what do you guys use..

[MasterOfAllBass 10+ year member]

dish washing soap...a bucket....some old socks and a water hose...

i have a hose for ya //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif

 

[alexregalgs 10+ year member]

I work at my local wash and when we do the 199.99 we shampoo carpet/seats, wax, engine clean/dress, Armor-all interior, exterior plastics, and tires/fender-wells...

A good shampoo should get that interior almost stock and along with the other perks in the detail it will be nice seeing your car perfectly clean in and out again

Since i i often helped with these because i was the only one knowledgeable employee besisdes the managers that worked there. i had countless customers that were completely pleased...

 

[csu87 10+ year member]

i just use the home carpet cleaner with upholstry tool my shop has. works great and is free

 

[sparkplug121988 10+ year member]

This is what I use and its awsome stuff!

http://www.carbrite.com/

 

[adio25 10+ year member]

dish washing soap...a bucket....some old socks and a water hose...

Horrible idea

 

[BeAlLsTaR13 10+ year member]

I work at my local wash and when we do the 199.99 we shampoo carpet/seats, wax, engine clean/dress, Armor-all interior, exterior plastics, and tires/fender-wells...
A good shampoo should get that interior almost stock and along with the other perks in the detail it will be nice seeing your car perfectly clean in and out again

Since i i often helped with these because i was the only one knowledgeable employee besisdes the managers that worked there. i had countless customers that were completely pleased...

what kind shampoo though?

 

[sparkplug121988 10+ year member]

Depends on what your gonna wash tho. If it already has bad paint I wouldent worry about it but if it has good paint then its not a really good idea.

 

[sparkplug121988 10+ year member]

I work at my local wash and when we do the 199.99 we shampoo carpet/seats, wax, engine clean/dress, Armor-all interior, exterior plastics, and tires/fender-wells...
A good shampoo should get that interior almost stock and along with the other perks in the detail it will be nice seeing your car perfectly clean in and out again

Since i i often helped with these because i was the only one knowledgeable employee besisdes the managers that worked there. i had countless customers that were completely pleased...

I do everything listed besides the shampoo for $80.00 with car brite.

 

[blackfish]

I call on people to help me to maintain my car //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[tRiGgEr 5,000+ posts]

I haven't washed my car in 3 months

 

[jco1385 5,000+ posts]

I haven't washed my car in 3 months

i havent washed mine in well over a year. maybe 2

 

[blackfish]

you are all strong. don't wash car over 1 month

 

[eharri3 10+ year member]

what do you guys use to detail your vehicles, both interior and exterior? im looking to clean my car up a little, mainly the interior carpeting... has a lot of calcium deposits in the front from the winter salt that i never though about cleaning up, along with mud stains, not looking to make it look BRAND NEW like when you buy a car, just to clean it up a little, while saving money.. this local place (delta sonic) is like.. 100+ for full detail, 199.99 for full interior and exterior.. tryna save some change.

Interesting. You want to clean it up a little but not too much? Maybe get some dirt off but leave the rest? Kinda like when people ask for system advice saying they want OK sound but not too good?

I'm stictly a handwash guy. My 04 Dakota might have seen 2-3 automated carwashes in 5 years. When I traded it the dealer commented on how good the paint looked. I find when people let their paint go to crap they're generally less happy with their vehicles over time.

Car wash fluid: Pretty much any decent name brand in the auto parts store will do.

Wax: Maguiar's or Mothers.

Couple wash mits to scrub so you can switch off as you transition from the top of the car to the bottum of the car and ensure you're not scratching up your paint with a dirty mit or re-applying dirt in other places as you go. Several microfiber towels for drying. If you don't want to add swirl marks and scratches to your paint don't bother with anything else except maybe a leaf blower for drying.

Tire dressing and some good wheel cleaner for whatever type of wheels you have on there.

Turtle Wax bug and tar remover

No more than 30-35 bucks.

On a not-so sunny day or in a shady area hose it down and make sure to hit the undercarriage good. Clean wheels and tires first. Then mix car wash with water and scrub the paint starting from top to bottum.

Get it dry with the microfiber towels. DON'T let it air dry.

Apply bug and tar remover as directed to areas where needed. Most likely front bumpers and hood, anywhere where there's bug guts, tar, or other debris burned into the paint that won't easily come out with normal scrubbing.

Apply and remove wax.

Consider looking into one of the 3-step process kits they have in autoparts stores as it sounds like a clay bar might do you some good. Most of the stuff comes pre-packaged, isn't that expensive, and can work better when the paint needs more TLC. You might need to devote half a day to do it right.

Keep it waxed at least every few months. I find when I do this stuff that normally bonds with the paint is easier to remove if there's a good layer of wax on the truck.

I can get a detail including buffing, polishing, waxing for 100 bucks in my area. I find two times per year combined with a wash and wax every month or 2 is all I need.

During the road salt months, take 5 minutes at a DIY carwash and hose that sucker down when the snow lets up and the temps go above freezing. I tend to find when that stuff sits on your paint it turns into this 'gunk' and gets harder to remove when you finally get around to a good wash. Meanwhile it is slowly eating away at whatever unprotected sheetmetal it comes in contact with. This is why PA sucks: there could be a dusting forecasted and they will spray a thicker layer of that disgusting salt on the roads than the amount of snow forecasted.

 

[SSS 18734 5,000+ posts]

1) Don't use any armor-all or turtle wax products. Easily some of the worst and most difficult stuff to work with on the market. All of it is practically worthless. For easily accessible products, use Meguiars.

2) If you really want to take care of the interior carpets, carpet shampoo isn't going to really take care of strong calcium deposits and mud stains. Get the carpets extracted. Either rent a machine yourself and do all your cars for $40, or have a shop do your car for $60+

3) If you really want actual advice on detailing, PM me with specific questions. There is almost no good, solid advice in this thread.

 

[Andrizzle 10+ year member]

dishwash soap + water and socks is probably the worst you could do besides washing with like acetone and sandpaper as a sponge.

Anyways people use dishsoap to strip wax, that shows you how bad it is lol.

Int.

1st: I vacuum with regular vacuum using the hose and attachments.

2nd: Armour-All leather wipes (black leather)

3rd: Light spray of windex + microfiber on windows

That is pretty much all I have to do with my interior because I have no stains on my black interior.

Ext.

I have a black car and this is what I do:

1st: Wash with Meguiar's Gold Class Shampoo/Conditioner (autozone) *applying with microfiber hand-mit also (autozone)

2nd: Don't dry with microfibers, its a waste if your claying next (i usually don't dry at all if i'm about to clay)

3rd: Clay with BlueMagic ClayBar (autozone)

4th: Rewash with the Gold Class

5th: Now dry with the microfibers

6th: I go ahead and apply wax now, Meguiar's NXT 2.0 Paste. (autozone)

7th: Begin removing wax starting where you started the applying

I apply my wax by hand because I cannot afford a buffer, that is also why I cannot polish my car, no $$$ for a bufferer.

This is usually an entire afternoon I set aside do these things.

I wash about once a week and wax about every 3rd wash. I park outside and the wax wears off pretty quick when it is exposed to the elements all the time. Also pending on how hard/much rain you get during a wax's lifespan you may need to reapply it sooner.

Leaving your car exposed without a wax is terrible for your finish FYI. If you do these things every few weeks your car will look great!

Also of course it looks the best the day you do it - I try and do it earlier in the day on Friday and then when I go out later that day it looks awesome. I get alot of compliments. I can't wait till I can get a buffer and add a polishing step.