Car Detail Equipmemt

[Anonymous]

I had a kid with a new car detail business come clean my car over the weekend for $120. He did a pretty good job but I’m not going to be doing this often. I try to do it myself (vacuum at gas station, run rubber mats thru dishwasher, use rags for the rest of the interior) but my best doesn’t come close to this. Does anyone detail their own car and have special equipment beyond rags/vaccum?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had a kid with a new car detail business come clean my car over the weekend for $120. He did a pretty good job but I’m not going to be doing this often. I try to do it myself (vacuum at gas station, run rubber mats thru dishwasher, use rags for the rest of the interior) but my best doesn’t come close to this. Does anyone detail their own car and have special equipment beyond rags/vaccum?

Are you talking about outside or inside?

[Anonymous]

for outside, it is is pretty essential to have an orbital buffer

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:for outside, it is is pretty essential to have an orbital buffer

No, absolutely not. I would leave orbital buffers and buffing in general to the individuals who do it on a professional basis. There is a limited number of paint correction cycles that a car's paint can take due to clear coat thickness, paint hardness, and the amount of correction needed.

In general, an orbital buffer is a last-resort step to remove swirl marks and scratches that cannot be addressed in other ways. The compound, pad, speed, and pressure used need to be adjusted to match the exact thing you are trying to fix and this can only come from experience.

Most exterior detailing involves a thorough wash, including all the crevices, drying the car thoroughly to avoid water spots, and then a high-quality coat of wax. If you want to skip the wax, look into ceramic coating - there are DIY ones from brands like Opti-Coat. These are semi-permanent coating that can be viewed as a wax that lasts 3-5 years. All you need to do then is wash and dry the car thoroughly.

For a good wash and dry, invest in a cloud foam solution, cloud foam gun, an inexpensive electric pressure washer, and a collection of good fluffy microfiber towels.

[Anonymous]

Check out https://www.reddit.com/r/autodetailing

[Anonymous]

I just did a 30 minute “mini detail” this weekend at a gas station.

Paid $12 to do the drive thru wash & dry
Used a few soft towels to dry the car, paper towels to remove crusted dirt
Exterior Windows: apply Rain-X spray
Interior: vacuum, armor-all for dashboard and plastics, leather seat conditioner, windex for interior window cleaning

Finished interior clean with “detailing gel” - this stuff is amazing for removing dust and only $6:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YTKXHKG?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

When I got home, I hosed off and took a scrub brush to my rubber floor mats, used Fantastic spray. Let them dry out in the sun.

I also would hesitate to pay more than $120 more than once per year. But that’s a pretty solid deal for a through deep cleaning. How long did he spend on your car? 90 minutes?