*Official* Ask A Detailer Thread

No, just daily driving.

I am thinking I change car wash soaps although I have been using a Meguires product for awhile.

 

Oregonian here. Dealing with some light ash fallout from the wildfires burning all over the state. Air quality is supposed to be bad over the next few days, with rains forecast for early next week. Unfortunately, my '19 Taco has been outside this whole time and has a thin layer of ash on it. Was considering giving it a good rinse, followed by a wash with the foam cannon before the rains come. Should I hold off until the smoke clears more? I put a Turtlewax Ceramic sealer on it about a month ago before all this happens, so at least there's some protection under there.

 

I just posted in another thread that there is little use to a foam cannon but here is an example where I'd certainly be using mine on something like this. Have no idea how bad ash is and I'm sure it varies from one wildfire to another but any rinsing and foaming you can do without touching the better in my opinion.

 

2 questions

1. living at school so no access to water/can't wash in the parking lot. Am using rainx waterless wash, but when it dries there are dark streaks. is there a better product?
2. What do yall use to wash your tires? mine are filthy with dirt and brake dust, someone told me degreaser is not good for tires, which is what i had used on my old tires

Im not particularly versed in exterior care, in case you didnt notice with the questions

 

Wolfgang Uber which is more of a rinseless wash than waterless and assumes you can at least fill up a bucket of solution in a sink or shower. Use multiple microfiber rags in a solution of 1oz to 3gallons. Multiple rags will make the washing even safer and you can flip a 16x16" rag into 8 sides so there is always a cleaner side as you move through the panels. Keep the spent rags out of the clean solution. Uber is great because you can get away with it drying on the panel and you just run a wet rag from the bucket of solution over the panel to reactivate it. There are many other rinseless washes that should work well, Uber is one of the best. ONR is another great one. Still would be nice to hose the truck off ahead of rinseless/waterless washing if you can, like at a nearby coin op with a pressure washer.

Undiluted degreaser, particularly the cheap ones like the ones that come in the purple jugs will wear away and breakdown the rubber over time. However even with those or others, you should be able to cut it down with water to make a less caustic solution that will be safer in the long run for the tires. Detailing brands All Purpose Cleaners (APC) may be a better choice and will still clean well while diluted.

 

I would do a long, no touch rinse first using a power washer if you have one. Get off everything you can without touching it. Then I would do a non-contact wash using a foam canon. Then rinse well again. Then do a contact wash and rinse. If you don't have a foam canon you can get them pretty fast on Amazon, and some local retailers (Walmart, Autozone, Advance, etc.) usually have them as well.

 

Thank you, exactly the info i was looking for. I'll snag a bucket and a couple extra MF's and try one of those rinseless washes. Thanks for confirming on the cheap purple degreaser, didn't bring that stuff with me, ill check into the APC.

 

We need less wording and more pictures of detailed trucks or trucks/cars that need detailing in this thread!

 

Iron X, clay bar, Rupes medium yellow wool with rupes keramik, rupes yellow foam and keramik, ipa wipe down, Kamikaze ISM 1.0. Nice to be able to coat vehicle, trim and plastics all at once.

 

I'm thinking about having a guy detail and polish my truck and my wife's car. It's $250 for both cars. Almost seems too cheap. My truck is pretty oxidized and he said his polish will fix it some without having to do a full paint correction. I'm trying to see if this is legit before I go through with it. I was going to do it all myself but work is crazy right now.

His process is:

Wash
wheels
trim
exhaust
chemical decontamination
clay bar
wax/correct oxidization (you can do a sealant too)
windows
dress

 

It's too cheap and I wouldn't trust the work at that price either. I would think $250 for one vehicle just to get it washed and prepped for running a polisher and all the glass and trim care. Polishing would be extra. At this price I think the guy is going to just run a wax spreader which is kind of pointless rubbing onto oxidized paint. Compare the price to a couple shops in your area to clean up your oxidized paint.

Then I see you're in SoCal...

 

So that's $125 per vehicle. He doesn't do anything under the hood. He doesn't do anything to the interior. He doesn't do much polishing or true correction. Truth be told, it's probably a reasonable cost for what's he's doing - and not doing.

 

I sort of agree with you here. One local guy who has a business as a detailing shop said $300 to paint correct my truck. My truck isn't all that nice so I'm debating how much to put into it. I also don't want to have that tacoma with an entire peeling hood and roof you know? I'm trying to find something in the middle. The guy has 50 5 star reviews on yelp who quoted me the $250 price.

I'm in Socal. In a fairly expensive area so the price doesn't seem too insane to me. I think reasonable is the right word.

 

Is there any way to remove these scratches from the black plastic on the door?

 

On many Toyota products, that black area on the B pillar is actually tape, not paint or plastic. I don't gave a 3rd gen handy to look at, but maybe you can check and get back to us. If it's paint, there's hope in simply polishing the scratches out - depending how deep they are. If it's tape, it can be replaced. If it's black plastic, you're SOL.

 

This, it's a vinyl sticker. Pretty sure you can just peel it off to reveal good paint underneath. I've not peeled mine yet though.

 

Ok guys I'm going to do ceramic for the first time. My question is do I polish 1st and then coat or do I coat and then polish it?

 

Polish then coat. If you coat then polish you will remove the coating. Coating needs to be applied to bare paint so make sure to remove any residual polish.

 

Ok thanks!

 

Turtle wax hybrid ceramic spray? Thoughts?