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Building a detailing closet, help!

3K views 4 replies 5 participants last post by  Shawnj145 
#1 · (Edited)
Hello all. I just purchased a new (year old) car and am looking to build out my detailing closet. I've read through a good deal of the detailing forum already, however I feel like detailing changes all the time. For instance, when I last was detailing regularly (about 10 years ago) no one was using the foaming soap to hose down their cars. I figured it was best to just post a general 'Help me!' post.

My background. I used to detail a fair amount when I had a mk4 GTI, clay bar and waxing primarily. I'll list the products I use currently and would love to hear from any of you what you like to use.

Car Soap
Meguiars Gold Class Car Soap

Windows
Sprayway glass cleaner

Wax
Pinnacle Souveran Paste Wax

Claybar
Mothers California Gold Clay Bar Paint Saving System


Would love suggestions on any of the above products as well as
- Polish
- Tire Shine
- Dashboard treatment
- Shamois
- Microfiber towels
- Hand towels
- Power polishers?
- Leather treatment

Thank you!
 
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#3 ·
The big question when building a detailing closet is how much you want to spend.

IMO a foam gun or cannon is a must have these days. The more dirt and grime you can get off the car without touching the paint the less imperfections and scratches you will make. Foam guns that attach right to a hose are good if you that's all you got but if you can you should definitely invest in a pressure washer and foam cannon attachment for that clingy snow foam effect. Im a big fan of most of Adams Polishes products and use their car shampoo, all purpose cleaner and detail spray exclusively.

Car Soap
I like Adams Polishes car shampoo. its PH neutral so it won't strip any protection and foams up real well in foam guns and foam cannons.

Windows
Invisible Glass. This glass cleaner always leaves my windows streak free, its safe for tint and available in all autopart stores. for added protection i would look into a glass sealant. I use carbon collective platinum glass and with that i really don't have to use my wipers much or at all

Wax
As much as it pains me to say it, as i love carnauba waxes, sealants and ceramics protect better and last longer while providing just as much levels of shine. I really like Sonax polymer net shield for a sealant, its easy to apply, looks fantastic on the car and provides quite good protection. However ceramic coating are all the rage right now and seem to be as advertised.

Claybar
IMO there's not much difference between clay bars, as long as you are claying the car you are gucci. But as the other poster said, nano skin and similar products are quicker and can do just as good of a job. you just need to make sure there is plenty of lubricant for it.


Would love suggestions on any of the above products as well as
- Polish: Im a big fan of Menzerna and sonax polishes. Ive gotten very good results using menzerna medium cutting polish and finishing with sonax perfect finish 4/6. However, ive also heard good things about meguiars polishes
- Tire Shine- I think sonax wheel cleaner is some of the best on the market, adams polishes wheel cleaner has also been good for me. for shine adams polishes tire shine is good but if you really want the wet tire look then the costco tire wet stuff is real good.
- Dashboard treatment- nextzett plastic deep cleaner. I swear by this stuff, its the best. doesn't leave your plastics wet like armorall stuff.
- Shamois- microfiber towels only
- Microfiber towels- Uber microfiber towels, the rag company microfiber towels or adams polishes microfiber towels are all great. I would say you should get a nice big microfiber drying towel and some high pile microfiber towels for waxes/sealants
- Power polishers?- if you have the money Rupes polishers are the best on the market, they are the goto for most of the professional detailers these days. I have a rupes 21 bigfoot polisher with a 5in backing plate, its got the power and throw to make quick work of large panels and its pretty much idiot proof. whatever you do, do not buy a rotary polisher.
- Leather treatment- sonax leather foam or nextzett leather care.

as you can see from my answers I'm a big fan of sonax and adams polishes products. IMO they are far better than anything you can get at an autoparts store and aren't really any more expensive. I pretty much exclusively shop at detailersdomain.com. The owner runs one of the best detail shops in the northeast and all the products sold on the site have been tested and approved by him so you can be confident that you are using quality products that really work. Plus you if you sign up to the site you can expect to get 10-20% off around every major holiday.

Hope this helped
 
#2 ·
I'd recommended nano skin instead of traditional clay bar. Costco microfiber towels are just fine for 90% of uses. My rotary polisher pretty much collects dust now since joining the DA revolution, I use a Griot's DA with Meg's pads and polishes. Chamois I use natural sheep skin cod oil tanned, have a few waffle weave absorbers for door jambs and otherwise dirty places.
 
#5 ·
IMO, take this however you want, I'm a fan of Chemical Guys products and I've had no issues with any of their products. I also have a specific way I do my detailing based on the season and what I am prepping the car for, whether it be a show or just to have a clean car.

SOAP: I use Signature series for a regular wash day. I will use the Clean Slate soap if I am starting from scratch, such as paint correction, polish, sealing ETC. The Clean Slate strips any old waxes, sealants, detail sprays off the paint so that you can re apply any of it on a fresh surface without any old chemical build up. I tend to use Clean Slate 1 to 2 times a year spring and fall so that when it gets cold I dont have to worry about caked up chemicals between the seasons.

Polishes/Scratch removers: Depending on how the paint looks, I use VSS (swirl and scratch remover) and / or V36/V38 to remove any light swirls and light scratches from the paint. This product (VSS) also contains polish as well so it takes care of polishing the car at the same time. Paired with the right buffing pad the paint looks immaculate and gives the paint a smooth surface so that you can apply a sealant, polish or wax. The V36 is a rougher compound that is meant for more moderate swirls and scratches and paired with the V38 polish will bring out a nice shine to the paint.

Sealant: I use Jet seal which is a sealant that lasts for 12 months. I use this after I use the clean slate soap so that there is a fresh coating of sealant on the car. If you choose not to strip the old chemicals off the car 2 times a year then this sealant will keep the paint protected so that any old compounds do not effect the paint. I normally use this sealant in the fall that way when the winter months come the sealant is pretty fresh so the salt from the roads does very little harm unlike it would to a car that is not sealed. This sealant also works really well on glass and better than Rain-X.

Wax/detail spray:Again, this is your choice of product, but i like to use Butter wet wax or Cherry wet wax (both are a good wax) the butter wet wax brings out the color more in the warmer color cars such as your reds, yellowd, orange etc. The cherry wet wax brings out the colors more in your blues, greens ETC. Both waxes are good for any car color and both make Reds pop out. for the detail sprays I use a synthetic spray wax after washes and not so much after a fresh wax job. The synthetic wax still gives you a vibrant look to the paint along with the fresh wax feel.

Interior: I use an All in One interior spray that is good for leather, plastic, rubber and my Nav / Tach screens with any microfiber towel. I use leather cleaner and conditioner on my seats with a microfiber applicator pad and microfiber towel.

Towels: I use a huge wolly mammoth towel that holds up to 1 gallon of water and I can normally dry the whole care without having to really ring it out very often. Microfiber towels are used for my wax/sealant/polish removal and my interior as well.

Again, each company makes products for what I described above and to each their own on the companies they use. I personally like the chemical guys products and have not had a complaint with anything I have used of theirs. They may be a little expensive but are cheaper than some other companies and I usually get my stuff from Amazon.

Hope this helps you for future purchases.
 
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