Determining pounds of pressure

Brad B

Brad B

New member
The question has come up lately on what difference it makes to QD with Z6 after every wash and what difference it makes to use Z7 with every wash. Here are my findings:

I must admit that I am not a big shampoo user. (No body odor jokes, guys!) Many shampoos are harsh. For my cars, which are usually meticulously clean most of the time, even through the winter, to shampoo weekly is over kill and rough on the wax finish. A weekly shampoo of my Carnuba covered cars would just strip the wax. I usually shampoo every two or three weeks.

As a test I chose two of my cars which have a Zaino finish. <strong class='bbc'>Car One[/b], I chose to shampoo weekly with Z7. I QD'd with Z6 the front of the car afterwords. The rear of the car I left alone. I usually QD the whole car during the week as maintainence. <strong class='bbc'>Car Two[/b] I washed with water and did a whole car QD as maintenence during the week.

After 3 months the results of my un-scientific <strong class='bbc'>visual[/b] test were inconclusive. Both cars still looked great. The front and back of <strong class='bbc'>Car One[/b] look the same. The <strong class='bbc'>feel[/b] test was another story. There was a noticable difference between the two cars. <strong class='bbc'>Car One[/b] was much smoother and more slippery feeling. It makes sense, right. It had more QD on it. But, even the REAR of <strong class='bbc'>Car One[/b] felt better than <strong class='bbc'>Car Two[/b]. Remember, this was the half without the extra QD but did have the Z7 shampoo used on it. This proves to me that the shampoo is doing it's job and is improving the finish on the car. It made it smoother and slicker. Even my wife, who thinks all this silliness is going to my head, was impressed with the difference.:xyxthumbs

So, I guess the moral of the story is, for me anyway, that Z7 wash and QD afterwords really does work and I will stick with it!
 
I think your test also proves a couple other things. Washing with shampoo, in this case Z7, helps to remove contaminants and dirt that IMO quick detailing can not remove alone. Also, the Z7 and Z6 contain extra polymer protection since they both have slight amounts of polish in them. So, the extra polymers serve as a boost in shine and slickness. Z7 is a great wash and always a joy to use!





:xyxthumbs
 
<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote' >

<em class='bbc'>Originally posted by Brad B. [/i]
<strong class='bbc'>A weekly shampoo of my Carnuba covered cars would just strip the wax. I usually shampoo every two or three weeks. [/b]</blockquote>
Brad,
I'm planning on buying Blitz as a carnuba topper for my Klasse SG. Since my cars are parked outside 24 hours of the time, I have to do a weekly wash. I usually use Meguiar's Gold Class shampoo. Would you say that my weekly Gold Class wash would strip my Blitz every week I wash my cars?

TIA
 
Blitz is pretty durable and Gold class is gentle so, no probably not. But use a diluted amount of shampoo. It doesn't take a lot.



The car I mentioned has Souveran which is not that durable and I once stripped it clean off with a strong mix of Pinnacle shampoo which is pretty tough stuff to begin with.
 
Also, it's a good idea to refresh Blitz, on the horizontal surfaces at least, every couple months.
 
You are right. I have noticed this within the past month. Despite what these soaps say "will not harm wax or finish", they do.



They won't harm them if you use it once in a while like you said, but if your going overkill like me (I use my car twice a week and wash it twice a week), the finish is stripped alot sooner than expected.



I am going to use alot less soap, just enough to have some in the bucket but not enough to clean a really dirty car when the car is already perfectly clean.
 
Brad, thanks a million for that information. That is exactly the kind of thing I was looking for in the thread I recently posted on the subject. Excellent testing, great info! I really appreciate you taking the time to do this :xyxthumbs



Justin
 
BradB:



One more question: How does the feel test on the front of car 1 compared to the rear of the same car 1??

(ie. the effect of Z6 after a Z7 wash weekly)
 
The difference is smaller but still you can tell it is slicker. Probably from being both cleaner and better "coated".
 
<strong class='bbc'>Is it any wonder why I do a BradB. "search for all posts by this user" every time I log on??[/b]

What a great idea - I will try this (No pressure BradB ;) )

Steven
 
Good unoffical test, proves my theory that Z7 works well. I've switched to it exclusively for our show car. It gets washed about once a month and QD several times a week with Z6 and at least once befor a show and usually a touch up during the show. I feel that Z7 used correctly actually helps the finish.

Bill;) ;)
 
When polishing and they say apply 5 lbs of pressure or 10 lbs or pressure, how do you gauge the pounds of pressure? I know I never stop the pad from spinning but how do you determine how much 5 or 10 lbs of pressure is?
 
Umm, I have used a digital scale for total pounds of down force. If you need pounds per square inch, first calculate the pad area in square inches then multiply by the desired force (in pounds) for the total to read on the scale.

(BTW, 5 or 10 pounds total is not very much.)

Regards,
GEWB
 
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