Top 11 secrets of auto detailers

[knightfan26917]

Originally Posted by 91 s-10baja

The Headliner is a great one!

Indeed!

Course, I've never cleaned the headliner in any of my cars ... just never felt the need to ... and now, glad I didn't!



Cort | 35swm | "Mr Monte Carlo"."Mr Road Trip" | pig valve.pacemaker
WRMNshowcase.legos.HO.models.MCs.RTs.CHD = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort
"I love to hear the steel belts hummin' on the asphalt" ... Steve Earle ... 'Guitar Town'

[Regalguy96]

Great tips, knew most of them already. Never heard the plastic gorcery bag tip. Will have to try it.

Another thing I find handy is Mr. Clean Magic Erasers (or WalMart) off brand works wonders on alloy wheels. Nothing worse than that brake dust build up on wheels. I'm always afraid to use wheel cleaners for fear of one it saying it won't make the wheel finish peel and later it does and two fear of getting it into the brakes/rotors. Mr. Clean Magic Eraser takes those fears away and with a lot of elbow grease the wheels will look brand new. Plus they are realitively cheap compared to most 5-6 dollar wheel cleaners and depending on how dirty the wheels were in the first place they can be reused. I've even used them on the paint scrape trades we sometimes get in parking lots and it has helped remove those as well.

For as it detailing goes, a car clean car is a happy car, gives me confidence in driving it, and a freshly waxed car has proven to improve gas mileage slightly.

[ARTEMIS1759]

As an ex-auto detailer I can add a few products that I have found that are close to the "industrial" supplies we used. Purple Power is the closest thing I found to our engine cleaner. I use it straight for engine bay and undercarriage. (if there is loose paint mind you it will take it off, beware). In cleaning the engine bay make sure to cover any engine openings (air cleaner, breathers, distributor caps, etc.) with a plastic bag. On Open element air cleaners I found taking a plastic grocery bag and wrapping the element and putting the air cleaner back together works well. Never use armor all on your dash unless you intend to keep using it. Oil based protectants will dry out your dash if not used at a regular interval. I believe the only water base one I ever found is Turtle Wax. As a side note for those who live in cold weather areas, Armor all on your vehicle door seals will keep them from freezing shut. Armor All is OK on tires as we always used an oil base on tires. Hot Wax at a car wash works really well as rain-x. I prefer Meguiars Wax, as that is the best results I have ever gotten. For a good universal wax use carnuba wax. If you follow the directions on the bottle you should always get good results. I personally have always used low speed buffers when applying any wax. I actually prefer to buff my wax off. The key to this is, is you can not put any pressure on it and keep it moving. To buff the wax on it takes one pad for me, to buff it off it usually takes 2 or 3. The pad will get gummed up and that also causes it's own problems. I had a 1998 Chevy Suburban that was black brought into me. At the time it was brand new. I used this method and when the owner came to pick it up, he said that it looked better then when he got it off the show room floor. To achieve this "wet look" was easy. But, as was stated above if not done right it can leave swirl marks. Clay bars work great on all cars, but I will say, they do not take off paint drops from someone painting a house or other things and it actually drips onto the paint. I had a guy ask me to clean up a white 1994 Ford F350 crew cab that had every color of house paint under the son dripped on it. I said it would not work and gave it a try anyhow after he pleaded. After 2 hours of trying everything, once it dries you are screwed. If you spill anything in a vehicle, make it a point to clean it up ASAP. Otherwise chances are...1-it will not come out,2-It will make your vehicle stink to the point you will never be able to get rid of the smell. If you have chrome...the best thing I ever found was sold at a truck stop. I used it on my dad's 59 trim that was tarnished and it almost all came clean. Truckers use it to clean the aluminum and chrome on their trucks. It is called Racer's Edge. The container is white with two checkered flags. Second best is Never Dull Wading. Castrol Purple Power also works to clean white walls and white letters on tires. There is a product called trim black that will also renew black trim. I think that is all I have. Out of two and a half years of detailing cars, I only had 3 vehicles that never turned out. One was an 80s Ford and one an 80s Dodge that had the water base paint and the paint was shot on both. The other was a 1998 Chevy extended cab that had a light gray interior. The interior was dyed by melted crayons and candy and never did come out. For interiors, the best thing was a hot water shampooer. It heated the water by itself to a scalding hot temp. There was not much it did not work on.

[Morbit]

I like that Meguiars' Dual Action Polisher, gonna have to give that a try. My Dad bought some kind of cheap buffer at Murrays and it's horrible.

[yyz_ltz]

Originally Posted by Pedal 2 Metal

Now I feel like washing my car. Damn you cold NY weather!

LOL Me too!

[tanked_darren]

I used to be a detailer in my young days at a body shop. Straight razor blades to clean your windows perfection everytime, just dont use them on your back window inside so you don't cut your rear defrost. Just don't tell bodycraft collison in langley i told ya so.

[doh]

Originally Posted by tanked_darren

I used to be a detailer in my young days at a body shop. Straight razor blades to clean your windows perfection everytime, just dont use them on your back window inside so you don't cut your rear defrost. Just don't tell bodycraft collison in langley i told ya so.

Except that it scratches many windows on todays vehicles.

[goodman]

These are good tips, I somehow missed this thread in the past.