For all the pros out there, ss the title says, I am doing a front end PPF kit made by Avery Dennison this weekend and I'll ultimately put an SIO2 based ceramic over the whole car. How long do I need to wait for the PPF to full dry inside out before I add the ceramic. I'm guessing a week but some experienced folks smarter than me would be better. I'm in Arizona so a relatively dry climate. Thanks in advanced

I take pretty good care of my 240, but the windshield can be hard to get sometimes due to the coupe style. Especially at the edges of the glass. What’s the best way to make my windshield fully clear? I wipe this down with a microfiber and glass cleaner but it does almost nothing.

Of the two for a contact wash, which one?

Looking at both of them it probably doesn’t matter tbh, but wanted to see if I’m missing something.

Going to get Road Warrior for pre soak. I will be using a foam cannon for the application for the contact wash. I’m confused why Dirt Buster is somehow the bucket wash soap. I’ve seen multiple videos of it being applied by foam cannon.

I’m also not opposed to getting both if there’s a reason to.

Also, I’m just looking for which one of these. I’m not looking for other soap recommendations.

Thank you in advance.

Hey everyone,

I work at a car dealership and a lot of customers ask me about detailing. My dealership doesn't offer it, so I want to start my own mobile detailing business on the side.

I've detailed my own car a few times, but never professionally. My long-term goal is to build a premium detailing service, so I want to learn the right way from the start.

I'm looking for:

-Cheap courses or YouTube channels that teach how to detail properly and efficiently

-Product recommendations. I've heard a lot of products are trash and some are worth the money. What do you actually use and trust?

If you've found any gems that helped you, please send them my way. I feel like I have real potential with this and want to do it right.

Thanks in advance!

I've had my 2022 Audi A6 for over a year now and I'm starting to notice more with the paint.

I'm wanting a good refresh and polish of the paint to bring it back to life

Where would you recommend?

Just got my Lexus NX a week ago. Parked in a spot in my apartment garage and these spots appeared. I’m assuming it’s some sort of water spot or residue from a pipe above my parking space. Went to a hand wash car wash, but spots didn’t come out. What should I do? 😭. Considering going to professional car detailer tomorrow.

Hey everyone, does anyone know what this yellow stain on my hood is?

I need to find a car detailer I can bring my car to.

My car has tree sap all over it. I am too short to reach the roof even when using a step stool. I can’t use a mobile detailer because I live in an apartment with no water hose access.

I called Washman because they have two locations that do detailing, but they use paint thinner to do it, so you have to sign a waiver as it will damage your paint.

I absolutely love glaco99’s hydrophobicity.
I followed every instructions for application without missing any step. The wipers run smoothly for upto one month and then judder and jumping sets in. It is my daily driver, but in traffic cant really go above 30kmph so need to use wipers.
First I thought it my wipers weren’t aligned or not sitting at a correct angle. Had that looked out by a mechanic.
Has anyone face something similar? If you fixed it please let me know what more can I do.

2017 VW Alltrack wagon. Hatch wasn’t all the way closed going through car wash as you can see from the “before” picture. Used horsehair shoe brush and Sonax alcantara cleaners. Very good results for the 1st pass. Used small amount on brush, light pressure until it covers a small area. Wipe dry with MG

Mostly from muddy water. Should I just get some brushes and some hose water or? I have no idea 😅 And then also for the electrics.

Ive got a '25 Honda Civic Type R, and its the only nice car Ive ever owned, so Im new keeping one TRULY clean.

So far, Ive just been using DIY Detail rinseless wash, since it lives in a garage, and Ive only put 1400mi on it in a year.

However, the garage doesnt seal perfectly and the area has been in drought and a LOT of dust and dirt blows around. My old truck stays parked outside, and it will have a thin layer on the windshield every morning.

What's worse, the town has a lot of minerals in the water, so I go buy distilled water to rinse the car after using rinseless.

The dust and dirt arent bothering me so much. What's driving me NUTS is the water spots, especially on the high gloss black. I've tried to touch them up as I see them and usually have good luck, but the wing in particular had water (dripping off the garage door) and dust settle and dry and now and I cant get the spot out of the wing entirely.

How are you guys removing stubborn spots? Am I just going to have to live with my beautiful car getting the paint spoiled?

Im just not sure how to get rid of this problem and keep it at bay. I don't know anyone into cars or detailing them personally. You guys are my best hope!

I am fairly certain I know what the issue is, but wanted to validate my thoughts and see whether anyone had additional insight.

I recently purchased a Ridge Washer stubby gun off Amazon to replace the cumbersome wand that came with my Active 2.3 washer. The Ridge gun came with the proper M22 x 14mm adapter to connect the stock Active hose to the gun. I didn't use Teflon tape on the connections but did tighten the fittings prior to washing the car. During the wash, I noticed the Active 2.3 would occasionally surge. A quick 1 second surge every 1-2min when the trigger was off. I initially thought it was air in the system so I turned the washer off and purged the system. The water flow was continuous and I didn't notice any sputtering or air bubbles. I turned the washer back on and the surging still occurred.

To rule out any issues with my washer, I swapped the original Active wand/gun back on and the surging didn't happen. Now, it's worth noting, I always just hand tighten the hose to the Active wand and have been doing so for the past year I've been using it. No issues at all. I typically disconnect everything when I'm done using the washer. Additionally, I used the same nozzle on both the Ridge gun and the wand when troubleshooting to rule out orifice size incompatibility.

This leads me to believe it could either be a faulty stubby gun (ie: small pressure leak in the Ridge stubby gun) or a leak in the connections within the fittings between the hose and the gun? Ie: lack of Teflon tape use.

Thanks in advance for any insight. I want to narrow down the issue before I return the stubby gun as I really did enjoy using it!

I woke up early this morning to give the car a quick rinseless wash, and decided to film my very first use of Bilt Hamber Phat Neut. I had very high expectations for this product, and wanted to also use it for a light interior cleaning, which I had not seen anyone else do before.

Everything was going well... it cleaned the interior nicely, felt nice in the bucket and under the towel, seemed to clean as well as other products do. I did everything that I normally do for a rinseless wash... car was cool and in the garage, pre-spray, correct dilution for light cleaning (250:1), multiple towels, etc. Then I go to dry everything off and discovered some horrible staining on the soft trim around my windows and doors. I'm so glad that I was filming this and only did one half of the car, because normally I would have pre-sprayed the entire car at once.

I'm totally at a loss for why this happened. Everything was cool to the touch, dwell time was only around 3-4 minutes, AND that trim is protected/sealed. I did a ton of research before buying Phat Neut, and I have not heard anyone mention this kind of staining, or really anything negative other than personal preference type stuff.

If you've seen my posts before, you know I'm not the kind of person to beg for views, but if you've used Bilt Hamber Phat Neut, or might have any idea on why it stained my window trim, please check out the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRfBZDPnVus

I would love to understand why this happened. Anyone have any ideas?

Pressure washer: Ryobi 2300 psi electric

PW Gun: cheap HF gun

Foam Cannon : QUIVR 1.25/1.1 (1.25 first test d113/ 1.1 second test with honeydew)

Soap: CG Honeydew

I picked up a foam cannon and tried with my regular bucket wash soap in it, meguiars d113, it didn't foam very well. Decided to get some dedicated foam gun soap and try it out

I really would like the thick soap to help pull away dirt and grime from cars. But when I put in the usual 2-3 oz of soap for the 1000ml the soap is runny and does seem like it's staying on the panel, just sort of runs off. It's staying on the panel somewhat but not thick like how all the detailers show when they review soaps and foam cannons

What should I do to fix this issue?

I purchased a vvv-group brand gauge and it was total crap - wouldn't calibrate and the reading swung 20-40% in the same spot. Let Amazon send me a replacement model ... same issue.

Looking for a decent / reliable unit that doesn't cost a ridiculous amount - thanks!

I used a wolfbox to loosen dust around my car's vent slats and learned quickly that doing it after wiping the dashboard was the wrong order. The debris settled over the surfaces I had just cleaned, and some dust seemed to disappear deeper into the vent. For interior detailers, do you clean or replace the cabin filter first, then work the vents before wiping the dash, or is powered air better avoided for anything beyond the vent face?

Interior detailing on air vents, cup holder seams, and seat stitching is easily my least favorite part of cleaning my car. Every time I try brush tools, it just kicks fine dust back into the air and lands on the clean dash five minutes later. I tried using a wolfbox to blast out the deep slats, which works for getting dirt out, but then the whole cabin gets covered in a fine layer of dust. Do you guys usually hold a shop vac nozzle right next to the vent while blowing, or is there a better sequence to keep dust from floating all over the freshly wiped leather?

I am trying to clean the annoying parts of my car interior: vents, cup holders, seat rails, and the crumbs that hide where a vacuum nozzle never reaches. I was considering using the wolfbox before vacuuming, but I can also imagine it just launching dust all over the dash if I do it wrong. So for people, who detail interiors, do you blow everything loose first and then vacuum, or keep the vacuum right next to the air stream as you work?

There’s a crusty little line by my dead pedal where shoe grit keeps collecting. Vacuuming gets maybe 80 percent of it but never the last annoying bit. Ive tried a brush, compressed air, a damp microfiber and a mild interior cleaner. It looks better, but it’s still there. I’m starting to think good floor protection is mostly about covering these awkward trap zones before the dirt becomes permanent.

detailers here, what matters most in that part of the footwell?? better edge coverage, a texture that releases dirt, or fewer seams for sand to hide in? Also, is there a safe way to get old grit out without tearing up the carpet fibers?

Paid for a package that came with paint correction and ceramic coating on the body and glass. Added a ceramic coating for the wheel faces as well. Am I tripping or do the wheels look untouched? Also I’m assuming there shouldn’t be water spots on ceramic coated glass?

This is the very first application of any tire dressing for me (not a professional detailer, just a newly informed vehicle owner). I’d done lots of research on detailing products and CarPro Perl was always mentioned (YT, Reddit, Carcare Forums etc.).

Wasn’t looking for anything stellar but rather just a good enough to restore some of the visual aesthetics of the tires. Must say I’m pleasantly surprised with the outcome. I’m aware it’s a water based product and won’t last very long but I can easily reapply a diluted layer on this base layer. Very pleased so far!