I started a new mini-hobby. After I bought my new used truck, I've gotten some nice results detailing it. I find detailing incredibly relaxing. BUT, I get a little confused with all the thousands of products out there to achieve the same basic ends. Based on all the products I've bought and used so far, it SEEMS to me that all these products from various makers all share the same basic ingredients for the use of each product.

Is that basically true ? And if so, do you go for best of the breed for each specific application, or do you use one specific car detailing brand for all your detailing products ?

Any other advice for shortening the learning curve and avoiding spending unnecessary amounts of money in figuring out which kinda sorta works, versus what really works very good for each application.

So far I've learned and practiced washing, clay bar, and waxing. The clay bar thing has really impressed me, it really makes a difference in the quality of the finished paint surface.

Zaino...

Email me, 2009 i was rated one of the top 10 in the U.S. by my peers in autoweek.

Most auto detailers will use a commercial brand of detailing products, not found in your local auto parts store......

Bought a new Camaro SS back in November. Since all it did was snow and try to beat all time low temp records until recently....I have driven it very little.

I started buying detailing items and reading whatever I could.

I too find it relaxing and rewarding. I have gone to the AutoGeek.com and AmmoNYC.com sites and gotten a lot of good information. Ton of info on YouTube as well.

Detailed my 2012 Honda Pilot a few weeks back in my garage when we had a little break in the weather. Gave it a good wash, then a clay bar rub down and went over it with my new RUPES orbital polisher. Took me two days, but it came out looking probably better than when it was new.

I've been experimenting with products from Griot's, Autogeek, Adams Polishes, Pinnacle and Wolfgang.

FN in MT

I am looking for my old write up for PS PCA, soon as i find it, I will post it some how for people to get. I wrote it several computer life times ago.

Till then post up questions and i will do my best to answer them.

For a relatively new detail fanatic, I really like the Adams and chemical guys stuff. They have products all linked together that work together and a lot of detail about the order of the steps.

You're gonna want a DA polisher. Porter Cable 7424 or Torq are the economical choices and use either chemical guys hexlogic or Lake Country foam pads.

Good luck, it's an addicting hobby. Even more so than guns, in my opinion.

A great place to start is here. Phil Yui runs detailers domain. Wonderful man. He goes through and uses every product he sells. He talks at length with is pro and amateur clients to better understand how the products work in their enviroments.

https://www.detailersdomain.com/blogs/auto-detailing

quote:

Originally posted by DSgrouse:
A great place to start is here. Phil Yui runs detailers domain. Wonderful man. He goes through and uses every product he sells. He talks at length with is pro and amateur clients to better understand how the products work in their enviroments.

https://www.detailersdomain.com/blogs/auto-detailing

I just watched your time lapse youtube video, your mobile setup is more than impressive. You must be in damn good shape to handle that amount of work, esp. on concrete.

Regarding jimmy123x's comment above about commercial vs retail detail products, are the commercial versions products less expensive because of bulk size, or are the commercial products actually better than what I find in the auto stores ?

You get what you pay for, up to a point. You really need not go too crazy if you're not making a living off of it.

The stuff you can get from Adams, ammo, chem guys, etc is much better than autozone or advance carried products. Some things matter less than others.

Just like guns, you can go as simple or as extensive as you like.

Comercial as in body shop? Or dealer wholesale compared to off the shelf auto store. Then no, neither of those are comparable to boutique products like what detailers domain and others offer.

Adams and CG are shared product lines. There are really only a few mixers of chemicals. Some in the US some in the E.U. Griots, was a seattle company that i wS very familiar with.

Adams always wanted his products to be the best off the shelf product line.

Cg is a good bridge between the off the shelf product line to boutique product.

Griots garage is a great hobbist line. It works, a tad slower and with a greater safety margin than a top shelf boutique product.

The biggest thing, and i can not stress this enough, is not the product. It is the process you lay out for yourself. The process is what does 90% of the work, 7 % learned skill, 3 percent product. That changes a bit in extreme situations. Those though are the exception to the rule.

I will add that good tools are key. Good mitts, foam lance, wash buckets, brushes, vaccums, hot water extractors, rotarty, random orbital, forced rotation orbital, pads and micro fibers towels should be as high as quality as you feel reasonable to buy.

quote:

Originally posted by DSgrouse:
The biggest thing, and i can not stress this enough, is not the product. It is the process you lay out for yourself. The process is what does 90% of the work, 7 % learned skill, 3 percent product.

This deserves a repeat. Once the 'right' process is developed for the cars you're detailing, you can easily find products to use for each step of the process.

I'm not a pro detailer, but as a compulsive amateur for the past 20 years, who's managed to detail some pretty nice Ferrari's, Porsche's, and other high end autos, I've tried products from just about every line out there. The simple reality is that you need not spend ridiculous amounts of money on product to get excellent results. I source just about everything I buy through Autogeek.net, and am a member of their detailing forum as well. Lots of good advise and product info out there if you're willing to take the time to read.

Now, for a few gratuitous pics of my 17 year old. 130k mile, daily driver truck that's been detailed by me since the day I picked it up from the dealership.

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:

quote:

Originally posted by DSgrouse:
The biggest thing, and i can not stress this enough, is not the product. It is the process you lay out for yourself. The process is what does 90% of the work, 7 % learned skill, 3 percent product.

This deserves a repeat. Once the 'right' process is developed for the cars you're detailing, you can easily find products to use for each step of the process.

I'm not a pro detailer, but as a compulsive amateur for the past 20 years, who's managed to detail some pretty nice Ferrari's, Porsche's, and other high end autos, I've tried products from just about every line out there. The simple reality is that you need not spend ridiculous amounts of money on product to get excellent results. I source just about everything I buy through Autogeek.net, and am a member of their detailing forum as well. Lots of good advise and product info out there if you're willing to take the time to read.

Now, for a few gratuitous pics of my 17 year old. 130k mile, daily driver truck that's been detailed by me since the day I picked it up from the dealership.

that's pretty impressive

Meguiars in the tan bottles cover everything I need with good results. I use a wheel but have been thinking about a Porter Cable.

I will defer to DSgrouse for his expertise but a couple of sites it use for products and basic information are autogeek.net and detailedimage.com.
Their are LOTS of really good products out there but that is only a small fraction of detailing success.

quote:

Originally posted by Patriot:
Zaino...

Yep!

quote:

Originally posted by wrightd:

quote:

Originally posted by DSgrouse:
A great place to start is here. Phil Yui runs detailers domain. Wonderful man. He goes through and uses every product he sells. He talks at length with is pro and amateur clients to better understand how the products work in their enviroments.

https://www.detailersdomain.com/blogs/auto-detailing

I just watched your time lapse youtube video, your mobile setup is more than impressive. You must be in damn good shape to handle that amount of work, esp. on concrete.

Regarding jimmy123x's comment above about commercial vs retail detail products, are the commercial versions products less expensive because of bulk size, or are the commercial products actually better than what I find in the auto stores ?

Both. Some are actually formulated better for the region they sell in. Some are just much easier to work with. Here in South Florida both Presta and Ibiz work really well,

Presta http://www.prestaproducts.com/

and Ibiz have both been making/selling detailing products that are working really well and easy to apply. It's the official wax of the corvette club of america and the american antique car museum. BUT it goes on and off REALLY easily.
https://waxdirect.com/

REJEX seems to be working REALLY well on gelcoat (boats).

I was considering using Zaino, till I went to their website and read what you have to go through to use it the first time, NO WAY.

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:

quote:

Originally posted by DSgrouse:
The biggest thing, and i can not stress this enough, is not the product. It is the process you lay out for yourself. The process is what does 90% of the work, 7 % learned skill, 3 percent product.

This deserves a repeat. Once the 'right' process is developed for the cars you're detailing, you can easily find products to use for each step of the process.

I'm not a pro detailer, but as a compulsive amateur for the past 20 years, who's managed to detail some pretty nice Ferrari's, Porsche's, and other high end autos, I've tried products from just about every line out there. The simple reality is that you need not spend ridiculous amounts of money on product to get excellent results. I source just about everything I buy through Autogeek.net, and am a member of their detailing forum as well. Lots of good advise and product info out there if you're willing to take the time to read.

Now, for a few gratuitous pics of my 17 year old. 130k mile, daily driver truck that's been detailed by me since the day I picked it up from the dealership.

How do you get the glass to that level of amazing? Wow.

Use IMAR professional grade glass polish, to polish out all environmental damage and issues in the glass, then rain-x them. This stuff will turn your windows back to brand new.

http://imarsales.com/?s=glass+...Submit.y=0&Submit=Go

Been doing this for 10 years on all my cars. Once a year, takes 2 good days to do the metal

1. 2 bucket was with DI water and good soap
2. Clay the car with Zymol Lehm Clay and their lube.
3. Polished the entire car with an orange Lake City pad using Menzerna super intensive polish and a Porter Cable 7424 buffer.
4. Then polished the entire car with a white LC and Menzerna micro polish.
5. Applied and buffed, by hand, Zymol HD Cleanse.
6. Hand waxed, literally use your hands to apply, and buffed the car with Zymol Concours.