Thanks everybody.
Scott, to be honest, this car doesn't get washed too often, and that may be due to the fact that it stays couped up a lot. I haven't had problems smearing with my qd's when accumulating a build up though. If I see that there is either too much dusting or some dirt in places, then it gets washed. Now my daily driver, that's different. It gets washed every week without fail because it gets compound dirt and dust....that one has to get a bath. I also want to be careful with the qd's this time (I haven't really abused them on car #1 though). I want to space out the layers and make certain that it gets qd's every third and if I accumulate more than 6 layers (not sure if Vintage will need it), then a qd every other layer.
Mikeyc, I believe that the order was exactly what I proceeded with. I started with Zymol's hd cleanse so as to strip the wax off before doing the isolated polish. HD Cleanse I found to be effective, but it did clump a bit when working it a while with the pc (base white pad). It smelled nice too, like chocolate milk! Leave it to Zymol to add effect.
I still desired some mechanical polishing, but since I judged the paint to be in relatively good shape, I decided to work with a very mild polish, and work it in stages. Sonus' polishes I've found to be very effective, as they are not necessarily the most aggressive polishes, but they will effectively take out swirls and correct paint with the right speed and patience (sfx-3, green sonus pad). Sonus' paintwork cleanser was a final clean-polish (sonus blue pad), and since it was a bit milder than sfx 3, I found it to be a good step. Contrary to some comments on sonus paintwork cleanser, I also noticed that it had a bit of a mechanical polishing effect, as it did a great job of finishing the work of the sfx-3. The paintwork cleanser didn't clump either (it did spatter a bit, like sfx-3 and the rest of sonus' polishes, but I knew this from previous experience).
I took a bit of time today to look back on the work, and I must say that I am very satisfied with Vintage so far. I couldn't believe that there was a difference between it and concours, but as you said earlier, there was a significant difference to me. Vintage added more animation...almost like a "wine" effect (if that is a good analogy). I want to be a little careful with this one though, because I like a lot of wax on my cars, but at the same time I feel that the zymols have two talents: they work best with color in the lighter stages, and they will flood with depth after a couple of sessions. Too much of it will cause it to haze, so I want to observe the area where this model zymol will reach its peak. Vintage was also a bit easier to apply than concours for some reason (you know the adage that you shouldn't let zymol dry!). I was able to extend a bit further out to the car without getting into trouble.
Time will tell how well this wax will mature this year!
