Hi guys,

I am about to tint my headlights with dark matte black & wanted to get an opinion if i should just let the headlight be as it is, After all the visibility is going to be a little dark anyways. Or do you suggest to restore the headlight fully and then tint ?

Thanking in advance.

Cheers

Hi Ya'll

So to the question at hand,

until now I was just using a pretty conventional, pre-soak, rinse and then the two bucket method and rinse with a pressure washer, then move the car inside my tiny garage for the interior and drying and waxing/sealant on the car. Now with freezing temperatures I can't do that.

The cars here are absolutely battered during winter. Heavy grime, tar and salt. How would you go about it? I can't use the pressure washer inside, I'm leasing with others and can't have soap, dirt and water going on their projects which would happen if I use the pressure washer inside

I am thinking about doing it this way.

1 Pre-soak with a pump sprayer

2 rinse carefully with a hose

3 use 2-3 buckets and a LOT of wash mitts, changing every 1-2 panels.

do you think this is a viable option?

I know about rinseless/waterless options but I really think cars are going to be too dirty for it to be considered a safe option,

I know that automated car washes are questionable. The manager of the new car wash business says:

<<<<<All our washes use soap that is non-abrasive and our brushes are made of neoglide material that is safe for vehicles.>>>>>

Is this more BS to justify their business model or would be fairly safe? I have a new car that is white. The dealer put a ceramic coating on the car (which I didn't have to pay for at least as a line item on the bill of sale). Would the automatic wash damage that coating? The ceramic coating is branded as "Diamond Ceramic" and is good for 3 years protection.

I need a wash and finding someone to come to my house is difficult. I'm not in the condition to do it myself.

I saw a post but didnt book mark it where someone just had water pouring out of a hose with standard house pressure, no nozzle, and it sheet water on a panel, and it left almost no water on the panel, making almost no water to towel/blow away. Lubricity aside, whats the method called? Link to r/ post appreciated or TME. thanks in advance

Had some bird poop ok hood of car for a few hours, washed it off, but now I have the stain / ghosting In my clear coat. I washed car, used Zaino Z5, soaked it with seltzer and baking soda mixture. It’s definitely improved, although it is still visible. I heard heating it with a hair dryer improves it, but haven’t tried it yet.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

I've been using big store spot cleaners to clean carpets when I do a shampoo carpets. They get the job done but aren't the best. I want to upgrade but also don't want to drop $700 on a professional carpet steamer. I'm wondering if theres an upgrade reliable (and repairable) pick that won't break the bank

Hi guys. I need help with this to prevent becoming more sticky. What can I use to make it less sticky and back to normal. My car is Hyundai 2017 i30 SR premium Thanks Thanks

So I did a rinseless wash, clay towel with some lube, one step hand polishing. Here in the northeast it’s getting to about freezing temps overnight and the bead maker sealant will is just not going to applicable in that temperature (I tried a small area and froze as it contacted the paint). I blew on it so it would get up to temp enough to get off but I don’t think I have enough capacity to blow on the entirety of my car to do this in one go.

Is it okay to leave my car as she is overnight (some frost will occur) in my parking lot and then come back tomorrow when the sun has had enough time to warm up and apply the bead maker? Or come back another day and do another rinseless and then apply bead maker?

I live in a condo and I don’t have access to a DIY car wash. The condo only has a paid car wash. There is no water hose where I park. I’ve heard of people using the two bucket method for washing their car but so far I plan on just doing smaller more frequent spot cleaning sessions. What kind of cleaning spray can I use on my car that won’t strip it of the turtlewax graphene spray that I applied?

I assume that something like 70% ethanol would strip the coating? I’ve been using Turtlewax Glass and Dash Interior spray on the exterior body of the car to clean off dirt with a microfibre towel and it works very well. I’m just worried the spray is striping off the graphene coating.

What are your guys’ recommendation?

I have applied turtle wax spray coating to my car can i use S0.03 over it between time and time to reduce dust collection

I live in the Middle East and I'm getting a new Corolla. I can't decide between two color options: regular white or metallic silver. I'm looking for the color that will maintain its original appearance and shine for as long as possible (not referring to cleanliness, as I plan to wash it every 1-2 weeks). Since I don't have a garage, the car will be parked under the open sky for most of its life.

Please help me choose. Thanks!

Bought a ‘23 Luxury trim gx460 (white) bought a month ago with 12k miles on it.

Complicating factor: prior owner put a ceramic coating on the vehicle about six months prior to sale. Looks nice but assume it impacts the items below:

1. there are some small paint chips on bumper
2. there is a "full time 4wd" sticker on the back that I loathe
3. factory tint

I'd like to:

• fix paint chips
• apply PPF to front bumper/ hood /side mirrors
• get tint added to windows - front sides and darken back ones
• remove that damn decal
• potentially ceramic coat again afterwards

What's the right order of operations here? I assume the current ceramic coating could pose an issue for paint correction, PPF, and tint?

Do I need to have that all removed somehow? Am I SOL?

I've got white specs all over my car, won't come off with onr or regular wash. In a test area, I found they come off when brushed vigorously. Catches the fingernail.

Over spray from another source?

Hi!

i was wondering if there are any drawbacks to attaching a product bottle directly to foam canon and skip the detergent bottle that comes with the foam canon? Like this dude in the video (video is in Swedish but it shows what I mean 🙂) https://youtu.be/uPohodMWzew?t=373&si=b9L-aoIjUH9IcQeg Will this add water to the product bottle or?

What is the best spray bottle you guys have found that doesn’t leak or drip down after spraying from the nozzle?

Hi All!

Looking for a good product or technique for light scratch blending that's not sandpaper. I have some scratches that are smooth, but Meguir's compound isn't enough. Thanks!

Hi guys, new to car detail but have been researching a lot on the subject .

I tried pre washing with foam cannon + 2 bucket on my ceramic coated car. However, from what is my understanding, I shouldnt be using alkaline shampoos regularly(cos of the ceramic coating) and the ph neutral ones aren't really effective for pre washing, many people even say the foam cannon is mostly for show off and quite inefficient as a pre wash method.

So I thought about using something like ONR for getting most of the debris out before contact wash, which seems to make a lot of sense .

Now, the way I was thinking about doing this was to spray with ONR and after letting it act for a few mins rinse with pressure washer and finally apply the ph neutral shampoo with foam cannon before proceeding wkth contact wash .

Or alternatively to pressure wash as first step before spraying ONR and rinsing with pressure washer again before foam.

Curious what's everyone's thoughts about this mo?

Asking in this sub-reddit as I'm not sure where else to turn, and figured some of y'all might have come across this (and it is auto related).

I recently purchased a low-mileage dealer-owned car, which had been used for test-drives and occasionally as a loaner. The key fobs are quite nice- metallic buttons, and a nice quality black rubberized outer shell. However, both key fobs had a sticker on the back (which said "please remove"), which when removed left a very hard (though dry and not sticky) adhesive residue. It almost has the hardness of something like CA glue (but it was on the back of a sticker, so I don't think it was actually CA. I've tried both soapy water, and also isopropyl alcohol, which have done absolutely nothing. Any thoughts on what to try next? I know I need to be careful not to damage the rubber (and these darn key fobs are stupidly expensive to replace).

https://preview.redd.it/23j2ubdk8a4e1.jpg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=205e286971a6120a1d24a3fcb21932e2eca63189

Also what would be the best/safest way to attach them? Some kind of tape?

I hope this question fits here, thanks in advance.

Call me stupid—I know, I deserve it.

Last weekend, there was a dinner party at a friend’s place, and I offered to help him bring the catering food to his house. He suggested I take my car instead, as my trunk was empty.

Without much thought, I agreed. The unthinkable happened while loading the catering trays into the trunk of my Tesla Model 3, which is less than two months old.

At first, it didn’t seem like much curry, oil, or gravy had spilled. But I immediately started rubbing the area with wet tissues to clean up as much as possible. When I got back to my friend’s place, I noticed even more oil had spilled, despite driving carefully. I had another round of scrubbing with wet tissues.

It’s been almost a week since then. I’ve scrubbed the trunk carpet with detergent and a scrubber three times, but the horrible smell is still there.

What should I do? Serious suggestions only, please!

I posted a few weeks ago about getting a ceramic coat done. Well I got a two year ceramic done a few weeks ago… I then applied Adam’s graphene ceramic “the spray” but applied it like a true ceramic… I am a true beginner and was super worried about being able to pull it off… but the ceramic cleat is really forgiving and even allowed a rookie like me to do it. Only had two high spots, which polish removed and new application worked great.

Anyway, it’s been two weeks and I am using the Adam’s graphene quick detailer for touch ups.

Is there any thing else I should be doing? Or any product you would recommend? I spent hundreds getting into detailing out of curiosity and find it very therapeutic. Now I only try products this community recommends.

The gloss really pops, and as others have stated, makes cleaning much easier but does not replace washing at all. Most feel ceramic will protect their car, I view the ease of cleaning a perk, but the gloss and rich color really stand out. I have gotten asked a few times what I do to keep it so clean.

Thank you all!

I am looking to buy a random orbital or a dual action polisher as a Christmas present for my partner who really loves spending time on his car.

There’s a lot of choice out there and I’m not really sure what to go for. Although my partner is very knowledgeable when it comes to detailing, he hasn’t had the chance to use a polisher before so I’m looking for something that would be beginner friendly but would also offer a good quality job.

I’m seen a lot of different products out there and not really sure what the prons and cons are. The products I’ve thought about so far are:

1. Dewalt DWP849X-GB
2. Meguiars MT320 Dual Action Polisher
3. Chemical Guys - TORQ10FX Polishing Machine

I’d love to hear what your thoughts are on any of the above products or if you have any other recommendations. Please bear in mind that we’re based in the UK so it’d be helpful if there are any recommendations that are more easily accessible here. The budget is also up to £300, I think that is okay for a reliable tool?

Thank you for your help in advance!

Just got a car and I want to protect the paint before the snow/salt is here. I was planning to do a coat of Griot 3 in 1 today and another one tomorrow but the highest will be 36 and I don't expect the temp to go up again soon. Do I do it anyway even if the results are not the best or don't and wait until a warm day? If I go for it, what's the worse that can happen? I'm totally new at this so any input is appreciated. Thank you!