Been a Long Time - Can you recommend Some Good Products

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Walshman

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Hi Everyone,

I'm picking up a blue 2018 Chevy Camaro ZL-1 Convertible tomorrow and I was wondering if you guys could help me out and recommend some good products to get me started again. I have not detailed a car for about 8 years or so. I do think that I still have a Flex 3401 polisher, but I'm sure it needs pads. Any advice is greatly appreciated as I would like to order some new products soon. Can you recommend the some good products for the following:

Drying Towels:
Convertible Top Conditioner/Protector: I have some 303 protectant
Polish:
Sealant:
Seat Protector for Alcantara Seats:
Polish and Sealant Pads for Flex:
Wheel Cleaner/Polish:
Quick Detailer:
Wheel brushes or something similar for easier cleaning:

Does anyone use a ceramic coating (pros/cons)? What about a foam cannon or something similar? I used the following years ago when I detailed my old sports cars: 2 bucket method; clay; Polish; Sealant topped with caranuba wax. Does anyone still use similar process or have things changed? Anything I'm missing?

Any product advice you can give is much appreciated. I'm willing to spend up to around $500 to pick up some things. If you have a link for a good detailing vid and process, please share. I'm excited to get the car and get back to doing some detailing. I know I have many questions, so any advice is much appreciated! Thanks
 
For that top search out RaggTopp products, Mike has several reviews on that for top and could be cloth or vinyl on your new Camaro.

Pick which way you want to go on your maintenance and then could be sealant or wax or coating. Unless you want to jump into weekly detailing then the new spray sealants are awesome but then again I enjoy using Pinnacle Liquid Souveran Wax (Liquid Souveran Car Wax achieves the Pinnacle of paint perfection!

Coatings are great for a daily driver but lots of prep work and then careful washing. Check out the class held this past week for the results.

Type in you seat material and find product that works at a price you are good with.

With the above choice then pick the pads, some Lake Country HDO pads are good on the Flex.

Have fun,

Kirby
 
For a drying towel, nothing is better than the Griots PFM Terry Weave. It will dry my entire truck with one towel without wringing it out once. If you are not going to ceramic coat your vehicle then your old method of 2 bucket wash, clay, compound, polish, sealant and wax is a good way to go.
 
The first question is are you looking to apply a coating? If so would you be looking into a full blown coating or an entry level coating (referred to as a coating lite)?

The the thing about coatings is don't believe that they are impervious to scratches or swirls.

If you are not looking into a coating then you can stick with what has worked. That is still a good method.
 
Hi,
All good advice so far. If just getting back into detailing, might be best to go easy at first, and not to worry about Coatings. At least not the more difficult to apply ones. Easy Coatings would be one like Pinnacle Black Label. Still, good prep should be done to insure the paint is squeaky clean, a panel wipe down product like Carpro Eraser should be used prior to such coatings.

The Griots PFM Drying Towel is fantastic. I'd suggest the smaller PFM, comes as a 2-pack and will be much easier to handle than the large Towel. One should be sufficient for the Camaro for drying.

Wheel Woolie Brushes are good for getting in tough to reach areas on the Wheels. Go with a decent All Purpose Cleaner for all around use, Wheels, Tires, many like Meguiars, and it's concentrated so it can be diluted to the proper concentration for various uses.

No authority on Alcantara Leather, I'll leave others to comment.

A fantastic Sealant would be Wolfgang Deep Gloss Paint Sealant 3.0, or if wishing something a little less expensive, all of the Duragloss Products such as #105 and #111 Sealants are very good! The WG 3.0 Sealant is very easy to use, would be my top choice for a dark color. Will leave a look and gloss-shine that's dripping wet!

Best Detailer Spray sold here that I've used and many swear by is Pinnacle Crystal Mist Spray. Pricey, but fantastic, especially if used on top of Wolfgang Sealant 3.0.

Polishes, again look to Wolfgang. Total Swirl Remover and Finishing Glaze are both great, easy to use, gentle and would think at this point you won't be needing more aggressive products or compounds.

Polishing might be something you don't need at this point? Hard to say, some vehicles straight from the dealer have not been treated as kindly as they should be.

If not sure about Pads, and what Backing Plate is on your Flex, I might suggest buying the smaller "Flex" brand Backing Plate and then using slightly smaller Pads. For the Camaro, it will be easier to get around on it with the smaller Pad-Plate Combo.

For Pads, Lake Country makes very high quality. with the 3401, it will churn and turn all of them, no problem.

If needing Clay, and desiring a very gentle Clay that's less likely to mar, I'd recommend the Pinnacle Blue.

Not sure about the need of foam guns, there's a lot of them here, both for garden hose attachment, and also high pressure washers. You should at least have and use the two-bucket method, and have Grit Guards for both.
A good Wash Mitt is a huge plus.

Carrand on this site sells a multitude of good brushes, not expensive.

Hope this helps you.
 
Not sure where you are located, but if you will be facing harsh winter conditions, and want the best paint protection short of a coating, then I'd recommend Collinite Products as good go to protectants.

Their #845 Insulator Wax is a hybrid Sealant-Wax Liquid, fairly easy to apply, and is a fantastic product.
Another, and offers even longer lasting protection is their #476 Super Double Coat Detergent Proof Wax. It is a hard Paste Wax-Sealant Hybrid in a can.

Both are relatively inexpensive, I've done a late model 2013 ZL1 Camaro once with #845, Summit White Color, came out fantastic. Owner was wowed. Only about an ounce of product is needed at most. The #476 Paste you'll have for many years if just used on the Camaro, and you'll lose count of how many applications you'll get from a can.

As for towels for polish and waxing, always good to have some good ones on hand. Gold Plush, and Carpro Boas are both extremely nice.
 
Have a 16 vert GT mustang with a fabric soft top. For cleaning pick up the Ragtopp brush

RaggTopp Premium Convertible Top Brush

I used this to clean as I appreciate griots products

Griots Garage Convertible Top Cleaner

For protection. This came up a lot and I’ve gotten 8 months with it. 6-12 based on weather. Awesome stuff ordered 2 more bottles just to stock

GTechniq I1 Smart Fabric

I went with a full coating but if don’t mind redoing every 8-12 months I’d recommend a coating lite. I like Gyeon cancoat and Tac Systems Moonlight. Bout as easy to use as a sealant.

For polishing I like the Griots creams and boss pads. The thin lake country are nice as well but I have a 15mm long throw. What works best for your flex I’m not sure.

For tires look into tirecoatings. I just received mine but yet to use but last 3-6 months and easy maintenance (just wash). Their are several others out their

McKee's 37 Tire Coating 16 oz. New Formula!

For rims I can’t comment as have been trying several things with non sticking out. Just got Polish Angel Supersport and have high hopes. Got a coating for wheels but won’t use till spring.

For wheels the wheel woolies for the barrels and sides. Wheel woolies boars hair brush for face. A boars hair brush for lugnuts and a metro master blaster to dry.

To dry car as mentioned before Griots PFM’s (you’ll love them) and the metro blaster again.

Would recommend looking into rinseless washes. McKee’s N-914 is great, griots makes a great one. Good for light and in between maintenance washes. I only really use one product for waterless but not sold here so can’t mention (it foams). I use Car pros Ech20 but more as a drying aid. It adds some pop.




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Thanks for all of the replies so far. I really appreciate it. It’s funny to see that some of the same products I used 10 years ago are still recommended - Duragloss, Collinite, etc. Thanks again!!
 
I am also a big fan of Wolfgang Deep Gloss Paint Sealant, Collinite 845, 303 Protectant. Duragloss 253 is the best water based tire dressing that I have used. It won't sling and it lasts a good while.
 
Walshman said:
Thanks for all of the replies so far. I really appreciate it. It’s funny to see that some of the same products I used 10 years ago are still recommended - Duragloss, Collinite, etc. Thanks again!!
Click to expand...

Yep, these products have stood the test of time. Another fine company mentioned, is Griots Garage. Pretty much everything they make in their vast lineup is solid.

Lastly seriously consider any and all products from the Autogeek-PBMG lineups, Blackfire, Wolfgang, Pinnacle, McKees. Every product in every line are great performers, often without any peer.

The Interior Cleaners, and Protectants, Pad Cleaners, etc., massive lists onto their own.
 
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