What products should I buy to start my own detailing business? (Help greatly needed!)

[Rockfreak300]

I'm thinking of going all out and buying everything that I will need for my own car detailing use. I will eventually expand once my experience growns into my own small detailing business here locally. I wanted to ask all of you guys about the products I want to buy and if you have any experience with the products (good or bad) and tell me about them before I go and spend hundreds of dollars on products when I could have bought better ones for cheaper. Please tell me what I am missing or what you guys would buy etc. There are so many choices when it comes to car detailing it gets easily overwhelming. Also, if you guys could post up where you guys bought your car detailing equipment or the cheapest prices on the web, it would heavily be appreciated!

Hopefully you guys won't be shy and will chime in because this thread could be potentially useful for many people so speak up!

Products I want to purchase as of now:

Exterior of car:

PC 7424
Porter Cable 7424 Car Buffer, 7424 Polisher

(I need help on what pads to purchase?)

Washing Bucket:
Professional Bucket with GritGuard

Grit Guard Insert:
Grit Guard Insert

(I am assuming this would be the cheap alternative to having to buy an entire bucket as I posted earlier?)

Microfiber Kit:
poorboysworld.com

Big MF towel:
Microfiber Car Polishing Towel by Sonus

(I think I would be much better off just buying the MF package as I also posted earlier)

Microfiber Restorer:
Micro Restore Microfiber Cleaner

Meguiars Quik Detailer Spray:
(Hopefully it isn't smeary and greasy like many other interior cleaners!)

Meguiars Quik Interior Detailer

Clay Bar:
Autochem ----------------- Australia

(What clay bar is your favorite from personal experience?)

Car Wash:
Car Wash Shampoo - Restores Gloss, Won't Strip Car Wax

Gel Wheel Cleaner:
P21S Gel Wheel Cleaner

Carnuba Car Wax:
P21S Wax - Best Carnauba Car Wax for Show & Shine

Interior of car:

303 Carpet and Upholstery Cleaner:
303 Carpet & Upholstery Cleaner

Misc:

Detailing Brush:
1-inch Round Natural Detail Brush

Autoglym Glass Polisher:
Autoglym Glass Polish & Cleaner

Sonus Glass/Chrome Polisher:
Sonus Glass & Chrome Polish

(Would probably use this primarily for my exhaust tips)

Plexus Plastic Cleaner and Polish:
Plexus Plastic Cleaner & Polish

(I have heard a lot of good things about this company but have no personal experience, what about you guys?)


Detailing DVD:
Auto Detailing Training DVD

I need advice on a Leather cleaner, what product to use for the wheel wells to clean them, interior products, and any other random things I forgot off of the top of my head!

Price is not really an object more so than quality. I will happily justify spending more to keep a customer happy than to have a not so happy customer because I was frugal over a couple of bucks.


The more I have studied car detailing the more complicated I find it to be. It is a lot more in depth than I could have imagined and the amount of products to choose from is unfathomable! As you can see a few of my products are probably redundant and offer the same services just under a diff. company name. (Ex. Company A Glass cleaner vs Company B Glass/Chrome cleaner) Hopefully you guys can help clear up some products and give me the best of the best in your personal use that I can go out and buy. Thanks in advance!

Oh, and for the record.... :dcrules

 

[jaybs02]

Re: What products should I buy to start my own detailing business? (Help greatly need

Hi Rockfreak,
It looks like you are determined, which is great :bigups

The PC is a great tool, I would recomend MANY polishing pads a few cutting and a few finishing pads.

I really can't speak on the products that you have chosen, but I also have never heard anything bad about them either.
But if you are looking to do this professionally or even as only a side thing, you may want to look into a product line that you can pick up in bulk.
Meguiar's, Poorboys, DP, Automagic are only a few that come into mind, there many out there. A couple things that I DID NOT notice were an APC, or wet/dry vac.
Yes, detailing can get very complex the deeper you go into it. What is going to make your and your customers cars look great is the prep work (the process) that you will be doing not necessarily the products.

Spend some time reading though the Professional section for tips on promoting your business as well.

I'm sure that some of the mobile and fixed location detailers will chime in with their thoughts on product recommendation.

It's the process that you use not the product that you use that will make the car look great.

Oh and get lots of MF's

Good luck,
"J"

 

[audiboy]

Re: What products should I buy to start my own detailing business? (Help greatly need

I agree with Jay that process is definately more important than product. With that being said, I'd pick up the PC, a set of pads(more polishing than cutting), and a set of polishes to gain experience on your vehicle as well as vehicles of family and friends. This will not only give you experience, it will tell you if you really want to pursue it as a business venture. I haven't used many of the products you've listed above, so I'm afraid I won't be able to give advice on them. I did not see any paint polishes, sealants, auto wash, or glass cleaner listed though.

 

[OCD_Maniac]

Re: What products should I buy to start my own detailing business? (Help greatly need

hi rockfreak,

you picked out some good products for sure. may i add a pre-cleaner wax such as klasse AIO. i have experience with AIO and it really works good, good pre-cleaner before you apply your LSP's which is the P21s.

ocd_maniac

 

[CalgaryDetail]

Re: What products should I buy to start my own detailing business? (Help greatly need

I agree with alot of the info above.

As for AIO, no offence, but i wouldnt use it on customers cars, its expensive and is not practial. it leaves very little protection. If you do want to cleanse the paint ago go with a cleanser like p21s (5 litre) or pinacle (1 gallon)

As for products, you will want to find a lower cost that still does a good job, dont skimp a few extra bucks to save a penny or 2.

alot of companies offer products in larger sizes to help save money,check AG for ones that do.

I have not used alot of DP but it is know as the hidden jem of detailing. It is inexpensive and does an awsome job. you can buy 32 oz sizes to try, see if you like it.

From what i have read i think it might be a good choice for you, and as aplus it can be ordered online.

Autogeek (a sponsosr) sells it, check there website... i would give a link but I think you might have more fun looking through the site
hope this helps

Mike

 

[Beemerboy]

Re: What products should I buy to start my own detailing business? (Help greatly need

Welcome to the site...

My take on starting or learning the detail business its processes and products. Its not about buying everything that you need at once from product to equipment, and then trying to learn all that at once. To me detailing has been a long road of learning every time I work on a car. You certainly can develop your skill level to do a great consistence job. Its really a revolving learning curve.

my Suggestion is that you start with the outside or inside and work on your process threw reading about what others do here, other forum / sites or written manuals.

Look at what people are using from equipment and products and threw that you can make an educated decision about what will work best for you. This will also keep you spending money on things that you might not need, use / like.

Start with your car, family and friends cars, make your mistakes there....trust me its a lot less stressful...grow comfortable with your process & products and what time it takes you..and from there you can grow into finding paying customers...I can tell you from experience this will make you a lot more confident once you land a paying customer.

I hope that this helps in some ways

 

[Jngrbrdman]

Re: What products should I buy to start my own detailing business? (Help greatly need

For a car detailing business I would suggest staying away from some of the more expensive products like car wash and tire cleaners. You are going to be using it a lot and there is no sense in driving up your overhead by using ten dollar bottles of suds. I would focus on things you can buy in bulk if you are serious about doing some volume. There isn't anything wrong with the products you listed, but you are going to spend all your profits trying to keep yourself stocked with the good stuff. Buy a gallon of Meguiar's Gold Class car shampoo and you'll be just as happy. Same thing goes for your glass cleaner and wheel cleaner and upholstery cleaner. I would find good products that you can buy locally to stock up on. Keep the good stuff in reserve for your own vehicle and for high end customers. Don't spend $20 in product on a Civic if $5 in product will do the same thing.

I'm really not trying to pimp my own site here or anything, but this article might help you. I wrote it a few years ago and need to go back in to update a couple things, but the principles are still true. As you are starting up a business I figure a little advice from someone who has been where are are never hurts. There are some other guides on there that might help you. Definitely do some reading on DetailCity too. There is so much good information here you wouldn't believe it.

Also, don't focus so much on what brand you are using. Just choose something that does the job and does it well. As it has been said, process is way more important than product. Perfect how you are achieving your results and worry about the products you use to get the results later. Just do some experimenting and you'll be fine.

Poorboys Leather Stuff is a great leather product. It is a cleaner and conditioner in one. If the leather is already in good shape then I prefer to use Wolfgang, but in a case where I don't know the condition I always bring Leather Stuff with me.

 

[Rockfreak300]

Re: What products should I buy to start my own detailing business? (Help greatly need

Thanks for all of your responses! I appreciate them! I think I will be much better off buying in bulk like many of you have mentioned! I think my wallet will thank me too! I plan on strictly detailing my own car for a while first and keeping her all pretty I don't mind spending a lot of money for my own personal happiness on my car but will definitely be checking into buying bulk later on if I do get serious about the business.

 

[ShineFX]

Re: What products should I buy to start my own detailing business? (Help greatly need

Hey, bud the one thing i would say is to spend your time learning about PR and networking.It is all great to have everything but the number 1 reason people go out of business is no customers not because they cant detail or wrong products lack of customers. Jeffrey Gitomer's Little Black Book of Connections: 6.5 Assets For Networking Your Way to RICH Relationships great book about making connections to people who can and will send you plenty of business.Also remember keep those prices high and the quality high and you will attract customers who will send you their friends, money attracts money.The 80/20 rule live by it. Hope this helps.