Detailing/wash Starters Kit

[nepats81]

Hi everyone,

recently bought a 2018 M4 and I am taking it to get detailed professionally this weekend.

After that I would like to wash the car at home myself to get more experience and time with the car.

Are there any bundles/car wash kits I can buy just to get all the detailing stuff in 1 shot?

I saw this on amazon - from chemical guys. Is this good? Any where else you would recommend?

https://www.amazon.com/Chemical-HOL1...6685422&sr=8-7

[rjd598]

Stay away from CG products. Marketing company first, mediocre detailing products second. Please do your own research.

I would recommend Autogeek for an online store and detailing forum to learn, read reviews, and ask questions to a community of detailing enthusiasts. Obsessed Garage is also another great online store and vast knowledge from all the videos uploaded on his Youtube page. There are many great brands to choose from, but you really need to do your own research to see what fits your needs. Detailing is a lot of trial and error. You'll like some things and hate others. Preference does play a big part.

If any of this sounds exhausting or boring then I would recommend you just having your detailer do maintenance washes for you.

[damageprone]

Originally Posted by rjd598

Stay away from CG products. Marketing company first, mediocre detailing products second. Please do your own research.

I wouldn't say stay away from CG products. I think they can be had at a good price on amazon when they have various deals that can be stacked. Otherwise it is overpriced. CG is a nice "gateway drug" when it comes to detailing. In general though, they do have way too many products and can be confusing.

I agree with all of the other resources you've mentioned.

[9M71]

Kit will probably come with stuff you may never need. Just start with this and expand if you desire for more catered products (e.g. wheel cleaners, iron removers, etc). If not, this will do 99% of what you need for a regular cleaning and your detailer can do a more thorough decontamination/correction once a year or so.

1. Buckets - get 2 from home depot/lowes/whatever. The food grade ones are white and have no branding on them if you dont want to be washing out of an orange bucket.

2. Car soap - Adams car shampoo is excellent and wont harm whatever wax/sealent/ceramic coat your detailer puts on. https://amzn.to/3ijMrrT

3. Wash mits - I like the rag company mitts, increditmitts, or adams microfiber mitts. Cant go wrong with either. You'll want at least 2. https://amzn.to/31sTyau

4. Drying towel - sorry no recommendations here, i use a leafblower haha.

5. Spray on wax to help drying/extra protection. Adams Gloss + Guard is amazing. https://amzn.to/3gLtNsg

[rjd598]

Originally Posted by damageprone

I wouldn't say stay away from CG products. I think they can be had at a good price on amazon when they have various deals that can be stacked. Otherwise it is overpriced. CG is a nice "gateway drug" when it comes to detailing. In general though, they do have way too many products and can be confusing.

I agree with all of the other resources you've mentioned.

I don’t see why anyone should support a company that puts out five of the same product and claims they all do different things. That’s why they are so cheap and everywhere. Meguiars/Mother’s/TurtleWax/3D are just a few brands that have been around for a very long time, have great pricing, always innovate, and actually give you consistent performing products. I don’t see where CG adds any value give all of this. Any product they make another brand will do better for more or less the same price. Happy to provide those comparisons if anyone is ever looking for replacements.

[nepats81]

Originally Posted by 9M71

Kit will probably come with stuff you may never need. Just start with this and expand if you desire for more catered products (e.g. wheel cleaners, iron removers, etc). If not, this will do 99% of what you need for a regular cleaning and your detailer can do a more thorough decontamination/correction once a year or so.

1. Buckets - get 2 from home depot/lowes/whatever. The food grade ones are white and have no branding on them if you dont want to be washing out of an orange bucket.

2. Car soap - Adams car shampoo is excellent and wont harm whatever wax/sealent/ceramic coat your detailer puts on. https://amzn.to/3ijMrrT

3. Wash mits - I like the rag company mitts, increditmitts, or adams microfiber mitts. Cant go wrong with either. You'll want at least 2. https://amzn.to/31sTyau

4. Drying towel - sorry no recommendations here, i use a leafblower haha.

5. Spray on wax to help drying/extra protection. Adams Gloss + Guard is amazing. https://amzn.to/3gLtNsg

What should I Get for cleaning the windshield?
Also - both buckets with grit guards or just 1?

[9M71]

Originally Posted by nepats81

What should I Get for cleaning the windshield?
Also - both buckets with grit guards or just 1?

2 grit guards. You'll want one bucket for rinsing out your wash mitt so all the contaminants stay there, and the other bucket for you to resoap your mitt

Windshield you can just use the adams car shampoo to clean it, just make sure you dry the car + glass afterwards to avoid water spotting. The gloss and guard spray will assist you with providing some lube when drying, and can be applied to glass as well (its hydrophobic, so you'll get some nice beading/rain-x action from the gloss & guard on glass)

If you need a dedicated glass cleaner for ad-hoc uses, sprayway makes a great streak free one and can be found at the big box stores.

[fiveohwblow]

I’ve the bucket, wash mitt, butter wet wax and the silk shine. I quite like their products and they are always doing some form of a discount negating the pricing concerns above. I’m curious if anyone clicked your link.

I challenge anyone to find a “mediocre” product with a comparable package for 99.

OP, go for it. Great price you simply couldn’t beat with great products. If you don’t like them, it’s not much $ lost. The bucket and mitt alone are worth $20-30.

[damageprone]

Originally Posted by nepats81

Also - both buckets with grit guards or just 1?

You should have 3 buckets. I have 3 buckets with grit guards in them.

Each bucket is for: Soak, rinse, wheels.

After you clean your wheels and see your bucket, you don't want that stuff on your paint.

[nepats81]

Originally Posted by damageprone

You should have 3 buckets. I have 3 buckets with grit guards in them.

Each bucket is for: Soak, rinse, wheels.

After you clean your wheels and see your bucket, you don't want that stuff on your paint.

What products do you recommend for wheels?

Also the rubber trim around the windshield?

[Nativetexan]

CG makes perfectly fine products for the average car guy. There's obviously much more detailed products from other manufacturers.

I personally like CG and find their products good to use. Yes there's too many choices so just pick a shampoo and move on, etc.

Also I always just to wait for discounts and sales to buy their products, not when I "need them". Makes it more palatable just in general.

[damageprone]

Originally Posted by nepats81

What products do you recommend for wheels?

Also the rubber trim around the windshield?

Aerospace 303 UV protectant is popular among detailers for plastics and rubber.

I've used Sonax Wheel cleaner plus and Meguiars Ultimate wheel cleaner.
Both will decon the iron off your wheels. They claim to be spray and rinse, but for our wheels you definitely still have to scrub.

Stay away from CG Diablo wheel cleaner gel. That is useless and does nothing.

[hellokitty]

If you want to stick with one brand that IMO is the best at just about everything, go with Carpro.

I have yet to find a Carpro product that I’ve been disappointed with and I’ve pretty much have dabbled in every brand out there in one shape or form.

[bsmf8x]

Originally Posted by damageprone

Aerospace 303 UV protectant is popular among detailers for plastics and rubber.

I've used Sonax Wheel cleaner plus and Meguiars Ultimate wheel cleaner.
Both will decon the iron off your wheels. They claim to be spray and rinse, but for our wheels you definitely still have to scrub.

Stay away from CG Diablo wheel cleaner gel. That is useless and does nothing.

I use the Diablo and it works better than just using soap on the wheels lol.

What's a better alternative ?

Also, turtle wax ice seal n shine is one the best products I've ever bought. Gtechniq c2v3 is good too but something about the seal n shine made my paint look a mirror the week after I use it unlike other waxes, didn't even do a paint correction even though my paints in good condition (black sapphire).

Get high quality microfibers and don't use any pressure when drying, the most dangerous thing you can do and not realize is swirling the shit out of your paint and you won't know until the sun hits it. Treat the towel like a sponge, let it glaze over paint don't use any pressure. Even if you're ceramic coated, enough pressure/shittymicrofiber can hurt paint.

[jdgamble]

I second CG being inferior to many other good products on Autogeek. I started with CG, and I have either thrown away or given away all of it after finding brands like Sonax, Wolfgang, Pinnacle, Duragloss, etc. Although I hear good things about CG wash soap. All that being said, the only thing in that kit that I would not use is the Butter Wet wax... only because I hear it lasts about a month and there are countless sealants that last about 5-10x longer so why bother?

I also second buckets and grit guards. I would also get a good rinseless wash and watch some videos. I use Wolfgang Uber. It’s a game changer. So much quicker, and you can do maintenance washes on only parts of the vehicle if needed (like top only if it’s just a layer of dust).

For wheels, a good brush and wash soap is probably all you need. I haven’t had a good experience with any wheel cleaner. You still need to put in work.

Back to Autogeek... that forum is the best detailing resource ever. Many step by steps with products listed and such (note - none of those products will be CG, minus maybe the wash soap). The members put a lot of time into their posts. Invaluable info.

I assume you already got your car detailed. If we could turn back the clock, I would say go get a polisher and do it yourself. I bit the bullet years ago when I got a $2k quote for paint correction and coating. It’s been one of my favorite car decisions ever. I love machine polishing my cars.

[9M71]

Originally Posted by hellokitty

If you want to stick with one brand that IMO is the best at just about everything, go with Carpro.

I have yet to find a Carpro product that I’ve been disappointed with and I’ve pretty much have dabbled in every brand out there in one shape or form.

I love carpro products, with some of them being favorites, but you also have to be careful putting the more specialized ones into the hands of an amateur. Case in point is the guy who recently destroyed/cracked his headlight lens by spraying tar-x on them.

I can also see how someone can wash their car in the hot sun on hot panels with hydrofoam and then be in for a surprise. Would probably rate these products more for someone with a little more experience/insight into detailing.

[nepats81]

Originally Posted by jdgamble

I second CG being inferior to many other good products on Autogeek. I started with CG, and I have either thrown away or given away all of it after finding brands like Sonax, Wolfgang, Pinnacle, Duragloss, etc. Although I hear good things about CG wash soap. All that being said, the only thing in that kit that I would not use is the Butter Wet wax... only because I hear it lasts about a month and there are countless sealants that last about 5-10x longer so why bother?

I also second buckets and grit guards. I would also get a good rinseless wash and watch some videos. I use Wolfgang Uber. It’s a game changer. So much quicker, and you can do maintenance washes on only parts of the vehicle if needed (like top only if it’s just a layer of dust).

For wheels, a good brush and wash soap is probably all you need. I haven’t had a good experience with any wheel cleaner. You still need to put in work.

Back to Autogeek... that forum is the best detailing resource ever. Many step by steps with products listed and such (note - none of those products will be CG, minus maybe the wash soap). The members put a lot of time into their posts. Invaluable info.

I assume you already got your car detailed. If we could turn back the clock, I would say go get a polisher and do it yourself. I bit the bullet years ago when I got a $2k quote for paint correction and coating. It’s been one of my favorite car decisions ever. I love machine polishing my cars.

Would you guys suggest ceramic coating? I still havent gotten the car detailed. I did a Maintinence wash at my buddies house the other day.

Full exterior Detail is $200. I could get a ceramic coating with paint correction for $1000. Wondering if its worth it. Car is Black Sapphire Metallic btw.

[hellokitty]

Originally Posted by nepats81

Would you guys suggest ceramic coating? I still havent gotten the car detailed. I did a Maintinence wash at my buddies house the other day.

Full exterior Detail is $200. I could get a ceramic coating with paint correction for $1000. Wondering if its worth it. Car is Black Sapphire Metallic btw.

It heavily depends on the coating used. I would go for Gtechniq Crystal serum ultra. Visit their website for accredited installers and get a quote. It is likely going to be more than $1k but at least you are getting a quality coating rather than some off the shelf coating.

[hellokitty]

Originally Posted by 9M71

I love carpro products, with some of them being favorites, but you also have to be careful putting the more specialized ones into the hands of an amateur. Case in point is the guy who recently destroyed/cracked his headlight lens by spraying tar-x on them.

I can also see how someone can wash their car in the hot sun on hot panels with hydrofoam and then be in for a surprise. Would probably rate these products more for someone with a little more experience/insight into detailing.

As the old saying goes, read the f'ing manual/instructions" before using a product lol... but I agree, Carpro is for people who have experience with detailing.

I've been detailing my own cars for 20 years and started off with products from Autozone.

[fiveohwblow]

Originally Posted by nepats81

Would you guys suggest ceramic coating? I still havent gotten the car detailed. I did a Maintinence wash at my buddies house the other day.

Full exterior Detail is $200. I could get a ceramic coating with paint correction for $1000. Wondering if its worth it. Car is Black Sapphire Metallic btw.

Short answer, YES. A ceramic coat is a great way of protecting the paint with longer lasting effects. The paint needs to be fairly raw which is why the heavy cost, but will pay dividends. If $ is no issue, have it done. As to brand, people will always have preference but its a simple concept IMO

Ceramic of any kind> No coating

[jdgamble]

Originally Posted by nepats81

Would you guys suggest ceramic coating? I still havent gotten the car detailed. I did a Maintinence wash at my buddies house the other day.

Full exterior Detail is $200. I could get a ceramic coating with paint correction for $1000. Wondering if its worth it. Car is Black Sapphire Metallic btw.

It sounds like you like playing with your car? Do I have that right? I do... it's part of my general life therapy. If you want to play with your car, I would not get a coating. I would, however, spend that money on a good DA polisher and some pads/products/towels and learn to do it myself. You could buy everything you need to correct your paint and seal (or coat) it for < $1000k. Then you have the tools and products to continue playing. That's the route I went. My car looks flawless all the time, and I love doing the work.

All that being said, if you just want a low maintenance option that keeps your car looking good, a coating is great.

If you want some product recommendations, PM me.