The detailing thread

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ebarker9

Well-Known Member
It seems like there are some people on here who take their detailing pretty seriously, so why not have a place to discuss. I know that there are also people who do absolutely nothing and don't care at all what their car looks like (my father, for example, whose black Acura is 50% covered in pine sap).

To get things started, my general approach has been:

-Buy the Griots DA and a bunch of pads and then never take it out of the box
-Consider washing the car, but then decide that I really want to "do it right" and do the full decontamination, fill in paint chips, correction, sealant etc and somehow I never can seem to find time for that
-When things get really ugly, do a quick wash, wax with Collinite 845 to disguise the hard water staining that seems to be ever prevalent on my cars, and call it good
-Having clean wheels is like an 80% improvement in appearance without doing anything to the rest of the car
-I hate having a black car

In all seriousness, I would like to to the full paint correction and ceramic coat...one of these days.

What is everyone else doing?
 
Cassinonorth

Cassinonorth

Well-Known Member
I use a power washer on a low PSI with a foam gun. It's fun, not sure if it does anything. My typical wash


-Pressure wash grime away
-Cover car in Carpro Reset (smells super good)
-Pressure wash again
-Hand wash
-Clay bar/paint correction if I'm feeling it
-Hand dry with microfiber towels
 
bergsnj

bergsnj

Well-Known Member
I used to get pretty serious with detailing. These days I dont have the time so I just wash with a good quality soap (Meguiars gold class) and then go over the whole car with lucas slick mist. I do this about every week on the daily driver. Wheels and tires are also washed with soap and a sponge. Then the wheels get slick mist and the tires get tire gel. I do this for just about any vehicle these days
 
-YETI-

-YETI-

Active Member
I have PPF and ceramic coating on my car. Ceramic coating really does make it much faster to wash just using the 2 bucket method.
 
johnnyrides

johnnyrides

Active Member
I had great success using McKee's paint coating but it seems like their product line changed to be a "ceramic" paint coating. Either way, it lasted about 18 months give or take and I would enhance it with Turtle Wax Seal and Shine every month or so. Now I like Turtle Wax Ceramic Spray coating as a topper ....... https://www.turtlewax.com/products/hybrid-solutions-ceramic-wax-spray-coating-16-fl-oz

I've been working with new cars but even they sometimes need a back of hand test to see if I need to clay. Seems like mostly the front hood and roof need the clay the most as they get hit by the sun the hardest.

The spray ceramic coatings really have come a long way with better durability and fairly low price. But the best is to use them over a paint coating of some sort.
 
JonF

JonF

Well-Known Member
Back in the day as a yoot, i'd run down to Toms River and pick up a bunch of Zaino detailing supplies and go at it over the weekend. Armed with a porter cable and a variety of 3M polishes and pads, we'd get a mirror like finish when all said and done.

I see there is a new trend of something called ceramic coating. I'm not doubting the legitimacy of it but it reminds me back in the early 90's there was this "teflon coating" craze you had to have on your car. It only lasted as long as a good synthetic wax/sealant but good enough for a season. Dont really see that much anymore...
 
Bike N Gear

Bike N Gear

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JonF said:
Back in the day as a yoot, i'd run down to Toms River and pick up a bunch of Zaino detailing supplies and go at it over the weekend. Armed with a porter cable and a variety of 3M polishes and pads, we'd get a mirror like finish when all said and done.

I see there is a new trend of something called ceramic coating. I'm not doubting the legitimacy of it but it reminds me back in the early 90's there was this "teflon coating" craze you had to have on your car. It only lasted as long as a good synthetic wax/sealant but good enough for a season. Dont really see that much anymore...
Click to expand...

Back in the day, as in 1980 my dad had a two tone Monte Carlo SS that I used to drive. I started waxing it weekly to look good. Eventually realized I only needed to wax the black half and ignored the silver.
 
ekuhn

ekuhn

Well-Known Member
There's a guy who parks in the lot near work. Every morning when it was warm out, I'd come in to find him and his early 90's Nissan Sentra and a red bottle of McGuire's spray wax. Clear coat was already missing and yellow in spots, but I guess he was going for the build up of the spray wax. That is dedication.
 
D

djm

Well-Known Member
JonF said:
Back in the day as a yoot, i'd run down to Toms River and pick up a bunch of Zaino detailing supplies and go at it over the weekend. Armed with a porter cable and a variety of 3M polishes and pads, we'd get a mirror like finish when all said and done.

I see there is a new trend of something called ceramic coating. I'm not doubting the legitimacy of it but it reminds me back in the early 90's there was this "teflon coating" craze you had to have on your car. It only lasted as long as a good synthetic wax/sealant but good enough for a season. Dont really see that much anymore...
Click to expand...
Oh man I was all about Zaino back in the day. What a shine!!
 
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