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In Russia, it's illegal to drive a dirty car. Maybe we need a law like this? What Americans Are Surprised by in Russia - Page 12 of 24 - Destination Tips

I bought a bottle of Collinite 845, opened the bottle, then put it away. A few months later, I was going to use the wax on my car, only to find the cap didn't seal the bottle very well. Now it's a virtually solid $18 bottle of wax I can't use. Can it be revived? BTW -- I have purchased...

I used Meguiar's Quick Detailer that came with their clay-bar kit. The first thing that hit me between my eyes was the odor which gave me a mind s-p-l-i-t-t-i-n-g headache. Has anyone else experienced this effect with MQD or any other product?

Are there any microfiber kits for the Cyclo? I don't want to spend another $200-$400 for a machine just to use MF pads -- it's not in my budget. Would it make sense to cut the Meguiar's 5" MF pad down to 4"? I realize it'd be a hack but Meguiar's doesn't make a 4" MF pad. Thanks.

Do you wash new microfiber towels before using? I bought some towels online (not AG -- sorry) and they had "something" on them that caused streaking (not the naked human kind). They also left behind thousands of pieces of lint. An online review recommended washing the towels at least twice...

I'm 55 and have been detailing part time for the past 4 years or so. Today I washed, dried, compounded, polished and waxed my 2001 Grand Prix. Took me 4 hours and turned out really nice, but I'm feeling my age. How old is too old to detail cars? I'd like to make a few bucks detailing, but what...

Has anyone tried using Capture Carpet and Rug dry cleaner? It sounds like an interesting alternative to using an extractor.

Has anyone used the Hotty-Vac hot-water extractor from Steamericas? Looks like a nice, compact unit, good for mobile applications. The Hotty-Vac Hot Water Extractor Exclusively from Steamericas

I have a friend who has a black 2004 Acura TL-S with a nasty scratch on the driver's door that has started to rust. I was wondering what method should be used to remove the rust before filling and applying touch-up paint. I thought after a thorough cleaning to apply Iron-X or a rust inhibitor to...

I was watching this video on YouTube from SEMA 2012 featuring Chip Foose as 3M's guest presenter. He demonstrating their new masking tape and TRIZACT sanding disks. When it came time to compound and polish, a person in the audience asked Chip how he cleaned the buffing pads. His answer was...

I have a Wagner 905 steamer which works OK for most of my detailing gigs. I'd like to get something along the lines of a VX5000 or Pro6 Duo. Recently I've seen used VX5000's on eBay going for about $500 or so. A new VX5000 goes for $800, a Pro6 Duo is $900. I don't detail full time -- yet --...

While visiting a friend in Denver Colorado, I had the opportunity to visit the Cyclo factory a few miles north in Longmont. The factory is situated in a typical, innocuous commercial building. I didn't know what to expect, so I simply walked in and introduced myself as a detailer who owns a...

Is this the end of the Little Green Machine from Bissell? Rug Doctor is now selling a portable spot cleaner designed to compete directly with Bissell's spot cleaners for $170. The Rug Doctor Portable Spot Cleaner sports a powered scrubbing brush and "2X the suction of its competitors". Really...

Earlier I posted a story about my experience detailing 75 cars at the annual Labor Day auto auction in Auburn IN. One thing this old dog learned was don't wear polarized sunglasses when cleaning the windows. The detailer I was working with kept pointing out smudges on the windows I couldn't...

I've been detailing part-time for the past two years and I've been praying/asking for more detail work so I can quit my "real job". A month ago, I posted an ad on craigslist hawking my detailing business. Less than a week later I received a call from a gentleman in FL asking me to detail "a few...

While I was washing a 2011 Cadillac SRX the other day, the customer asked if I could do anything about the headlights on his wife's car, a 2005 SAAB. The lenses were so cloudy and pitted, I couldn't see the light bulb in the fixture. I used Meguiar's 3" sanding papers, starting with 500 grit...

On The Weather Channel there was a news segment about cars that were flooded during hurricane Sandy being resold as "good used cars". They wanted to test this by taking a flooded 2009 Toyota Camery to Perfect Auto Detaining in VA to see if people could tell the the car was flooded but restored...

To think in only 50 years we went from this 1924 Ford Model-T: to this 1974 Lamborghini Countach:

I would like to know how many of you are focusing on headlight restoration as a primary source of business? It seems to me that any car that's on the road, whether it's a $500 car or $75,000+ car, needs clear headlights. That makes any of a car with degraded headlight lenses a possible client...

I came across this article on the New York Times stating if you provide a good product or service, you should not be afraid to charge a higher rate. Customers frequently tie quality with how much is being charged. "... a [customer] who told her she was doing a great job, but would not be taken...