*Official* Ask A Detailer Thread

$300 for an Access Cab Tacoma with Shell. Wash, clay, polish and seal. And about $150 for detail including inside with wash/clay/ wax/polish

 

@mShu7 thanks for your original post with product recommendations. Just finished a full wash, clay bar, polish and was with Meguiar's products you recommended. Insane how many contaminants came off with the clay bar. Truck has such a nice glossy shine now.

 

Alright guys, trying to decide what to do with my new 2019. Currently stuck between ceramic coating or sealing with wax finish. I had ceramic pro applied to my 2017 (one layer 9H , one layer of light/sport), ran me about $1200 from a legit installer/pro, paint correction, whole shabam. After about a year and a half I wasn't really impressed with the results even with the $200 annual reapply of sport and inspection. Which got me thinking perhaps a sealant and wax routine would be a better option price wise and daily driver wise. It seems people are still divided as to whether ceramic coatings are best for daily drivers or not. So what's everyone's thoughts? I hand wash regularly (2 bucket method, chemical guys products, etc.) I've been watching some videos and thinking maybe I should invest in a DA, polish, sealant and wax and just do it myself bi-annually. But then I go back to the ease of having ceramic when it comes to routine maintainence. What's everyone's thoughts ceramic or sealant/wax approach on a daily driver? Truck is mostly a mall crawler, occasional dirt road on way to track on weekends. Just don't want to waste money on a cermaic coat if I'd be better off just sealing/waxing myself for a daily driver.

 

The way I would look at it is $1200 will buy a WHOLE LOT of detailing products including tools, polisher and pads (get plenty of pads). If you're already willing to put the work in "regularly" to wash it you won't have to put a lot of effort into your sealant/coating/LSP of choice. There should be plenty of consumer grade coatings you can apply that really wont take much more effort than the average paint sealant. If you're washing regularly than you can probably get by with the multitude of spray on wipe and or rinse off products that are on the market today. Plenty of the consumer level easy to use coatings only cost about $50-100.

If you're somebody that doesn't have the time, or just aren't comfortable doing your own work and have the cash by all means pay the $1200. Besides the majority of that $1200 should be in all the time it takes to correct the paint in labor and overhead.

 

Agree with a lot of the above, plus doing the regular wash and wax gives you an opportunity to look over paint blemishes that develop from normal use and correct them. Besides I love detailing the truck. It looks incredible when I’m done with it.

Also i think even with ceramic you would need to clay it from time to time no?

 

Looking at my paint I don’t see a lot of issues being a new truck, a one step polish prior to coating it which as you mentioned seems steep for what it actually entails to ceramic coat the truck. I was thinking about just investing in a DA, products, pads, etc. and doing sealant and wax twice a year. Only problem with doing a consumer ceramic coat is the cure time since I don’t have a garage to work in (filled with bikes and tools lol). I will say the ease of cleaning and not having to do bi annual polish / sealant / wax seems nice. Thanks for the advice.

 

I guess that all depends on what your vehicle is exposed to. I've heard people using iron remover on a brand new car and it be littered with contaminants. Then others who spray down an 8 year old vehicle and see nothing.

 

I believe with ceramic you don’t clay as clay removes it. Hence why a lot of people say don’t bother with ceramic since you will likely develop swirls / inperfections in the coating anyways and is harder to remove whereas you save and have the opportunity to correct more often with traditional sealant / wax. I don’t care so much about it looking show quality but protecting the paint/clear coat.

 

Had the same issue when I was wanting to use Wolfgang Deep Gloss Paint Sealant. It calls for a 12 hour cure, watched the weather for several weeks before getting a good window on a Sunday to apply it.

 

Also why I hesitate dropping $1200 on ceramic coating and $200 a year for annual inspection / refreshes. It’s a daily driven truck exposed to the outdoors every day. My dads 2014 raptor sat outside for 5 years and he never paint corrected / waxed / sealed. And was fine. Just do it yourself spray car washes.

 

Also if you enjoy washing your vehicles, spend the $1200 on a Kranzle pressure washer setup. Can't recommend it enough.

 

Gonna have to research that. And yep, I'm a weirdo washing bikes and vehicles is theraputic to me.

 

Never understood the appeal of this guy watching his youtube videos. However he's got the whole washing a car with over engineered (not always a bad thing) equipment.

https://www.obsessedgarage.com/collections/pressure-washing

 

Nothing wrong with that, one of my favorite things to do is clean my truck especially after winter.

What kind of bikes?

 

My current mx bike 2017 crf250r and box and roommates triumph 6 something and box.

 

Very nice. I'm an old school BMX person myself.

 

Are there any products out there that make cleaning the underbody easier than rolling around under the truck on a creeper with a soapy brush? There's so many nooks and crannies around the front differential and around the frame that are really difficult to reach. Do foam cannons work or help at all with caked on dirt?

I lost an ATV frame due to rust from mud being caked over the frame and weld points, and would like to try to avoid it on my truck.

 

The chances of me ever spending $1,200 on a pressure washer is pretty slim. Not unless it comes with a certified detailer that handwashes my truck every time I wheel it out.

There are good adjustible gas pressure washers for less than half the cost.

They make things you can hook a hose up to and wheel under the body to do an underbody wash.

I’m not really sure doing much more than that on a non-show truck is worth it.
If you mud and off road, especially in clay you may want to fluid film and if you do I probably wouldn’t blast under the body with soap but just water.

It will be hard to get a pressure washer wand and foam cannon under the body unless you own or have access to a lift.

 

I cracked and gonna have my professional installer / detailer ceramic coat it again for 5 years, $1200 (although he said the new price is $1500 for that package, I think these prices are getting ridiculous). I still bought the DA, sealant, polish, wax since my Dad wanted me to do that to their vehicles when I move back home in the fall for school.

 

Yeah, I've got all of the caked on mud off. You know how when the matte black parts of your truck start to turn orange after a few harsh days worth of riding. That's what I'm trying to get rid of. I even thought about using some Gunk engine cleaner on it, but it'd take too many cans to do the full underside.