ICE... First impressions
 

OK. Have tried many types of wax on my car and recently settled on Zaino products because they are superb. My ONLY complaint with Zaino is the high price.

Well, I ran out of Zaino recently and decided to give Turtle wax ICE a chance. Kinda skeptical at first but here are my first thoughts (FWIW). Will compare to Zaino:

Ease of application: ICE tops Zaino. The liquid glides on smoothly. Little effort is required to apply the very thin liquid. Because Z-2 is a little thicker and you have to stretch it, Zaino requires more rubbing/spreading.

Because it goes on clear it is more difficult to see where the ICE has been spread compared to Zaino.

Ease of removal: ICE tops Zaino. Since it is very thin, it requires very little effort to remove. No elbow grease necessary just some light fast buffing with the microfiber towel. Tried using cotton towels for removal-- not enough grip and the dried ICE smeared alot. Thats probably why they included a microfiber towel. The bottle (ICE) says wait till it dries to a haze before removal. If you wait for a conventional haze, you'll wait awhile. Not much of a haze happens at all. Almost invisible if you look straight on. You have to look off angle to see the "haze".

Cost: ICE- ~$17.00/ bottle including a sponge applicator & Microfiber buffing towel. Zaino- Z-2 ~$15.00 & ZFX (not required but always used) ~$20.00= $35.00.

Number of apps/bottle: ICE wins. A little more than 1 ounce (outta 16) used for my first application. ~16 apps per bottle? $17/15 apps = $1.13/ app.

I use 2 ounces per app for Zaino (outta 8 oz.) and get 4 apps from a bottle. $35/4= $8.75 /app.

Aroma: Nothing beats Zaino. I'm addicted to the smell for sure. ICE smells like a thousand other products. Kinda vinyl-like but not overpowering.

Shine: TIE. They both are great. No noticeable difference.

Durability: No winner yet. But my first guess is Zaino will win out. Ice seems so thin. The Zaino seemed to last about 1.5 months before needing a new app. I have yet to test the ICE in the real world. My car still sits in the garage after it first app. I'll report back.

But you know, at $1.13 an app, I can afford to put more protection on my car more often. Hopefully ICE lasts longer than a week or I'll have to ICE the car at every wash. If it doesn't, its back to Zaino for me.

Comments?

If you "ran out" of Zaino and the only car you were doing was your RX-8, you were doing something wrong, unless you had about 20 layers on it.

If you have problems removing Zaino, you did not let it 'cure' long enough.

Did you use ZFX?
Did you wash the car with Z7 before Zainoing?
Did you use Z6 on the applicator?


Can you Layer on 'ICE' or is it like ZFX where one layer is all you can do.

See how long it lasts. My guess is Zaino will outlast it. This means you will have to apply/reapply it more frequently. Perhaps Zaino costs more at first, but how much is your time worth? I'd rather be doing other things than applying a polish every 2-3 months

Never got 2-3 months from a Zaino app. As I stated, its effectiveness fades after about 6 weeks.

Thanks for trying to instruct but I am well versed in using Zaino products. My statements are my experience.

Your results may vary.

Did you strip off the Zaino before applying the Ice? Just checking.

It was long gone. Did not strip (Dawn) the car. Just used my normal wash concentrate (Meguiars Gold)

I'll warn black rx8 owners who spend 30 minutes at the end of every day quick detailing: because ICE synthetic wax and ICE detailer spray are so thin, clear, and mirror-shiny, they show every single little spiderweb line when the sun is overhead or when the vehicle is under streetlights at night.

Consider using the ICE detailer spray, but using a different product for a wax to hide the spiderwebs better. I find the ICE detailer spray handy due to its non-marking of plastic and usage in direct sunlight.

Ok, my latest on ICE.

Just finished my second app in a little over a weeks time.


1) One good rain and ONE car wash and the stuff is all but washed off the car. So just as I expected, it is too thin to provide long lasting protection.

2) Tried applying it in the sun (as the bottle says you can do). It goes on easy but.... SMEAR city trying to get it off. Here is why I think it smears. The applictor is a sponge and when you spread the thin iquid, it foams a bit and leaves tiny little bubbles behind. While the rest of the product dries fine, these bubbles do not. So when you try to wipe it off, there is still small ( I mean really small) wet bead that smear like crazy. The stuff went on in fifteen minutes but...

3) Took 2.5 hours to get it off! And the streaks re-appear! Just when you think they are gone... they come back! What a PITA! The EXTENDED time it takes to wipe and buff negates the short application time. Not good.


So, there. Another product that promises more than it delivers. Thats too bad. I hoped a Turtle product would be good.

I have to stop experimenting... it appears NOTHING beats Zaino.

Just ordered some more.

i am a zaino user but also have ICE, here's my best results with ICE:

claybar while washing, COMPLETELY DRY, then whatever carnuba wax you choose(i use zaino instead), buff, THEN ICE but do not use that sponge that comes with the product, its awful. i also use the ice on the outside plastic and the rims, i freakin love it. but yes it does come off easy (if the car gets rained on.)

:dunno:Whats the point in using ICE over wax? The shine? The ICE shine is about equal to the Zaino.

not so much the shine, more if i have the time to do the whole 9 yards with zaino.

Can you put carnuba wax over Ice or Zaino? can you put more than one coat of ice?

i put carnube first, the ice on top, multiple layers of ice is fine.

That's strange, I've had my ICE applications rained on multiple times with multiple carwashes and it lasts great... reminds me of that "rain away" on the whole car, beads beautifully and flies away.

I usually only need to re-ice once every couple of months, just coming up to my third application of the summer. Although I do use the quick - detail spray every second car wash or so... I wash my rex at least 3-4 times a month.

is your car a daily?

Definitely, I even drive her through the winter and that's no easy task here in Toronto. Although I do have to admit I only tried ICE for the first time in Spring, so I don't know how well it will protect against ice, snow, and salt... yet