in full sun? Did Z mask swirls/marring because there had to be plenty of them on a black truck.
 
That does look great for not polishing. Very reflective. I love black for that reason even though it can be a pain to make perfect, when it's done it just looks so darn good!
 
Did Z mask swirls/marring because there had to be plenty of them on a black truck.
Click to expand...

It did a great job of masking them and there were plenty of small swirls. I was surprised how well it worked actually.

We also had some water spots on the front hood that were not polished out that got much less noticeable.
 
SilverLexus said:
It did a great job of masking them and there were plenty of small swirls. I was surprised how well it worked actually.


We also had some water spots on the front hood that were not polished out that got much less noticeable.
Click to expand...

That's good to hear. Pictures often hide things that you can see in the sun.

I would be good to hear how well it's holding up up 6-8 weeks from now.
 
ford5.jpg


WOW!


Did you use Z5 on the PC? I noticed a light cleaning affect when you put it on the machine. It may help for 1-steppers.
 
A PC would have probably helped but we were short on time so we used Megs mf applicators to apply by hand. I wanted to establish some credibility first with results and then go back with the PC and remove some of the swirls and level the paint a bit. The OP on these trucks is very noticeable but the paint looks good from a distance.

I was really surprised how good a job the Z-5 did on swirl marks. Fascinating product to work with and was very easy to remove. I think the Z-6 wipedown is key as well.

With more time, I would have:

1. Polished several panels.
2. Polished the chrome.
3. Cleaned the wheel wells.
4. Done a lot more with the trim.
5. Done some light interior work although Dan did a decent job there.
6. Removed the white papers from the window before snapping pics.

:)
 
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