Alright, of all the stuff you detail your vehicles with, what are your top 10 products? This can include anything, soap, wax, etc.

 

1. Hyperdressing
2. Chemical Guys Citrus Wash
3. Meguiar's APC+
4. Wheel and Tire brush (OXO)
5. Dreadlock mitt
6. CG California Drying Towel
7. Waffle Weaves
8. CG synthetic quick detailer
9. Poorboys EXP (best sealant on the market IMO) Every car gets it
10. Meg's D-Line Glass Cleaner

 

For me, it's all in the prep and the tools. There are plenty of good products to choose from.

With that said, I would not be without...

A good rotary buffer.
My son's Flex buffer.
Clean, quality, buffing pads.
The highest quality detailing towels.
The highest quality wash mitts.
Clean, quality, applicators.
A selection of quality detailing brushes (tires, wheels, specialty, etc.).
A good selection of polishes from very aggressive to finishing polishes.
My jewelers lope.

In addition...
A good cleaning QD.
A good APC.
Almost any decent synthetic or carnauba wax.
A good WOWO spray wax/sealant.
A good final QD.

I could think of more... but I'm tired.

 

is someone writting a paper on steps to detail a car...or just wanting to know...water to start, then soap.....how bout a bucket....just a joke...but would you say a detail in 10 products....thats hard, a wash and wax can be done with 10 items...

 

1 Nice Wash Mitt
2 Wheel Mitt
3 Simple Green
4 Water
5 Meg's Gold Class
6 Hyper-Dressing
7 Arisol non-amonia Glass Cleaner
8 Blue Shop Towels
9 MF Towels
10 Meg's #6 cleaner/wax (since I'm out of numbers)

If I had more than 10
Meg's#40
Final Detail
Meg's #7
Good LSP Natty's Red/Meg's #10/Meg's #26/etc....
G100 + Pads
Shop Vac.
(well that's the short list anyway)

 

Can be... But isn't for some OCD folk. I used 7 pads alone on my last detail (granted I dropped two of them.)

 

If I had to give up EVERYTHING except 10 items I would keep:

1. Soap
2. Bucket
3. Bucket 2
4. Wash Mitt
5. WW MF towel
6. XFD
7. Good MF towel
8. APC+
9. HD
10. Natural Look Dressing

 

Boss kind of went down the path that I probably would have to follow as well...

I mean, there are obviously 10 products out there that I truly like to use but, every vehicle is different and thus, every vehicle won't get the exact same treatment. That said, there are way more than 10 that I couldn't live without.

1. My PC;
2. Quality/Clean pads that I understand and use efficiently;
3. A high-quality car wash shampoo;
4. Ultra-high quality MF towels;
5. Softer water;
6. A nice range of polishes from very very light to very aggressive compounds;
7. Nice, high-quality, high-pile 100% lambs wool mitts (SW Arnold);
8. A couple of efficient, yet safe, all-purpose cleaners;
9. A couple of excellent leather conditioners;
10. So many other things that can't fit in here...


While I know my answer sounds a lot like Boss's -- well, it was meant to. After reading his post, I looked at it and agreed over and over and over and then soon realized why he had put that type of an answer --

It's because there's no golden bullet that transposes over every vehicle. I mean, the most important product in my aresonal if I just had to use 2000 grit on a panel to aggressively remove a problem in the paint would be a compound like Meg's #84. If it's a black car with ultra-light swirling, it may be some kind of cleaner wax that's the most important product...

It varies...

The question of 'Favorite Chemicals' is very different than 10 products...

-RP-

 

Funny thread.

Had a few seconds to post. Rather than telling you may fav products...allow me a quick story.

When my brother (another OCD member) and I tackled my stepmothers Explorer my dad asked me each time, "what product is that" My answer to every question he asked me was, "its my favorite product"

So everything I have is my favorite top 10 product but I have WAY more than 10 favs.

I have to agree 120% with Boss and Rockpick on their posts.

Cheers

 

i noticed that clay has not made anyones list yet....

 

Good point... I often recommend claying a vehicle for folks, as it is quite effective at it's given purpose. However, I come from a time LONG before clay was invented. With that said, I don't often grab a clay bar, as my first step in a "complete" paint detailing is usually a chemical paint cleaner. That combined with the a multi step polishing process achieves pretty much the same results... at least IMHO.

That reminds me, I need to add to my "list" in this post...

A good chemical paint cleaner.

 

Exactly! If you have the right tools, and know how... product selection is more often a matter of what you have on hand... and the results will be excellent.

If we had 1,000 top 10 product lists, while there would be a few similar selections, I bet we would still have 1,000 different lists.

 

Guys...

Alot of you guys think that RollingRock, myself, Gip, 03mustang, and several others really bring a lot to the table... well, for those of you that think that, you really need to tune into Boss_429.

I've learned SO MUCH from this guy... There are VERY few guys out there that I'd actually let touch my truck or any other vehicle I own -- Boss_429 is one of them.

His knowledge about various products out there on the market is uncanny... everything from towels to APCs to polishes to LSPs to everything in between.

What I'm saying is === When Boss talks; listen.



-RP-

 

First, thanks for the extremely kind words RP! :o

Secondly, from what I've seen and read here in these forums, you, the other folks you mentioned, and a few others are doing just FINE!

As you already know, when it comes down to it, detailing is just that... paying attention to the details. Once a person understands that, and is willing to put the time and effort (and yes... a little money) into perfecting each aspect of the detailing process... there comes a point when you are just "tweaking" perfection, or at least attempting to do so. Of course, depending on the situation, perfection is not always attainable. However, if perfection is your goal, you are on the right track. Like anything else, the more you put into it, the more you get out of it.

Seems to me that a lot of folks in here have reached that level... or they are getting REALLY, REALLY close.

Thanks again.

 

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