Zymol Advice - Page 1 - Porsche General - PistonHeads UK

Wash it, HD cleanse it, Zymol it. Then wash it with cold water ONLY every few weeks. The zymol stays on. Re-zymol every three months or so. Or never again This is what I do. Hope this helps. Dom

Cheers Dom, sounds like a good low-maintenance plan to me. Leaves plenty of time for the more important things I can do with my Porsche...drive it!

I called Zymol a few months after the first application & they told me to add another layer of wax and only to cleanse once a year or so..makes sense to build layers up.This time of year you will get better results if you are in a heated garage.

Box, I too have spoken to Zymol abouy this. Thie advice was as follows: Cleanse every 6-12 months, depending on driving conditions etc (eg if you have a 4x4, you'll want to do it every 6, normal road cars every twelve) Wax as often as you wish. Every month seems reasonable, but the weather must be quite mild to ensure proper wax application. A heated garage, as mentioned before, will help this. Bear in mind though that as soon as you cleanse, you will remove all wax you have applied. Wash every week if you can. If you want you can use just cold water (like Dom advises), or you can use the Zymol Clear if you want. A final bit of advice: As you know, the Halfords Zymol products are inferior to the more expensive stuff, but the car wash product Halfords sell (it's Blue, from memory) will NOT remove Zymol wax. I've used it on my Merc a couple of times since waxing and it's fine. The cheaper stuff foams a bit more than Clear, but the results are similar. Hope this helps. Enjoy your driving !

Guys, thanks for the advice. Sounds pretty clear, now all I need is some warm weather to apply the wax!

Ok.... Some usefull advice If I may, I think of myself as a little bit of an expert when it comes to Zymol (No, I dont work for them, nor do I get any royalties unfortunately) I had a Zymol day at my home a couple of months back which was well attended by fellow Porsche 964, Boxter and 996 mates whom I have met on the Rennlist Forum and I think it safe to say it went extemely well. so... Soap your car down with the "Bathe" (a capfull is more than enough) *** Optional, but recommended **** Get yourself the Lehm-Klay kit and rub the entire car (windows and all) with this clay, believe me when I say it works to get the imbedded(sp) grit off your painwork. ******* Then.... Use a full bottle (250ml) of HD cleanse per car (windows everything!) when applying this step, I know it doesnt say so anywhere but believe me it helps clean off all the road dirt and oxidised paint off your car, DO NOT rub yourself dizzy ... It works just as well if you simply move the HD cleanse around in small areas in straight lines and not circlar motion (.5m - Or Half a Panel at a time) for about 60 seconds or so! Wipe off with the Towel Supplied! Finally..... follow the rest of the instructions to apply the wax, Once again NO RUBBING .. just apply, leave for a couple of minutes and then WIPE (again, No rubbing) Then, Stand back and admire your car without being sexual about it! >> Edited by Richard92c2 on Friday 20th December 12:32

from the TiPEC and NotJustPorsche Boards We has bin Zymol'd ! By Adrian Jaye "Hi yall, I's decided to get wicked wiv me bit's and do a quick demo on this Zymol stuff. So at the last meeting of da Staines massive down at de old 'Crooked Billet' we got wicked, aaiigte ! Only thing is we was all hoping that me Julie would get down and buff me Porker as well, but she said that I was just being plain filthy and gave me dinner to da cat !" The conversation kinda get's even more non-sensical so, I just plied Adrian with half a Babysham and I'll tell you what really happened ! If you've been following the "massive" threads on Zymol. I decided to put my money were my mouth is and do a quick demo, so with thank's to John Wallin's digi-cam and Bernie's very "U.V'd" 911 I think we proved the point. So with a small gathering of witnesses the only car to prove it on was John's 911. To be honest I didn't think it would turn out as good as it did. Mind you I did make a small "goof" and forget to bring the wax with me (it lives in the fridge) but I did manage to demonstrate the "cutting" or "cleansing" as Zymol term it. And unlike the "A***Jims" product, NO red paint could be seen on the cutting cloth only the loverely chocolatey smelling brown colour. Yet the panel we did definitely came up a treat. So… A little bit of background As opposed to another product which for the sake of argument I'll call "Auto-Jims", this product and others like it are not waxes. They are beautification product's. They are petro-chemically based and most of it's bulk being made up with chalk. (hence the white stuff deposited on your paint work when it dries), in essence every time you use it your using an abrasive (albeit it very fine) on your bodywork. Each and every time you use it, your taking off several layer's of paint off ! Zymol is a totally natural product made of vegetable oils amongst them cocoa, hence the smell (and yes you can eat it, if you really had the urge to !). As I demonstrated What zymol actually does over and above is protect your paint work ! How ??? Back to basic's. How do you get a gleaming surface on your paint work. The only way to get a shiny, gleaming surface (other than having a nice fresh re-spray) is to cut the top layer of oxidised paint. Like in the old "T-Cut" days then your supposed to polish it (say with a good wax product such as "Turtle Wax") to seal the cut paint work, to protect it and keep the shine. Which is NOT what happens with a petrochemical product. So…For the best result's, your best off first seeking advice from a reputable body shop about having your car cut to a good layer of the original un-oxidised paint but assuming it's not that bad anyway. 1) Rinse the car (water). The aim is to remove the initial dirt so it does not cause scratches on the bodywork (ever wondered how those tiny scratches get on your paint work in the first place). Don't use a car wash, there terrible on your paint as are the jet wash brushes, just hose the car with water to rinse the surface grime off. If you can pressure wash it, do so. 2) Clean your car (Zymol clear). The aim is to clean the dirt of the car, as you've hosed the bodywork, it's wet so any dirt will hopefully not scratch your paint. Zymol shampoo has no petrochemicals so it doesn't damage the paint work it also has a neutral pH so it is not acidic or caustic. 3) Rinse car (water). Remove the soap so you can see if you've missed anything. If there is any dirt still visible then repeat step 2 and use more elbow grease 4) Chammy (Zymol). Get rid of excess water by using a Zymol chamois as this is kinder to the bodywork. 5) Cut the car / read CLEANSE (Zymol HD--CLEANSE). You should now have a clean car ! The following process cleans the surface it also gives a good base for the wax to adhere to. It does not cut the paint work as such. It certainly does not colour the cloth, it will take a layer of Zymol wax (or as on Bernies 911 that yucky milky layer off). Cleanse looks, smells and tastes like chocolate, it is a natural product. You pop a little on the Zymol sponge and wipe it straight on, on a clean, non-oxidised car the results are in itself quite stunning. On Bernies it was remarkable, it's really like rubbing butter on, no crappy white chalky stuff, no hard scrubbing, no damage to the paint work. It also can be used safely on the black rubber trim, it again doesn't leave those white chalk marks, so over spill is not a problem ! Also your supposed to apply and wipe off using "STRAIGHT LINES", ever wondered how thoes scratches got in the paint work, in the first place, yep, using circular movements ! 6) Wax the car (Zymol CARBON). You've cleaned the car, so now you have to seal the clean finish. Again, you only need to use small amount's of Zymol, (which is why, though a starter kit is expensive, it will last years (at least the wax will !) straight lines, wiped off using a clean cloth again YEP in straight lines. After about 30 - 45 min's it dries to a hard shell finish, this now protects the paint work and keeps the shine there ! WAX'ing does not make a car shine that should have been done in the cleaning process, it will however make it feel as smooth as silk though ! Once that's done, it looks good, smells great and you know the bodywork has been protected and not damaged in the process. Now, aftercare, up to 2-3 weeks, just water from a hose will take off any road grime, simply allow it to dry. 3 -4 weeks, shampoo only needed. Every month a wax. You can apply wax over wax, provided you've done the first job properly all it does is give an extra coating of protection 6-9 month's, if the car's looking tired then re-cleanse, BUT re-"cutting" WON'T strip all your previous waxes of only the last coat. This is why it's important to start off with a properly (body shop) buffed, un-oxidised paint work. To do a full Zymol took me about 2-3 hours and it was an "easy" , no arm ache, as opposed to when I used to "Auto-Jim." Damn, I wish I was on commission unfortunately I'm not ! So now you got the fact's and the digi-pics to prove it ! Now "where's me Julie ?" Later's Adrian

What you do all that, then stand on the fupping bonnet man? rich...

I was impressed with 2-3 hours...The first time I did the whole car,as in sills,door posts etc....It took a little over 8 hours.

What's with all this petrochemical versus natural guff? Is that the only way they can sell their product? Don't they know what paint is made of for a start. Sounds like Emporer's New Clothes to me!

Having received my Zymol I'm bamboozled!! The 'pro tips' seem to suggest washing a couple of times a month, waxing once a month and cleansing every 6 months, but when I read the waxing section it says always HD Cleanse beforehand So which is it, can I wash and wax or do I always have to HD cleanse? Cheers