Hello guys/gals, I have been going through alot of info on the search tool looking for the best things to get to detail vehicles. Before I searched on this forum I've always been a simple wash and wax person. I'm now interested in getting some decent wash/dry/clay/polish/& wax products. In the near future, I will be going to a 7 on 7 off schedule at my job and am looking to turn a hobby into a side business. I'm simply asking you guys for help selecting products and tooling so I can best detail my vehicles and the people whom chose to have me do work for them. Currently I have a cheap black and decker buffer, and use Meguiars NXT tech wax 2.0. I use a Chanelle wash mitt with Mequiars wash and wax soap. I dry using a synthetic chamois. Looking to upgrade all of my stuff and invest some money in this. Can anyone help? Thanks in advance.

 

^There is a great write-up on for those interested or just starting detailing their car(s), with step-by-step and links to the products used. I hope this helps.

http://www.detailedimage.com/Ask-a-P...-pearl-part-1/

 

Sure, I would be glad to. Champ will get a kick out of this one

Here are the steps AFAIK:

1. Wash with sheepskin mit and ONR (Optimum No Rinse)

2. Dry with microfiber

3. Clay car/windows. Don't use Mequiar's Clay Kit - it sucks. Dry with micro fiber.

4. IronX car. Dry with microfiber.

4. Get your hands on the Griot's polisher or a Porter Cable 7424XP. Buff with Orange pad and Meguiars M105.

5. Wash again, dry with microfiber.

6. Buff with orange pad again and Mequiars M205.

7. Wash car again, dry with microfiber

8. Buff with blue pad and BlackFire Wet Diamond Sealant

9. Use Sonax wheel cleaner somewhere along the way.

Have fun.

Did I miss anything?

 

^ Telling someone new to detailing to go straight to a orange pad and Megs 105 without knowing condition of paint and whether it's even needed is bad advice.

And what's with all those washing steps? e.g. You don't need to wash after using 105 before using 205. Waste of time.

 

This is basically regurgitated advice from someone else to myself. I was under the impression that using M105 was harmless and the base of getting a good detail done.

If you don't mind, take a look at my thread with my car and see if you think that it requires M105.

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?p=13571333

 

^^^^ exactly ... another expert with gained experience via bad advice and bad reading ...

 

You have a lot of hw to do.

 

That is maybe my bad. I was helping him out and maybe he thought I meant to wash each time after polish AND compound instead I recommended to wash car after paint correction. M105 and orange pad works fine on nearly every paint condition as long as it isn't at high OPMs. Yes M105 is a high cutting compound.

 

OP-autogeek.net has a lot of good info on how to's. check their site out. they also have a forum on there as well regarding detailing.

 

Thanks again everyone who has post some advice on here. I stayed up late last night trying to research information and think I have a few choices. I think I'm going to get the Griot's polisher, polish, and pads. I also will look into getting the M105 and M205 to compare the products and see which I like more. Have any of you used the Griot's brand wax and car wash soap?

TLtrigirl, I'm going to check out autogeek and see if I find somethings there.

 

[QUOTE=icy2;13610458]. I also will look into getting the M105 and M205 to compare the products and see which I like more. QUOTE]

Its not a point of which you like more ... they are both polishes and combined with different cut of pads will do more or less correction.

 

You will FOR SURE find MORE than you need at autogeekonline.net! I find it to be by far the most informative and helpful detailing forum, and their online store carries the widest variety of products from all major detailing companies! You wont find any other store that will carry ALL of the most well known DA and Rotary Polishers!

Store is very addicting. You will want to try everything!

You will like the Griot's polisher a lot!

 

The information at auto-geek is wonderful, but the store itself is bad compared to every other store. Everything is over-priced compared to other stores. There "Price-match" is a gimmick. I'd recommend Detailed Image or Detailers Domain. I did just buy about $110 from the store and it arrived quick (prices is what I don't like).

 

let me know if I can help you out.

do you know your market place yet?
what you can charge for your level of experience etc.

will you be doing wash and waxes or full details.

this is a great video with the basics.

Click here for the video

 

I did a lot of price checking, and it is pretty much the same anywhere else imo. I haven't asked for a price match because i usually wait till i have enough for free shipping. Also, they have awesome free samples on orders $50+. I have yet to order from anyone else, but from my experience with them, i don't intend to.

I am sure the vendors here are great, but i am an autogeek!

 

To each their own. Enough said. To the OP, each car has it's own needs in terms of cleaning and polishing. You'll want to make your base products stuff that will be versatile. Meguiars and menzerna both make good product lines that can be combined with the right pad combos to take care of a lot of cars.

Preperation and patience are what will really get you the results you want. The hundreds of products you read about will all (typically) get you the same result, just depends on what path you like to take to get those results. Don't get caught up buying 4 types of tire shine. I'll quickly run through some products I HIGHLY suggest you look into before you start doing any work. Im giving you multiple choices off the top of my head in each category, so do your own research.

-Iron removed (IronX, Iron Cut, Wolf's Deironizer)
-Tar remover (Tar X, Stoners Tarminator, 1Z Anti Insekt, Meguairs Body Solvent)
-All Purpose Cleaner (Meguiars APC, Adam's APC, Optimum Power Clean)
-Wheel Cleaner (Sonax Full Effect, Meguiars Wheel Brightner) Most people use APC or soap/water unless the wheels are filthy
-Clay Bar/Lube
-Vinyl/Leather Cleaner (Optimum Protectant Plus, 1Z Cockpit, Megiuars Interior Detailer)
-Trim/Tire Shine (303 Aerospace Protectant, Adams Super VRT)
-Glass Cleaner (Stoner's Invisible Glass)
-Carpet/Upholstery Cleaner (303 Carpet Cleaner, Sonax Carpet Cleaner)
-Wax (Personal choice, too many to even consider listing)
-Waffle weave drying towel (NO MORE CHAMOIS), brushes of all sorts and shapes, vacuum, DA or rotary polisher, pads, microfiber towles, lighting.

That was a quick thrown together list, again do your research and ask questions if need be. PM me if need be, I dont mind.

 

A great forum for detailing advice and know how is detailingbliss.com. I much prefer it over AG.

 

I want to say thank you to everyone for helping me. I placed a huge order last night and will submit pics of my car when the weather improves and I can detail it.

 

Lets hear the order you got worked up!

 

ok lets see where to start...
Griot's Polisher
Griot's Orange & Red Pads
Griot's 4 stage polish set
Griot's Best of Show Wax
Blackfire Wet Diamond Sealant
Sonax Gloss Concentrate
Pinnacle Tar and Bug Remover pad
New 5 gallon bucket(2 start proper 2 bucket system)
DP Wheel cleaner/sealant kit
Tire & Wheel brush kit
DP Gloss Tire Gel
Griot's paint cleaning clay
Griot's speed detailer spray
Griot's wheel cleaning clay
Cobra waffle weave microfiber towels
Griot's Polish(qty 1) & A Wax(qty 1) Removal Microfiber towel
Swirl Finder Light
Stoner Glass (Trio Pack)
DP Engine cleaner kit
Iron X
Meguiars Vinyl cleaner and restoration kit
Mothers powerball chrome cleaning kit
DP Total Interior Combo
Griot's Window cleaning set
DP Microfiber cleaner
DP Pad cleaner
More interior and exterior micro fiber towels (they were on sale)
Total was around 800 bucks

 

Wow, that is an awesome order. The Cobra WW guzzler is ridiculous! I use the 20x40 and it dries the vehicle with ease. After i spent 3 days correcting, i have been drying by blot drying now and it does one hell of a job with out needing to be wrung!

How many pads did you get btw? I have 1/yellow, 3/orange, 3/white, 3/black, 2 blue, 2/HT cyan, and 1/HT tangerine. Instead of 3, i think i am going to get another of each, making it 4 pads/color for polishing. IMO, the pads have to put up with a lot with only 3 pads.

Have fun detailing, and make sure you post up some pics!

 

picture of everything together when you receive it!

 

I bought 3 pack of the orange and a 3 pack of the red. I looked into the other colors, but how often do you use you yellow, blue, and white. I've always enjoyed washing cars so I hope this expands my knowledge base and makes it a whole lot better!

I got you cover jwrong. will post a pic when it all comes in

 

Goo! That's a hefty order.

 

I believe griots only have two pads (correct me if i am wrong), the red and orange. Instead of the griots pads, i went with a LC 5" backing plate and got LC 5.5 pads instead of the griots.

I have yet to use the yellow as it has the strongest cut. I ordered it as a "just in case" only. My white pads are used on my 2nd step of polishing (m205), and the blue are used to apply wax or sealant.

 

Do you use m105 as your first step?

 

Yeah. Even with m105 and orange pad, it wasn't enough to get rid of a couple deeper scratches. The hood seems to have a whole bunch of dimples and after two pass, i didn't really care too much. I did manage to get almost all the scratches and all the swirls out.

 

Yeah thats all I saw hat they offered was the orange pads for polish and the red pads for wax. I will have to go look into getting some blue, white, and yellow pads. Thanks for the info

 

Good to know. After claying and using IronX, using the orange pad with M105 and Griotts Buffer will be my first step. Followed by M205.

I'm still a little worried that I may end up damaging my paint as this will be my first time using a polish and high powered buffer.

 

Don't go too nutz ... M105 isn't an automatic first step .. always go least aggressive first .. 2 or 3 passes with M205 on a white pad is better than an aggressive pass on a yellow or orange pad with M105 then having to polish out the hazing .

 

As far as I know, the car has never been detailed or had paint correction before. I have a progress thread in the photograph gallery but they are crappy iphone pictures so it's hard to judge from the pics what exactly I need.

 

Regardless ... always start least aggressive and see if you need more.

Do one panel as a test panel .. see how it goes

 

That's my plan. What should I look for as an end result though? How do I know if the work of the M205 is sufficient after I've finished?

 

The job is done ...

 

I agree. I first used swirl x first with three 6-section passes since i thought it was all light swirls (SSM paint) and barely made a dent! Was going to try d151 but i did my brother's 06 sequoia (which was in slightly better condition than mine) and it still left some light scratches and probably did some filling.

 

OP, these were after 205. I did po85rd afterwards. My observation (with ssm), m205 left the car with a mirror like reflection. It looked "crisp". With po85, the car "glowed". I was happy with the results, but with SSM I don't really know if it was really worth the extra po85rd step.

 

if you corrected the swirl marks and produce the mirror finish with the 205 step, you won't need to add more work for yourself (by using another step with a more aggressive pad/polish, ex: using 105 THEN 205)

So if the 205 looks good to you, you can jump to sealant

 

Make sure to out proper pressure when handling any buffer. (10-20 lbs for PC)

 

I was looking into getting a 6 pack of different color pads. Only question is when they say "cutting" what are they talking about. Also what is a good polish to use on the stock TLS tailpipes?

 

Cutting = correcting if I'm not mistaken. For the quad pipes (I have a type-s too) I use Barkeepers Friend. It works great for cleaning off all of the black grime. I'm also looking for a product to "polish" the tail pipes and go beyond just cleaning them like the Barkeepers Friend does.