I went 100% percent 2 fast

Been waiting for a sale on this. Probably because its the old version 5 but a deal is a deal. Figured id share the wealth.

So I THINK I'm doing it in a simple way:

1. Hose down care pretty thoroughly with a garden hose

2. spray whole car down with ONR from a garden sprayer

3. wipe car with SSS using ONR with one bucket and a grit guard

4. dry car off

5. go over all the left over water spots with ONR detail

6. spray way and shop towels for windows

7. (optional) go over with Griots 3 in 1

I'm sure is just cause I'm anal and have a new black car, but holy cow it takes me like 1.5 to 2 hours and thats without doing any internal. I FEEL like im just moving right along but damn it takes me forever.

Pressure washer: Ryobi 2300 psi electric

PW Gun: cheap HF gun

Foam Cannon : QUIVR 1.25/1.1

Soap: CG Honeydew

I picked up a foam cannon and tried with my regular bucket wash soap in it, meguiars d113, it didn't foam very well. Decided to get some dedicated foam gun soap and try it out

I really would like the thick soap to help pull away dirt and grime from cars. But when I put in the usual 2-3 oz of soap for the 1000ml the soap is runny and does seem like it's staying on the panel, just sort of runs off. It's staying on the panel somewhat but not thick like how all the detailers show when they review soaps and foam cannons

What should I do to fix this issue?

This is the very first application of any tire dressing for me (not a professional detailer, just a newly informed vehicle owner). I’d done lots of research on detailing products and CarPro Perl was always mentioned (YT, Reddit, Carcare Forums etc.).

Wasn’t looking for anything stellar but rather just a good enough to restore some of the visual aesthetics of the tires. Must say I’m pleasantly surprised with the outcome. I’m aware it’s a water based product and won’t last very long but I can easily reapply a diluted layer on this base layer. Very pleased so far!

Just bought a newer F-150 and the previous owner took very good care of it. I'm not sure if he got a ceramic coat and/or waxed it a lot, but there's no swirling. In Grand Rapids, there's no options I can find for a self serve bay with heat to wash it myself. Only options are touchless, brush drive through washes, and open self serve bays. My garage isn't heated and the truck doesn't fit in there anyway. Anyone else in a similar situation and what do you do for the winter?

Closed my mobile detail shop about 2-3 years ago. Haven’t touched a polisher since. Any recommendations on a decent combo for Toyota soft paint. I’ll be ceramic coatings gf Corolla but I’d like to remove some light defects nd if I remember correctly Toyota paint is a biiiih to work with sometimes

Any recommendations on getting this mark out of this trim.

For reference Mazda CX60 takumi. Marks look almost like an oily fingerprint? Only tired interior trim cleaner with a microfibre so far.

TIA

I am fairly certain I know what the issue is, but wanted to validate my thoughts and see whether anyone had additional insight.

I recently purchased a Ridge Washer stubby gun off Amazon to replace the cumbersome wand that came with my Active 2.3 washer. The Ridge gun came with the proper M22 x 14mm adapter to connect the stock Active hose to the gun. I didn't use Teflon tape on the connections but did tighten the fittings prior to washing the car. During the wash, I noticed the Active 2.3 would occasionally surge. A quick 1 second surge every 1-2min when the trigger was off. I initially thought it was air in the system so I turned the washer off and purged the system. The water flow was continuous and I didn't notice any sputtering or air bubbles. I turned the washer back on and the surging still occurred.

To rule out any issues with my washer, I swapped the original Active wand/gun back on and the surging didn't happen. Now, it's worth noting, I always just hand tighten the hose to the Active wand and have been doing so for the past year I've been using it. No issues at all. I typically disconnect everything when I'm done using the washer. Additionally, I used the same nozzle on both the Ridge gun and the wand when troubleshooting to rule out orifice size incompatibility.

This leads me to believe it could either be a faulty stubby gun (ie: small pressure leak in the Ridge stubby gun) or a leak in the connections within the fittings between the hose and the gun? Ie: lack of Teflon tape use.

Thanks in advance for any insight. I want to narrow down the issue before I return the stubby gun as I really did enjoy using it!

Has anyone used one of these and is it worth it / any recommendations ? I struggle to find proper seat covers that don't cover up the rear seatbelts ( Although if anyone can recommend seat covers for a 2022 Mazda 2 - that's even better. ) so I think I am looking into this just to clean it up routinely - no stains on it but I imagine there's a lot of hidden dirty that can be sucked up.

Any recommendations? I was looking at the bissel proheat and the shark stainstriker - how about solutions any recommendations ? Do I have to use the original stuff and how long would I expect it to last?

Or if It's a bad idea - let me know.

I use a giraffe grandstorm for my car and garage. It handles dirt and small debris fine. Dog hair and dried mud are harder. I loosen both with a rubber brush before vacuuming. It works, but cleaning the same area twice gets old, especially under the seats.

I saw the grandflux has a powered brush head like my home vacuum. It also has a light that might help under the seats.

Can it replace the rubber brush? Does hair wrap around the roller? Anyone tried one on car carpet?

I purchased a vvv-group brand gauge and it was total crap - wouldn't calibrate and the reading swung 20-40% in the same spot. Let Amazon send me a replacement model ... same issue.

Looking for a decent / reliable unit that doesn't cost a ridiculous amount - thanks!

Hey everyone. Just getting into a little bit of detailing of just my family's cars. My neighborhood is very strict on washing my car in my own driveway so I usually use a local commercial car wash (like cloud or mod wash). After running my car through the wash there, what steps should I take next? I assume drying... but should I use anything else on the car?

Ok, so I’m trying to find products to clean, gloss, wax, and ceramic coat my 24 y/o truck but there’s a bazillion products out there that I’m overwhelmed.

Now my truck is old, but the paint isn’t in serious trouble. The only concern is that there’s sun damage on top of the bed. What products can I get that helps restore the sun damage?

I just need a series of products that will clean, restore, wax and ceramic coat, it doesn’t have to be a single thing.

The headlights on my CRV needed some much needed restoration. I bought the Cerakote kit. This kit is amazing. We shall see how long it lasts.

Hey all,

I recently ran into a situation that gave me some insight into what people should be more aware of when dealing with PPF Pre-Cut Kits. I was posting about my DIY PPF experience here on Reddit and kept running into what I think is a mistake people make over and over. I think it's a bit self-evident, but I believe it still needs some light shone upon. A bit of a story, but I hope you stick with me:

I recently picked up a 2020 BMW M2C with just over 30k miles. The car had a PPF front-end kit on it installed by the previous, first owner when the car was just delivered about 7 years ago. (2020 being 7 years ago is wild!) The PPF did its job really well. The fenders were PPF'd, and the doors weren't. You can easily see the difference. Each door had 100+ chips and mini chips that were caused by rocks kicked up by the front tires. The fenders, along the entire front end, did not have a single chip on them, and the paint looked like it had just been painted yesterday. That said, the PPF was beginning to fade, and I decided to replace it. Removal was a huge headache, but straightforward. Just mountains of elbow grease. I then bought a replacement pre-cut kit from a PPF manufacturer. They provided some great step-by-step photo instructions for every panel and a text chat for any additional help (which I kind of used as a crutch). I was able to reinstall a fresh front end kit in 2 days and register the warranty. The kit cost me about $800 out the door. It would have been $2400 at a shop to remove, then install the full front. You can read my whole experience removing and installing here: New (To Me) M2C, And DIY PPF Kit Install : r/BMWM

I then got a message from someone asking for tips with the pre-cut kit they got from Amazon. A full car kit for $400. An insane price! Unfortunately, they had a totally different car from mine, and I couldn't really share any of the instructions or tips with them beyond some general suggestions.

I went to a meet for the first time with my M2 a few days ago, and I met someone there who was currently removing their full front kit from their X5 M50i. They bought an Amazon kit and installed it just about a year ago. The material had already started to fade. The install they did seemed pretty good, but it was missing some tucked edges that I would expect. Basically, they did the best with what they were given. The only panel they removed so far was the fender. And man, was there so much adhesive left behind. I am not sure if they just did a bad job pulling it off or if the film was really that bad, but according ot the owner, when they originally pulled it off, the film completed seprated from the adhesive, and the entire panel, without missing an inch, was covered in leftover adhesive. They had spent the past day trying to remove the adhesive but had only gotten about 70% off so far. However, the panel was ENTIRELY scratched up from their removal, to the point where I think they may need to wet-sand before polishing. I tried to pick at some of the remaining adhesive, but it was like concrete... I don't know if its becuase of the film quality or if it was because the adhesive has been exposed to the elements for a few days, or both. Absolutely a nightmare situation. The only thing I could suggest was to bring it to a shop to get it done, and maybe they had some insider knowledge on how to get it done better without continuing to damage the paint. Comparatively, my removal was a breeze, and my film was 7 years old! Spending 6+ hours on each panel seemed ridiculous, and that's not counting the required paint correction afterward.

I was scrolling through Reddit earlier and ran into two separate posts suggesting that people buy and install the Amazon/Ebay $400 full car kit as their first PPF install, wait for the film to go bad in 2-3 years (which is clearly 2-3 times overestimating the lifespan), and then buy a real manufacturer kit for full cost since you now know how to install everything. On paper, it seems pretty logical as long as you don't factor in the removal hours and possible paint damage from it or learning bad habits from installing poorly without directions. I think the best way to approach this is to install it and remove it almost immediately if you really are trying to just get practice out of it.

I dived a bit further by searching up Amazon PPF, and immediately found a post where OP and pretty much everyone in the comments were bashing on PPF as a whole just because of their (presumably $400) Amazon kit going bad early and either causing damage to the paint or costing thousands to remove by a real shop. The same profiles commented dozens of times to people asking whether or not to get PPF (the legitimate kind), stating that PPF is a scam.

I find it insane that someone goes the absolutely bare minimum cheapest route, at a price point that should make no sense, where something is clearly a scam, and the seller cut every corner imaginable, then goes on to complain that the whole idea of PPF is ridiculous based on their experience.

My advice is to do it right the first time.

2025 BMW i4 with Sensatec interior. There is a white spot/stain from some liquid (sunscreen?) in the front passenger seat. Does Have tried cleaning it with Adam’s interior cleaner without any luck. Any other suggestions that will not cause discoloring or issues with the underlying material? Thanks!

I checked out the wiki/website and it recommended pumice stone for dog hair (husky and Samoyed).

This seat back was caked and it brought up a ton, but still lots of stragglers.

Should I get a new stone, keep making passes, or just get out the tweezers?

I work in a t-shirt printing shop and so ink manages to get all over. I’ve always been super diligent about getting ink in my car because I care about the car a TON. Unfortunately, yesterday I missed some black ink that got on the very back of my shirt. It left this approx. 2x2in area of black specs of ink in my Audis Alcantara. As soon as I got home I tried dabbing it off with a microfiber before using a little bit of soap and water mix and a magic eraser (I did not spray the water directly on the Alcantara as not to soak it.)

This is how it looks after drying overnight. Does anyone have any ideas of how I could remove this further? Any and all help appreciated!!

Looking to do the roof and hood of the car. I know the hood is capable of doing a successful 1 step paint correction but the roof... yeah not too sure about the roof. Is it cooked? The front of the roof feels a bit dull, like a matte type of texture.

I live in Arizona...

I recently purchased a bottle of Goof Off at my work and I used it to remove road tar on my car, so far, worked well. I believe I waited to long to get it off. There are still some marks left on my paint where the tar once was. I made sure to rinse the Goof Off with some soap and water. I was worried about the harshness of it and only left it on for barely a minute and agitated it with a microfiber cloth. Any recommendations on what I can use to remove the dull marks from the tar?

Recently purchased a car that smells of smoke. I could use some help validating my plan of attack. Effective? What changes should I make?

In order of operation:

1. Discard both cabin air filters (car has two), headliner, left A-pillar trim (has burn marks), and floor mats
2. Remove seats
3. Remove any easily removed carpeted trim pieces so they can be cleaned more thoroughly
4. Remove tint from windows
5. Vacuum everywhere
6. Clean all hard surfaces and glass with APC and microfiber (including areas normally covered by things I removed, like the ceiling or behind panels)
7. Shampoo carpeted trim and floor
   • P&S Carpet Bomber + spray bottle + Drillbrush (white)
   • extract with shop vac
8. Rinse all carpeted trim and floor
   • filtered water using Bissell Little Green Machine and warm water
   • follow up with shop vac
9. Let dry 24 hours w/ fans
10. Steam clean all carpeted trim and floor
    • filtered water + Bio-Bomb Minis + McCulloch MC1375
    • questions: I guess I could do this on hard surfaces as well? What about leather? Vinyl?
11. Let dry 24 hours w/ fans
12. Replace seats and carpeted trim
13. Treat entire vehicle with Bio-Bomb Vehicle Deodorization Kit and Oxygenator Aerator
    • hook up trickle charger, turn on ignition, run fans on high + recirculate, close vehicle
    • open vehicle, air out 15 minutes, then shut off ignition
    • mist distilled water, 4-5 sprays throughout the cabin
    • question: do you wipe up the water after or just let it dry?
14. Replace cabin air filters, headliner, A-pillar, and floor mats with new
15. If I still have issues a few days later, move on to ozone treatment

Is it okay to use your interior cleaner to clean your infotainment screen? I have Sudslab total interior cleaner for reference (beginner at home DIY detailer, definitely NOT a professional)

Hey all,
I’ve never cleaned or detailed my car other than vacuuming and automatic car wash so assume I know nothing

I just bought a Hercules forced rotation polisher based on a lot of Reddit suggestions but I have no idea what products to buy

My cars paint is still in good condition but there are some rock chips and deep scratches so I want to know a good way to get rid of them

Then I’ll want to know the products for a regular car clean before moving onto the decontamination using a clay bar

Then I’ll use a clay bar to decontaminate the surface

Then what are my next steps and options for the actual polishing

Then I want to ceramic coat the car as a final step

Have anyone ever compiled a listed of what products to buy for each ? I also know there are different methods to do each of these steps what do you guys recommend to follow ?

Any advice is appreciated!

Can a metabo sxe 3150 sander used as a car compound and polisher as i am new and wants to compound my car at home or i have to buy specified polisher. Any professional??