What cleaning products do you use?

[Wilsonk227]

Hi guys,

I tried searching for this but couldn't find anything on cleaning products on the forums so I wanted to see what everyone uses.

Whether or not you clean your car yourself I just wanted to see if you guys had any recommendations for nice cleaning products. Clay bar, wax and all as well xD
Planning to wash my car soon and not sure where to start. Don't really want to take it to a car wash place but is it a big difference if I do it myself?


If this is already somewhere in the forums please redirect me so we can close this thread.

[carma143]

I'd like to know this too. So far I've been using lots of water to pry off fallen seed shells, etc, then waiting an hour or so for most of it to dry, in which I then clean the painted parts, and lastly clean the dry windows so no water or smear residue is left; typically performed with old clothes turned into rags.

[x1UP]

I use Turtle Wax ICE products on mine. I don't use anything else or would I mix and match brands. ICE car wash, wax, wheel cleaner and etc.

It's pretty good. I don't do any detailing because I think that, if you're careful enough, you can make the car look like it was detailed.

[Atticus808]

I detail part time on the side.

Products I mainly use (and in the order of how i wash, NOT including compounding and polishing)

Wheels/tire - Einszett Colour Tec for wheels, Optimum APC for the rubber and wheel wells.

Exhaust Tips - P21S Polishing Soap and P21S Finish Restorer, Sonus Aluminum Sealant (Makes a really smooth finish and carbon build up comes off very easily after)

Paint - Chemical Guys Honeydew Snow Foam, Medium and Fine Grade Clay (depending on how bad the vehicle is). Use soap and water from the wash as clay lubrication (clean water)

Wax- Dodo Juice is awesome

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Detai...34046056808932

There's my FB page to see the results you can get.

Not a super detailed post but feel free to ask any questions

[Koa]

Originally Posted by Atticus808

I detail part time on the side.

Products I mainly use (and in the order of how i wash, NOT including compounding and polishing)

Wheels/tire - Einszett Colour Tec for wheels, Optimum APC for the rubber and wheel wells.

Exhaust Tips - P21S Polishing Soap and P21S Finish Restorer, Sonus Aluminum Sealant (Makes a really smooth finish and carbon build up comes off very easily after)

Paint - Chemical Guys Honeydew Snow Foam, Medium and Fine Grade Clay (depending on how bad the vehicle is). Use soap and water from the wash as clay lubrication (clean water)

Wax- Dodo Juice is awesome

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Detai...34046056808932

There's my FB page to see the results you can get.

Not a super detailed post but feel free to ask any questions

[Wilsonk227]

Originally Posted by Atticus808

I detail part time on the side.

Products I mainly use (and in the order of how i wash, NOT including compounding and polishing)

Wheels/tire - Einszett Colour Tec for wheels, Optimum APC for the rubber and wheel wells.

Exhaust Tips - P21S Polishing Soap and P21S Finish Restorer, Sonus Aluminum Sealant (Makes a really smooth finish and carbon build up comes off very easily after)

Paint - Chemical Guys Honeydew Snow Foam, Medium and Fine Grade Clay (depending on how bad the vehicle is). Use soap and water from the wash as clay lubrication (clean water)

Wax- Dodo Juice is awesome

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Detai...34046056808932

There's my FB page to see the results you can get.

Not a super detailed post but feel free to ask any questions

wow D: how much do the paint/wax cleaning products usually run you for. I heard about Chemical Guys and I'm in Cali about 30 minutes away from them. Was thinking about taking a visit there too.

How long does a typical detailing take? D:

thank you in advanced sir!

[Atticus808]

Originally Posted by Wilsonk227

wow D: how much do the paint/wax cleaning products usually run you for. I heard about Chemical Guys and I'm in Cali about 30 minutes away from them. Was thinking about taking a visit there too.

How long does a typical detailing take? D:

thank you in advanced sir!

n/p

i only use Chemical Guys for their soap and leather cleaner, until their next leather cleaner was really crappy, then I switched to Lexol. Their soap is great though. I also highly recommend Dodo Juice Blue Velvet for your blue paint because it will really really bring out the blue. You'll put it on and notice it being glossy but not WOW, but once you let the wax do its job you'll come back in an hour and notice your paint look incredible.

My supplies have been well over $1000. maybe even close to $2000, not sure.
Depending on how detailed you want to get with your car, I'm going to say $300. Make sure you use proper mitts and and 2 bucket system, etc.

The first time you do a nice wash, clay and was for your car EXCLUDING interior may take you minimum 2 hours to 4 hours.That's with exhaust tips, wheels, waxing, windows, dressing your plastic trim (I like Auto Finesse Revive for plastics and Auto Finesse Satin Tyre Gel to dress tires). Maintenance washes will take you about an hour.

BIGGEST time consuming factor is OVERLAPPING your work. try to avoid doing things twice. For example, you wax your car and then you clean your windows, then accidently get some window cleaner on your paint and now you have a smudge. Avoid that kinda stuff. you'll see what I mean once you get going.

Once you're done your detail, have a quick detailer spray with you (I use Dodo Juice basics of Bling) and walk around your car 2-3 times and look for any imperfections or excess wax.

on my FB page, the speed3 was a 20+ hour job. but that's a full detail.

feel free to ask if you have any other questions! I love educating people on car care

[extrashaky]

Originally Posted by Wilsonk227

I tried searching for this but couldn't find anything on cleaning products on the forums so I wanted to see what everyone uses.

There's an entire separate forum for washing and waxing your car.

[Wilsonk227]

Originally Posted by Atticus808

n/p

i only use Chemical Guys for their soap and leather cleaner, until their next leather cleaner was really crappy, then I switched to Lexol. Their soap is great though. I also highly recommend Dodo Juice Blue Velvet for your blue paint because it will really really bring out the blue. You'll put it on and notice it being glossy but not WOW, but once you let the wax do its job you'll come back in an hour and notice your paint look incredible.

My supplies have been well over $1000. maybe even close to $2000, not sure.
Depending on how detailed you want to get with your car, I'm going to say $300. Make sure you use proper mitts and and 2 bucket system, etc.

The first time you do a nice wash, clay and was for your car EXCLUDING interior may take you minimum 2 hours to 4 hours.That's with exhaust tips, wheels, waxing, windows, dressing your plastic trim (I like Auto Finesse Revive for plastics and Auto Finesse Satin Tyre Gel to dress tires). Maintenance washes will take you about an hour.

BIGGEST time consuming factor is OVERLAPPING your work. try to avoid doing things twice. For example, you wax your car and then you clean your windows, then accidently get some window cleaner on your paint and now you have a smudge. Avoid that kinda stuff. you'll see what I mean once you get going.

Once you're done your detail, have a quick detailer spray with you (I use Dodo Juice basics of Bling) and walk around your car 2-3 times and look for any imperfections or excess wax.

on my FB page, the speed3 was a 20+ hour job. but that's a full detail.

feel free to ask if you have any other questions! I love educating people on car care

omg that sounds like a lot of work and money lol.

Thank you so much for your help though. I'm going to head down to the Chemical guys store later on this week and see how much everything rings up to be. I don't need my car to be as great as your detailing, just the basics and general detailing so I'm going to see what they might recommend and how much they cost first. Thanks again! I'll definitely make sure to ask you if I have more questions

Originally Posted by extrashaky

There's an entire separate forum for washing and waxing your car.

Aha lol i guess I missed that whole section. Sorry about that

[extrashaky]

Originally Posted by Wilsonk227

Aha lol i guess I missed that whole section. Sorry about that

No worries. It's not easy to find all the sub-forums on this site. Just figured you'd find a lot more info there than on the main forum.

[BobbyDee]

I pretty much use this for my car and all my past cars, and haven't been using anything else. Hope this helps.

[V_86]

Also check out youtube ammo nyc, not necessarily for the products, but the methods they use.

[kberkel]

Optimum No Rinse Wash and Wax for all exterior. Dilute it for interior washing.

I also applied Optimum Gloss-coat, so I rarely wax it anymore. I'm pretty impressed with it.

Back to Black on interior trim.

That's about it

[Poodles]

Originally Posted by kberkel

Back to Black on interior trim.

Please don't do this...




1) It's made for exterior surfaces
2) It oil based
3) It will cause plastic/rubber to shrink/crack


Use something like 303 Aerospace as it's designed for UV protection.