Starting a detail kit

A

AcuraYYZ

New member
I recently purchased my first vehicle and am looking to purchase a set of detailing products. My family's detail artillery consists of NuFinish applied to the cars twice a year after having a touchless wash done. He also likes the Symonize wheel shine foam every few weeks. My dad even says the touchless washes are "useless" since you can't "get clean by just putting soap on something then washing it off". I've heard of the swirls caused by soft cloth washes but I still use them occasionally. Since it's the winter now and my car gets dirty fast (I drive quite a bit) I just hose it off at the coin wash every week to remove the salt. Come the summer I want to get into detailing it myself. I'm not looking to do any of the paint correction or high-end professional detailing stuff. I just want the car to be nice looking and clean to the eye. I considered clay bars but I have no idea how to buy/use them (other than using a clay bar and lube).



What sort of entry-level (if that's a class) car detailing products would you suggest I invest in. My budget is $100. I've already got chamois drying cloths and a small assortment of wheel/tire/bug/tar/leather cleaners.



Thanks
 
Id get:

Meguiars Gold Class Shampoo

Mothers Clay Bar Kit

Microfiber Wash Mitt

Meguiars NXT 2.0

Armor All Tire Shine Gel

Stoners Glass Cleaner

Meguiars Quick Detailer

Meguiars #7 Glaze



All those can be found at Wal-Mart or AutoZone and are less than $100.

It wont be perfect, but it will be protected and will look pretty good.
 
I'd look around for the Meguiar's kits they sold at x-mas, some Walmarts will have them for $10 and it comes with a decent amount of stuff.



Depending on where you live, you might want to invest in a bottle of Optimum No Rinse. It's a product that you spritz on the car then wipe off to wash the car. Handy in places where it's too cold to wash or something. It can be used for a few other things too.



I'll say this, If your local advance auto parts carries Surf City Garage products, they're worth it over the comparable Meguiar's/Mothers/etc products. A bit more expensive, but worth it. And don't get the Beyond Clay unless you get a polishing machine, its a machine polish(I didn't realize this until after my gf bought me a bottle for xmas, luckily I wanted a polisher anyways!).
 
It looks like the Surf City stands at Advanced might have been a Florida only deal.



throw the nu-polish in the trash and start basic like the suggested list above. Over the enxt few months, read this site religously, search a lot, and search youtube and you'll soon have a mad addiciton to everything detailing and you'll want to start your own business.



welcome
 
dublifecrisis said:
It looks like the Surf City stands at Advanced might have been a Florida only deal.



throw the nu-polish in the trash and start basic like the suggested list above. Over the enxt few months, read this site religously, search a lot, and search youtube and you'll soon have a mad addiciton to everything detailing and you'll want to start your own business.



welcome
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what part of Florida? I have not seen any in Orlando
 
They had them in Gainesville and Fort Myers. I'd be very surprised if they don't have them in Orlando. It's a pretty recent thing though.



You might want to look into ordering online if your selection of stores with any sort of selection is that poor...
 
So I made the first step, I found a bottle of Megs QD on sale for $7. Aside from using it as a clay-lube, can I use this to clean the whole car between detailings or is it more of a spot treatment? The next step is a quality wash solution and wool mit (megs gold class?)and then maybe a 1 step treatment for the paint to protect it. I was thinking NXT 2.0 but I'm not really ready to drop $25 on a wax. What else can you suggest for applying by hand to protect the paint and give it a nice shine in the summer? The only two stores I've found detail products in are Canadian Tire and Walmart. Can anyone else suggest another store I might try?



In our garage we've got a glass cleaner foam, various interior cleaners, tire foam, a few APC products, nufinish (:o) and leather cleaner.
 
AcuraYYZ said:
So I made the first step, I found a bottle of Megs QD on sale for $7. Aside from using it as a clay-lube, can I use this to clean the whole car between detailings or is it more of a spot treatment?
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IME doing that leads to marring (swirls/scratches/etc.). I'd only use it to *very gently* clean off bird-bombs.



The next step is a quality wash solution and wool mit (megs gold class?)and then maybe a 1 step treatment for the paint to protect it. I was thinking NXT 2.0 but I'm not really ready to drop $25 on a wax. What else can you suggest for applying by hand to protect the paint and give it a nice shine in the summer?
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I'd keep things very simple, at least for now. Wash, clay, one polish/paint cleaner, and then wax.



The Meg's Gold Class shampoo oughta be OK, the trick is using it right ;) Get two buckets and fill one with plain water- rinse your wash mitt out in that so you don't contaminate your shampoo with dirt (search on "two bucket method" for more info). I *would* avoid really cheap shampoos as they lack both lubricity and encapsulation. IF there's a local source for DuraGloss products, their shampoo is very good.



You'll probably want some kind of wheel cleaner too.



Polish/paint cleaner: for what you'r after, I'd look for something like Meguiar's Color-X or maybe their new Swirl-X. Use those to clean/polish the paint, they're made for use by hand.



For a wax, see if you can find something from Collinite. Very long-lasting, very inexpensive.
 
I saw people mention Collinite on another forum so I'll ask where they source it. I have a scratch product like scratch-x but I didn't think it's something you apply to the whole car, rather just a small spot.



As for the QD, I had a feeling that trying to wash a car with it would like to swirls but I just had to mention it. LOL



What I really want is a non-kit claybar. I have the QD which I can use for lubrication but cannot find the clay except for the mother's kit.
 
AcuraYYZ said:
.. I have a scratch product like scratch-x but I didn't think it's something you apply to the whole car, rather just a small spot.
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If it'll work on one spot it'll work on the whole car, but all such products are *NOT* created equal and you really don't want to use the wrong stuff for this or you'll make things worse instead of better.





As for the QD, I had a feeling that trying to wash a car with it would like to swirls but I just had to mention it...cannot find the clay except for the mother's kit
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What you *can* use it for (in addition to clay lube) is to add a little something after a wash (not as good as rewaxing but better than nothing and it can add a bit of lubricity when you dry too).



Also, I like to use a lot of lube when I clay so maybe that Mother's Claybar kit wouldn't be a bad idea/waste of money after all.
 
Claying the car is something I'm thinking I can skip if I must since I don't plan to do any correction. My main goal is make the car look nice. To be brutally honest, my parents have kept their cars in excellent visual shape with another product, rust proofing and regular washes. If that product does such a good job I should be able to do an equally or better quality job with a wash, clay (maybe), polish and wax. It's my first car, therefore I am interested in making it look great. Normal swirls/Marring don't bother me as much as they do many here. Maybe I'm spending too much time on a detailing forum? :waxing:



Me with a PC - > :buffing:
 
AcuraYYZ- Yeah, you can have a really good-looking car without getting all extreme about this stuff. I know people who just do a cleaner-wax topped with a regular wax (sorta like my Color-X/Collinite combo) and they love how their cars look.



And yeah, I think it's a great idea to treat your first car right. I know people who still have their first cars (after many, many years) and they're really glad they took good care of them.
 
Over the last few weeks I started to buy some stuff. I found Meg's QD on sale @ walmart for $7, the towels for $3.99 @ CanadianTire and tonight I bought the washmit and clay kit. My next two purchases will probably be 2 buckets, soap and maybe foam applicator pads. I'll stick with the Meg's trial size wax in the kit for now. I'm going to try the NuFinish ScratchDr my dad bought a few months ago as a basic swirl fix. My car has never been to the soft cloth wash since it was bought. My dad had the car for 2 weeks before I got it my hands on it since I was away at school. He did the NuFinish treatment and it looked fine when I first drove it. It's a gunmetal metallic so I am not seeing too many obvious defects. I just can't wait for it to get warm so I can do my first real detail!! If I understand right it's rinse, wash, clay, polish, wax? :waxing:



DetailingProducts.jpg
 
AcuraYYZ said:
If I understand right it's rinse, wash, clay, polish, wax?
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Right, well, you rinse after you wash too ;)



You *might* want to rewash after the claying, see if you have residue that needs washed off.



When you polish and wax, *INSPECT YOUR WORK*. Pull it out into the sun, use good lighting (in an otherwise dark shop when doing inspections), do everything you can to make sure things are going smoothly. What you *don't* want is for something to go wrong that you don't notice until you've done the whole car...catch any problems early while only a small section of paint is affected.
 
AcuraYYZ said:
I live in Toronto. The only stores I know that have detailing products are Canadian Tire and Walmart.
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Go to Eshine.ca. Chris will hook you up for whatever you need.
 
I refuse to pay the shipping costs EShine wants. $8 to ship a claybar? For the cost I'm paying with tax/shipping I can go buy a new kit with a bottle of QD and a MF!



Do I need to dry the car before claying?
 
AcuraYYZ said:
I refuse to pay the shipping costs EShine wants. $8 to ship a claybar? For the cost I'm paying with tax/shipping I can go buy a new kit with a bottle of QD and a MF!



Do I need to dry the car before claying?
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If you get 100 dollars worth of stuff its free
 
AcuraYYZ said:
Do I need to dry the car before claying?
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It depends how long you spend claying, you wouldn't want to get waterspots.



Plenty of people clay while washing (wash panel, rinse it, clay it, rewash/rinse) but others wash/dry first and do the claying as a separate process. You'll just have to see which approach is right for *you*.



I kinda think that, since this is the first time you'r claying, you'd be better off to wash/dry and then clay so you can take your time and do a careful, thorough job of claying without having to hurry lest the water dry/spot. I would *not* recommend putting any unnecessary time constraints on any aspect of the detail.
 
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