WHAT KIND OF DETAILING PRODUCTS DO YOU GUYS USE?

I use;
*Meguiars Next Generation Tech Wax
*Meguiars classic gold wax
*Meguiars polish number 7 show car shine
*Meguiars hot tire shine
*Meguiars Extreme Tire Shine
*Meguiars quick detail
*Eagle 1 glass cleaner
*Invisible Glass Cleaner
*Meguiars Natural Shine Vinyl & Rubber protection
*Meguiars Classic gold car shampoo
*Meguiars Next Gen. Car wash-shampoo
*Spot Shoot carpet cleaner
*Mothers aluminum Polish paste, and gell
*Meguiars Wheel and Tire cleaner
*Simple Green
*Meguiars Clay Bar.

*Steel wool “To clean out the suit in the Exhaust tips”
*Chamois
*diaper cloths
*paper towels
*micro fiber towels
*California car duster.
*Wire Brushes
*Sponges, Mitts , Sponge raped in a terry cloth towel.
*2 bucket method , One bucket with the car wash-shampoo. The other bucket with clean water to clean the sponge. So I don’t bring dirt back into the bucket with the car wash. Works very well!!


I don’t know what do u guys like?
I just really like the Meguiars, But I want to see what you guys like, Im always ready to try some new stuff to make my baby shine.

 

I used Meguiar's Gold Class for years and was very happy. Then I bought the NXT to try out a couple of months ago and I was impressed. Maybe it was just the color of my Ram, Charcoal Metallic, but the color "popped" right off the truck and reflections were a lot clearer with it than I ever got with the carnubas. The truck also seemed to retain more of it's shine when dirty than it did before. I'll have to see how it does on my '07 Blue Pearlcoat S'crew when it's time.

 

Man I need to put this in my signature...wait a tick that would take too much space.

Lets see....

Interior:
King Ranch Leather Conditioner
Leather CRP
Meguiars 2 step (conditioner only)
20/20 glass cleaner
Meguiars HyperDress, 5/1
Soap and water
Hot water

Exterior Paint Care:
Meguiars Blue Clay Bar
Meguiars Final Inspection, by the ton mind you
Meguiars # 3, #9, #80, #82
Meguiars #7 and # 26 and my personal fav #21
Meguiars Final Inspection, again by the ton

For Trim outside:
The New liquid trim stuff, black bottle, smells great (not the spray)
HyperDress 4/1 ratio

Tires:
Meguiars Hot Shine spray
HyperDress

Wheel wells:
FX21 or something like that, all in one spray and some Hyperdress and more Hyperdress

Glass:
don't know what its called, tall white and blue can looks like a throw back to the 50's and 60's
And Invisible Glass

I also use a Porter Cable DA
Many, many pads
Many, many more Microfiber towels, some large some small, probably 30 of them in total

Well that is about it I think.

 

I think detail kits are a good way to go, obviously saving money. However, I hate swearing my allegiance to one shine product. Albeit Adams polishes do have a pretty simplistic approach, which is attractive in it's own right, VS Meguiars merry-go-round.

 

Yeah I don't stick to any one brand or type, except maybe with wax. Oh, and Bleech White. Other than that I just make sure to have brand-name wheel cleaner, wash soap, interior cleaner, a drying chamois, shampoo, and good brushes. When I need more of something I just look around in Wal Mart or AutoZone and buy what looks good.

I just simply wash my vehicles thoroughly once or twice a week, wax about every 5-6 weeks, use some sort of light glaze or polish first every 2nd to 3rd waxing, and vac./wipe down the interior with whatever interior cleaner/protectant I have on hand about once a month and they never really get all that dirty. I also like to use spray quick-detailer on the door jambs, hood jamb, tailgate jamb, and around the inside of the fuel filler area/back of the filler door. I'm not one of these guys who you see out in their driveway for 7 hours on a Sunday. I just do a little at a time on a regular basis and it doesn't take much effort to have a vehicle cleaner and shinier than 95% of the ones around you at a given moment.

 

My best advice -- that I've learned from others -- find products that you like and use them. It's that simple.

I'm not brand loyal -- as many would accuse me of being -- my shelves are stocked with products from oodles upon oodles of manufacturers. There are so many great products out there that it's difficult to find a 'real job' that will support my habit. I do, however, primarily use Meguiar's stuff... that because I'm comfortable with the majority of their stuff and it yields the results that I demand. That's not to say that they're the only game in town -- they're not.

Meg's, on the other hand, makes some products that I regard to be toliet water... maybe worse. Poorboy's has a couple of products that I regard to be worse than toliet water. Adams has a product or two (albeit, I haven't tried all of their stuff) that I don't care for... etc... etc... etc....

Bottom line -- find some products that you understand, that meet or exceed your expectations, and use them. There's thousands of products out there... and probably that many that are great products.

Side by side, it's often difficult to really distinguish a huge difference from product to product.... this is why I do side by side testing **ALL THE TIME** on my vehicles to see if there really is a discernable difference. Most of the time I don't really see one... sometimes I do.

I'll stop rambling... and sure as heck won't type out my 'stock list' (can you say 5 posts to get it all in?)... I will say that I'm very impressed with a new hard wax that I'm testing for S100 though... It's not #16 (my absolute favorite paste) but, it's pretty darn close.

 

Meguiar & Zaino are what I use the most, I use only dampened cloths on my tinted glass ( im very skepical i dont want to take he chance, I tint my vehicles myself so I put all the time & labor into the tint lol ), and stoners invisible glass on windshield, simple green for engine bay & tires & wheel wells.

 

I use Meg's products almost exclusively. Love the NXT products.

 

I use mostly Tropi-Care products and a few Meguiars products.

 

I snared a kit from Tropi-Care a couple of weeks ago... still waiting to give it a go on the 'right' vehicle.

Have any pointers? Any particular products that you really like or don't like? The wash smells *wonderful*... Can you say, Hawaiian Punch?

 

I have not used any of their products that I did not like. The polish goes forever, and is extremely durable. 2-3 cap fulls (and you know how tiny the cap is) of the car wash soap will fill that 3.5 gallon bucket up with incredible suds. What I like most about them is the customer service. Steve Pasztor is who I talk to, and he is always willing to spend as much time answering my questions as it takes. Their microfiber towels, detailing brushes (upholstrey, fender well, sidewall, etc.) have been a big help, and I love their new applicator pads. They are made out of the same foam as the light cutting applicator pad for the PC. I bought one of their deluxe detailing kits about a year ago, and left it sitting in my garage because I was skeptical about the results I would get compared to the Meguiars. Once I finally detailed my Camaro with the Tropi-Care products I have never looked back. My absolute favorite products are the window cleaner, leather/vinyl cleaner, leather/vinyl conditioner, leather/vinyl dressing, TC-3 Polish, and again, the brushes and microfibers.

As far as pointers go, I have found that it would be extremely hard to make a mistake with these products. I use the TC-3 with the blue pad on the PC followed with the blue polishing towel and have never seen any flaws/swirrels as a result of bad technique. But before I even plugged in the PC I called Steve and he took almost an hour talking me through the process, and even sent me some step-by-step pictures of some of his details.

I know Zaino is a VERY good brand to use, but it just so happens that I used Tropi-Care first and have found no reason to even try anything else.

 

I've heard and read good things about the TC3 -- I have a little bit of that and am looking forward to giving it a whirl.

I take back that I haven't tried anything from them... I tried their Detailer Spray last night... the jury is kind of out on that one. I wasn't blown away but, it certainly wasn't lousy (like Meg's Last Touch).

Thanks for the info! I really appreciate it!

 

Not a problem...and I agree with your thoughts on the detailer spray. Of course I haven't tried too many different brands, so I can't give a real educated opinion. I forgot to mention that the tire and rubber dressing can take a very long time to absorb/dry if you don't wipe the dressed areas down with a towel about an hour after application. I would like to find a less expsive dressing for my under carriage (like Hyper Dressing) to avoid using a more expensive product on an area that is going to get dirty as soon as the wheels start turning. Good luck with the products!

 

I'm like RP, not brand bias but use a lot of Meguiars products. I prefer to deal with a brand that yeilds good results and is willing to stand behind their product. I also use quite a bit of Mothers products, I feel that they compare pretty well to Meguiars in their consumer line. I also use some stuff from Eagle One, even have a bottle of RainX car wash from way back in the day when I didn't know much about detailing.

I'm going to be doing a big detail tomorrow on my truck. I'll have to take some pictures of my supplies and do a write up on the truck.

I'm going to be testing out the Mothers 3 Step System. I've always been pretty curious to try it out, going with that instead of Meguiars just to be different I am really using steps 1 & 2, havn't picked out my wax yet.

 

This stuff is the SH#$. It was designed for fancy bmer's and mercedes benz, but I used it on my Mach 1 and now on my F150, and its awesome, even after 8 months of no was, the truck still beeds up like crazy when it rains. Check it out, you want some for yourself.

www.properautocare.com