Taken all precautions and still see scratches.
 

So we finally had a clear weekend and I decided to bust out the Ultimate Zaino kit I bought and wash/polish the car. I thought I had taken all precautions to prevent scratching, but in the right light I can still see fine scratches on various sections of the car. I really have to get sunlight and look in the right angle, but I see them.

I used all of Zaino's products as directed and bought 100% cotton towels at Macy's and chopped the borders off. I suspect the culprit may be the microfiber mitt that I bought at Target. What do you guys use to actually wash the car? I'm hoping the cotton towels I got aren't doing it, but unfortunately, I didn't really notice the scratches until after I had used all the different products and didn't have a chance to narrow down what did it.

Excellent. Thanks for the link.

Still though, what are people using for wet-washing their car. The actual washing phase.

You'll see that this guy has many more vids on his Youtube channel, etc. Some of them are pretty long and detailed, make some popcorn, he's amusing and he knows.

I use the wash pad that Adam sells... I also use their drying towel and microfibers...

Adam's Professional Wash Pad

Get the yellow towels from zaino, super soft. I used to use 100% cotton towels without borders. Your car probably had swirl marks when the dealership washed it. If you use the 2 bucket system and pat your car dry you won't get any more swirl marks. Also use 2 set of wash mitts for the body, one for the lower part of the car.

Can you say, "lighter color"?

Wow, he has a ton of videos. Thanks. I'll watch these over the weekend.

cotton towels. i dont use them. i dont have swirls on my Z.

use of cotton towels is too pre-2005.

Obviously if patting the car dry with a clean, dry, soft, borderless cotton towel leaves scratches, no amount of care will keep it scratch free. ;)

I'm guessing some other part of the process left the marks or they were left by the dealer detailing process.

I've never had good luck with cotton towels, no matter how fancy or "100% cotton" they claimed to be. IMHO you should get some quality microfiber towels (the Turtle Wax Ice ones are awesome, believe it or not) and you'll be good to go.