Here I was on a trip to see my wife's grandmother in Maryland. She was kind enough to let us all stay at her place for the week so I figured I'd return the favor by detailing her new Toyota Camry. Even when on vacation, I've got work on my mind So I decided to make an educational thread. I set out to put myself in the shoes of the average DIYer that does not have access to the products I sell. The DIYer that doesn't want to spend a lot of money to perform a detail. The DIYer that doesn't have the hours to spend on detailing his/her car. The DIYer that doesn't have a car north of $100K....this was a very educational experience.

So here I am, standing the the Car Care isle and looking at a sea of products. There are brands I've heard of, and some I haven't. I must say, it was quite a neat experience. The bottles all looked cool, the packaging showed cars shining, tires shining, leather seats looking amazing. If I didn't know any better, I'd say these were all very high quality products. But what products do I get? What brand is better than the other? I didn't want to complicate things because any product I got, my wife's grandmother had to later use to maintain her car.

I decided to focus on the PROCESS. After all, I should practice what I preach. As most of you that frequent this detailing board know, my exterior detailing consists of a process I call Trinity. Clay, Polish, and Wax. So, I decided to find a proper clay. I could not find the Mother's Clay Bar kit I was familiar with, so I decided to check out the Meguiar's Kit. This kit was pretty cool. The packaging is excellent. There's a little before/after touch-and-feel portion of the box that imitates how your paint feels before/after the clay. Brilliant idea! This kit also included the lube, Meguiar's Quick Detailer, a polish/wax, and a microfiber towel. All for about $15...what a bargain. With this one kit, I got my clay, polish, and wax. Truly a great deal for the average person.



Next I realized I had no soap or wash mitt. I settled on the Meguiar's Gold Glass Car Soap and a microfiber wash mitt. I've been wanting to try these newer mitts with what looks like microfiber dreadlocks.



Now I needed something to clean and condition the tires with. I was up late one night and saw an infomercial for the TurtleWax ICE line of products. Their wheel cleaner looked impressive. WalMart had this on the shelf, so I added it to my basket of goodies. I gotta tell ya, I felt like a kid on Christmas day. I was actually really excited to use these products...you should have seen the smile on my face. So, wheel cleaner...check.

Tire Dressing....I got this aerosol from Meguiar's that looked interesting. It was a tire cleaner and conditioner in one...what the heck, let's add that to the basket. Tire Dressing...check.



So, I then needed a glass cleaner....Stoner's Invisible Glass is a an excellent product I've used before and it was on the shelf. Glass Cleaner....check.



Now we need some products for the interior. I found the Meguiar's Leather Wipes and Interior Wipes on the shelf and they looked promising. All the product needed to clean the interior in a handy wipe...neat concept. OK....interior products...check.



Now we need some towels and pads. Keeping the average Joe in mind, I got a bag-o-towels for $5 and some microfiber pads and figured I got everything I needed to get this car looking its best.



Keep in mind, in the back of my mind I was very skeptical of everything, could not believe I was in this isle, and could not believe I was buying all this stuff. But, I was thinking of all of you and this thread and put on my laboratory hat, and headed for checkout. Once the cashier rang me up, I had to take a double take on the grand total....$60. WOW!!! All the products I needed to perform a detail for $60 bucks. Shoot, one bottle of Swissvax soap costs that much.



So, I drove back, it took 1.5 hours to find a WalMart that was 4.92 miles away...don't ask. I'm lousy with directions and my BB Storm decided to take a vacation when it came to its GPS capabilities. I could see the WalMart, but for some reason I could not find the road that would take me to it. Without further interruptions, here's the detail.

Initial Condition

 

Tires, wheels, and wheel wells are cleaned





The TW ICE Wheel Cleaner came with a handy scrubber...pretty ingenious. I missed my ez detail brush though...couldn't get inside those wheels











Ready for the bath





I was pleasantly surprised at how long the foam lasted. I used about 10X the amount of soap I normally use, Swissvax Car Bath, to get this amount of sudsing

 

Rinsed mitt after each panel





Rinsed panels after each section was washed





Dried the car using the MF towel that came in the Meguiar's Clay Kit



The clay in the kit was a very small amount. Not bad for the DIYer...the detail spray didn't provide the gliding and cleaning I'm use to. I don't care for this form of lube..the wax in the spray reduces the cutting ability of the clay. This clay was very mild...good for the consumer market

 

This is my technique to evenly distribute the product on the pad



Here's how the Meguiar's Tire Foam goes on



This wasn't a spray and walk away type of product





I wiped the tires with a microfiber towel to even it out

 

Detail Complete....All-in-All it took a little less than 3 hours







The polish/wax combo didn't do much to remove the swirls, but then again, that's not what it was intended to do. For an all-in-one consumer product, it did bring the gloss and some clarity back in the paint. It's a lot glossier than I'm use to. The finish lacked the depth I'm use to seeing with the Swissvax waxes, but there was a noticeable improvement in the appearance of the finish. Once again, good enough for the average Joe



I did not get a chance to do the interior....didn't want to make it a day of working. The following day it stormed all day and I didn't get a chance to do the interior. I'll go ahead and get the products here and try them and report back.

 

So in recap, can someone do a good job detailing their car with a small budget...yes. Are the results worth the effort...yes. Is the technique and process more important than the products used...yes. Will these results last for months...time will tell. It did rain the following day and the beading on the car looked good but the tire dressing washed off leaving the orange/black tire look. Are the products safe for you and the environment...yes and no. Products like the wheel cleaner and tire dressing were very strong smelling and almost gave me a headache. The results were OK, I could definitely tell a difference from the P21S wheel cleaner I'm use to working with and the Swissvax Pneu or einszett Vinyl rubber care I use. Are these products a good value...IMHO, no. You end up using a lot of products to get the job done. There is a reason why a bottle of Swissvax Car Bath costs $60...you can get many many washes out of a small amount. The gentle ingredients in the soap also prolong the wax life, translating to using less wax applications and less frequent claying, polishing, and waxing.

I'd say, this would be a good process to get your feet wet, get accustomed to the PROCESS, then graduate to better quality pro-sumer products. But at the end of the day, this was a great experience, products were not as bad as I thought, and the end result looked good-enough for the average Joe. I had a lot of fun and I hope you enjoyed this write-up.

 

Moe, great write up! Nice job!

 

Thanks...I figured it would be refreshing to write a thread about the technique and proper process. This way, you focus on the core aspects of detailing which are irrelevant to product or car.

 

Sweet. I can come out of the closet! Last weekend I detailed my car with Meguire's products. Been using them for years on my M3 and my 3000 GT VR4 before that. Already had them, didn't want to wait to do my first wax since buying my new toy, so...

I started with cleaning off the old wax by using Dawn dishwashing soap ($3). Yes, this works GREAT. After the rinse and a quick dry, I clay bar with the Mother's clay kit ($18). 2nd wash is with Meguire's NXT Tech Wash (1 gallon: $15). I've tried the Gold Class wash but it leaves a "soapy" feel to me-guess its the paint "conditioners." I do wheels first and clean deep with microfiber wheel brush (~$5). I then change washbucket out with new soap and then do roof down. After drying with microfiber towels (Bought at Target for $7 each), I pull into garage and dry wheel surfaces. Then, I blow wheels fully dry with compressed air (especially in the the lug bolts) and finish with microfiber. Then, I whip out the Maguire's #7 Showcar Glaze (~$14). Glaze and buff panel by panel. Next, I use Meguire's NXT Tech Wax 2.0 (not the liquid one- ~$15). Waxa on... Waxa off... (get it? Karate Kid reference .) Next, I do the wheels with NXT Insane Tire Shine (~$7). Windows get done with Stoner's Invisible Glass (~$6). Finish off with a carpet vacuum and dash wipedown with warm, moist rag. Viola! That's less than $90 worth of stuff that'll do 6-7 full details.

With that said, I am CERTAIN many of Moe's products are better. I am very curious about the Swiss Vax products-especially the wash, wheel wax, and a body wax. I'll even offer up right off the bat that the NXT wax has a short life, but it makes the car look GOOD!

So, Moe, I've got 4 months before I do this again. Please give me a "prescription" for what you would use for an Atlas Grey 997 with Champion RG5 wheels (I used Wheel Wax a few weeks ago with decent results) and costs.

 

I also do this when I'm on vacation visiting my parents in New Orleans. I made a trip to Wal Mart, and bought pretty much the same stuff you had. It sure looks great to them, but to me, I could spend another 10 hours on their car, need a rotary buffer, an air compressor and a pressure washer. After detailing professionally for many many years, it sure makes you feel useless without all the proper tools. In the end, they have a coupe of somewhat shiny cars with smooth paint, and greasy tires. I guess that's better than when I started.


John

 

Great article. For those of us only with a Wal-Mart in arms reach it brings the world of detailing for the average into the picture. Excellent job and thanks for the wonderful pictures!

Moe - My post count is too low to initiate PM but I'd have questions for you about potential products to acquire from you! I'd love to hear from you.

 

His website is www.glisteningperfection.com you can buy there.


John

 

feel free to email me

moe@glisteningperfection.com

 

It felt weird using these products and not getting the results I'm use to. But, I kept telling myself, a good detailer makes use of what he/she has to achieve results he/she is use to. Take the tires for instance. The initial look was blotchy, shiny, and uneven. I couldn't leave it looking that way. So a little wiping and evening out with a microfiber got me the look I'm use to. It tests your skills as a detailer.

 

Great idea for a "Joe Public" instructional, which we all know will graduate from there for 70% of anyone trying it.


Cheers Moe