Congrats on the best handling Porsche made to today.
I'm assuming this is the six speed manual, how do you compare 1st gear vs. the Boxster? Porsche deliberately made 1st gear a bit taller than necessary in the CaymanS to slow it down just enough to allow the 911 to outrun it from 0-60.
Kind of pathetic but I doubt the average driver could notice such a blink of an eye delay.

A guy in my gated community has a Blue one with grey interior, the guy one block over has a seal grey 986 and one block in the other direction there is black 968 and this morning I saw a fellow pulling out in Cayenne Turbo. Not bad for five square blocks or so.

p.s.
My advice, don't wash your car too often and keep quick detailing to a minimum.
You may consider a less invasive rinseless wash vs. the standard car wash approach. I like Optimum No Rinse on the recomendation of a luxury car detailer who prefers a more delicate washing treatment when the car is not clean but really not that filthy either.detailcity.com

Ultimately The more you touch black paint the more you will swirl it. And of course with black paint flawes from too much touching are magnified.
Take your towels that you intend to use and brush them on a old or blank CD and see if they scratch the CD. If they do I suggest you buy some top notch towels. Most cheap autostore towels will swirl on contact.

One note on the Zaino, its well known not to be finicky about blending well with non-Zaino products. So you'll have to buy all your stuff from them. But in the end
All waxes Zaino, Klasse, Menzerma, Werkstatt, Clear Kote, 1Z and even some over the counters lines like Duragloss will do a nearly identical job. I defy the most season car detailer to pick out the car with Zaino or 1z or Klasse, they are all indistinguishable.

as for me, I would HIGHLY recommend using FK 146 imediately after a wash. Use whatever spray wax you prefer like the Zaino Z8 for instance, and FK 425 to finish, it locks in all your past efforts. FK (finishkare) are one of the few products I have ever used that inhibit dust and soot. It leaves a very very slick surface that allows dust to roll off. I've had my car parked outside and after a rain fall the car is cleaner without waterspots because of the teflon nature of the FK antistatic products. Its literally cut my cleaning time by more than half. Wish I had this stuff when I had my old black car. The link for FK is in my signature below.

how does the Optimum No Rinse work, without physically touching the paint? Is it a foaming action? If so, I'm guessing there's residue to get rid of, which you would have to wipe...?

I just can't picture how this scenario works without introducing new marring.

its truly an amazing product. No suds or foam.
you have to use two buckets really but oddly enough the high end detailer
I spoke to uses only one with a grit guard at hte bottom of the bucket and has done the same cars over and over with zero marring. We're talking about Ferraris, Maseratis etc.
One 'clean' bucket for the mere one ounce of No Rinse and another bucket to ring
out the sponge/MF towel/sheepskin. Chase with a waffle weave towel to dry.

Its sort of like washing your car with silicone vs. dishwashing solution.
I'll first spray the No Rinse solution all over the car (using a one gallon pesiticde sprayer from Home Depot) and let it sit for a few minutes.
I still have to make a trip to the hose to rinse off the canvas top every couple of weeks but for regular washing No Rinse and the sprayer is the way.

Personally I think you are MORE likely to introduce swirls and marring with the traditional suds and car wash approach because you have to use so much more water to clear away the suds which means more rubbing on the paint and most people never remove the nozzle from their hose when shooting the paint which creates allot of swirling.

Perfectlap:

Quite frankly I haven't noticed that much difference in first gear. But, as mentioned before I haven't really "kicked it up". The most impressive difference is that I feel that I am in a race car! Most of it is from the sound...I love it! And there are a couple of mods that will make that even more impressive.

I have decided to go with the Zaino system since I gave my son all my Klasse and P2S stuff.

I am intrigued by the No Rinse product and will give that a try as well. Your comment about not touching the black paint as much as possible is much appreciated.

Thank you very much!!!!

Perfectlap:

One other thing

I don't have the same experience with Caymans in my neighborhood. I live in the sedate area of Kalamazoo, Mi and I'm sure I have the only Cayman in the whole county.

I see them when I go to Detroit of course.... but not here.

That makes driving the car around town such fun!

Do you miss having a convertible at all? I'm considering going to the 911 Coupe for my next car but I can't decide if I will really miss the convertible or not.

my experience: back in May I went to Florida and rented a hardtop mustang and it was sunny but hot as hell. I'm one of those rare birds that has the top down if the temp is one degree above 65. Well it was a nightmare for me. All that sun and I'm sitting in an air conditioned jail cell. Believe me I love the idea of two seat ultra rigid coupe but better give me at least of sunroof or targa top for those beautfiul warm days. Although the appropriateness of such an addition to such a car is suspect. In a perfect world where having two cars with a grand total of four seats was not extravagant I would unearth the coupe for winter and track days and the roadster for those dry days over 65.

terryB,
p.s. tell your son to use the Klasse stash sparingly because they have changed/diluted the formula recently to comply with some new eco standards.
I'll be trying some new alternatives probably one of the following Menzerma Intensive Polish (German), Werkstatt Prime (German) or Vanilla Moose Wax (U.S., just on the name alone).

Hi Perfectlap-

When did this take place? I've own my Klasse products for about 1 year now.
Have you tried it yet?

On a differnet note, since your are the man on waxing/polishing.
How often should someone clay their car? once a year, once every 6 months or more frequent.

Thanks-

I'm not sure but since about January I've noticed Klasse has started to comply with VOC standards. One vendor told me that if you are a non-Californian and tell them so they would send you the old version. I'm a big fan of Klasse VLRP on black plastic chased by 1Z Vinyl and Rubber for UV protection. The new VLRP is nothing at all like the old so I'm guessing the new eco standards are tough.

I don't think I know anyone who clays enough. Probably a good thing becasue not turning the clay enough can do more harm to the clear coat than help it. I often keep a soapy bucket nearby to wipe off the debris and only then turn the clay. not doing this is crazy to me, some bit of sand/sediments could press through from the center and you've made your own sand paper :( .

If your car is driven daily I would use a mild clay like SOnus Green every other wash. The softer compound will remove the crap without stripping your sealant and dressings. I often do this during a wash when the car is thoroughly lubricated with suds. I think SOnus has the only mild clay (on Autopiacarcare.com).

Before using a cleaning polish every 4 months like Klasse All In ONe or Menzerna Intensive Polish (and or a swirl remover) use a harder more traditional clay like the inexpensive Bluge Magic or Mothers, Megs etc. This is where you want to strip everything down to the clear coat.
Either way if you any paste wax dressings or cleaning polishes you should alway clay first.

Claying is always a noticeable improvement mostly because of the pollution you can't feel on the paint but is dulling the shine.

Perfectlap, how often do you wash your car?

Question 2, how much do you reckon that you spend a year on car washing supplies?

Signed,

Curious in San Diego

well I only wash it myself, I think I've been to drive thru car wash twice in two years. Since using No Rinse I haven't "washed" my car in months. Probably twice a month now. It takes no more than ten minutes with No Rinse and I'm getting qiucker at it. Probably takes longer to bring the bucket and towels to the drive way then actually cleaning the car. And since I only use quick sprays now and have dumped paste waxes that detailing part only takes another 15 minutes.
25 minutes twice a month is pretty good me thinks.

I don't detail between washes mostly to avoid swirling and because FK do such a good job at neutralizing dust. If it rains its actually a good thing because all that dust runs off the paint on its own. And of course the car is silver!!! very low maintenace :) When I had my black car that was a real PITA at least 5 washes a month and several hours of monthly torture.

As far as budget I buy by the gallon whenver possible. A gallon of FK 146 quick detailer is $25 each. Spray Wax by Duragloss is also $25. This will easily last six months. Polishes and sealants and Leather cleaner/conditioners are only used 4 times a year and one $15 bottle will last at least two years. The products that go quicker are tire dressing, Plexus, and 1Z interior sprays like cockpit premium and Vinyl and Rubber care Probably $50 every six months. Again I spend no more than 10 minutes on the interior by doing it often like twice a week. Red is a great color to keep clean you never really see dirt and always a nice shine. My friend who used to detail for a living is buying his VW convertible in silver red out of spite.

The expensive part really is buying all this detailing stuff for the first time: PC buffer & pads, half dozen different brushes, Towels, etc. but then your good for years.
I'll end up spending $500 for everything but after selling my last car for twice the private party blue book value I definintely see the advantage of catering to a future enthusiast owner of my BoxsterS. Not unlike selling a well maintained house.

Update on my Boxster and Cayman:

My son just found out that he is being transferred to Boston. He travels there a lot and knows that he can do without a car. I guess the "Big Dig" is quite a problem.

SO...he is going to sell my beloved Boxster S AND his BMW. Somebody is going to get a gem: 2004 Boxster S with about 3000 miles. I wish I had a bigger garage....I would buy it back.

Can you believe these kids!!! Of course I'm glad he is so successful in his career.

Hey Dad, can I have the Boxster S at the family rate?

Sincerely,
Your other favorite son ;)

You wanna do a pink slip :) haha... I lost already, you can have my car or not. Really nice ride right there. I've only seen one on my street with that bad boy.