What did you do today, in regards to detailing?

chilly said:
This was yesterday

The bugs had to be taken care of so I started by spraying a WW dilution of N-914 to get the bugs soaking before I ever left the garage and hit it a couple more times as I was getting the rest of the gear out and ready. The entire front is PPF and I am still very hesitant to use anything strong like an APC or BH AF if it needs to really soak. While this was soaking I got on the front wheels and by the time I got to the second one the clouds broke and the sun came out so I quit taking pictures and started cleaning.

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I used The Final Details Wheel and Tire cleaner and I was quite pleased with the results. One light coating and the tires started browning almost immediately and my medium bristle Mother's brush was all it took to raise a nice lather on the tires and my soft bristle wheel face brush did the same. I foamed the wheels after sorting out the shampoo mix in my cannon (see below) and used my MF wheel woolies and dedicated mitt to get all the nooks and crannies. A good rinse was followed by a spritz with my Megs HCW 3:1 and a final rinse and the wheels were nice and shiny. I used the TFD WTC full strength but next time I am going to try 2:1 water/product in my IK 2 foamer and see how that does

I decided to try the new The Final Details soap/shampoo in the foam cannon and mitt bucket and I will be honest, I was very disappointed. I used their suggested dilutions and got nowhere, then I doubled it, and finally tripled it, and had very little luck with both cannon and bucket. I didn't want to dump what I had because I had both cannon bottles full and 4 gallons in my mitt bucket so I added ADS Shampoo+ to the cannon bottles and Megs Hyperwash to the bucket and got back to work. I did a foam, rinse, foam, contact wash, and a final rinse, and had a surprise...

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These are the same streaky traces of whatever the dealer used when they did a non authorized "hand wash" on the car over a month ago. This is after 2 rinseless washes with N-914, 2 bucket washes, and today I even sprayed the door with by BH AF prerinse and worked it in with a plush towel, and nothing has budged it, whatever it is. I am at a loss as to what it is and how to get rid of it without going nuclear. You don't see it after the car is rinsed and dried but when you are blowing the car down the beads of water hit those streaky areas and stick. I don't see that on the roof or the hood, just the doors

#angry

Anyway, I finished the wash, blew the car down with the Ego, and touched up a few places using The Final Details Ceramic Quick Detailer. The FDCQD is super thin and at first it reminded me of that Suds Lab CQD garbage that I tried last summer and poured out; however, this stuff is the real deal. It is slick and works in and flashes quickly and leaves the surface smooth and friction free. I am going to use it as a drying agent on the little blue car after a rinseless and see how it feels on there.

The bugs are gone and the car is clean and I will get some ADS Tire+ on later after the tire drips are done
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I am disappointed with the results from The Final Details shampoo but the other 4 products in the order were all solid performers. The soap may not like my water and it wouldn't be the first soap that people raved about that didn't work for me. I am going to try it again in the foam cannon but I will use distilled water and see what happens
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I hate bugs 🐛
I hate pine pollen
I hate dirty rain 🌧

Maybe that oily film could be WD40? From over spray at the stealership.
 
Tasmania said:
I hate bugs 🐛
I hate pine pollen
I hate dirty rain 🌧

Maybe that oily film could be WD40? From over spray at the stealership.
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Honestly, it could be just about anything and maybe I should get a panel wet and hit it with varying strengths of APC and see if that helps, but first I am going to try a full decon wash with NV Snow+ followed by Gyeon Restart and see where that gets me

I am going to avoid using any claying products unless absolutely necessary and if I do I will start with the Autofiber Holey Clay towel and go from there
 
So this is a thing now...

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chilly said:
Honestly, it could be just about anything and maybe I should get a panel wet and hit it with varying strengths of APC and see if that helps, but first I am going to try a full decon wash with NV Snow+ followed by Gyeon Restart and see where that gets me

I am going to avoid using any claying products unless absolutely necessary and if I do I will start with the Autofiber Holey Clay towel and go from there
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Hey Chilly is the car fully PPFed or just the front end?
 
Tasmania said:
Hey Chilly is the car fully PPFed or just the front end?
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The entire grill, headlights, fog lights, front half of the hood, door edges, some of the high impact areas, ???

Feel like I’m missing something




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chilly said:
The entire grill, headlights, fog lights, front half of the hood, door edges, some of the high impact areas, ???

Feel like I’m missing something




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It almost looks like a spray on rinse off sealant that the dealership put on but most likely bulk buy cheap stuff.....I'm eager to hear and see your results after the big wash.
 
Tasmania said:
It almost looks like a spray on rinse off sealant that the dealership put on but most likely bulk buy cheap stuff.....I'm eager to hear and see your results after the big wash.
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Hey Tas

I have to go to the dealer in a few weeks on a separate mission and I’ll see if they will tell me but I’ll bet you are correct, a cheap bulk car wash grade product of some kind

Kevin Brown has told the story of a detailer friend of his who is a well respected pro. The guy ran into some paint he just couldn’t cut and was trying to get ideas from Kevin. They went back and forth numerous times trying every compound and pad. Long story short, the car lived on tunnel washes and had so much of that cheap but STRONG wax/sealant on it that it was armor plated


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MisterSnoop said:
So this is a thing now...

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That would make an awesome Candid Camera punk. People put in their nice mats but what comes out are entirely different pieces of crap with mismatched colors, sizing and significant damage. Even better if it's totally unattended and the only contact method is a cheap press-to-hold speaker to some remote call center. What does it say about me that this is honestly the first thing I thought of when I saw this? 🤔
 
While I had the grill pulled apart, I deep cleaned the black plastic with Eraser, brushed in to all the books and crannies, rinsed, then sprayed it with Carpro Perl, let it sit for half an hour and wiped the excess off. While everything was apart I waxed the grill surround with some Dodo Juice Blue Velvet, I'm trying to use it up. I also gave the headlights a thorough clean, got all around the edges that are normally inaccessible, used Bowden's Boss Gloss for that. While I had the Perl out I topped up the tyres as well, including the spare.PSX_20250623_161349.jpgPSX_20250623_162311.jpg
 
Klasse Act said:
Well I'd like to pass this bit of "above and beyond" customer service to my fellow Geeks.

So I'm on the Armor Detail Supply website seeing if the special lids are available for their new buckets...they aren't. A screen is there to ask questions so I'm like "maybe someone will see it Monday morning and they'll get back to me". Well a couple minutes later they responded with the answer, which was should be up by the end of the week, so I'm like great! They went even further by saying they'd email me a special invoice with them if not on their site by the end of the week, AMAZING....TODAY IS SUNDAY️

I also asked for them to add their new APC called CLEAN (wish it was called something else, oh well). Now I told Bradley I've had Optimum Power Clean aka Alien Kleen in my collection since 2012, plus Bilt-Hamber Surfex, so the bar is high and he said he looks forward to my thoughts on Clean
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They weren't paying attention when naming that product. An unfortunate move.

Klasse Act said:
I gave my buddy back home an unopened bottle of ADS Ceramic Spray Sealant and he loves it and actually bought Hero, Adapt and something else from them...I'm sure he'll be hooked now too, THIS is how you grow a brand, grass roots, combined with social media and commercials but at the end of the day the product MUST deliver and it most certainly does

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I've been saying this from the moment these products finally arrived in this country. Not that I'm asking for anything, but other than ADS, no other brand has bothered to take me seriously. As ADS continues to grow, the personal touch may not last forever, but it's certainly been nice to have a direct line with the founders and acknowledge that I've been advocating for them since I first tried the wheel coating in late 2023.

The likes of TRC, Capro, Gyeon, Meguiar's, OG.....................some great brands with great products, but they have no interest at all. I do realise they are large companies, but frankly, they have lost touch with customers. It would be nice to at least get a like or acknowledgement, from everything I do online, I'm effectively giving these companies free advertising and promotion.
 
Karl_in_Chicago said:
That would make an awesome Candid Camera punk. People put in their nice mats but what comes out are entirely different pieces of crap with mismatched colors, sizing and significant damage. Even better if it's totally unattended and the only contact method is a cheap press-to-hold speaker to some remote call center. What does it say about me that this is honestly the first thing I thought of when I saw this? 🤔
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I thought it was a "floor mat" shredder for recycling ♻️
 
Big Dave said:
While I had the grill pulled apart, I deep cleaned the black plastic with Eraser, brushed in to all the books and crannies, rinsed, then sprayed it with Carpro Perl, let it sit for half an hour and wiped the excess off. While everything was apart I waxed the grill surround with some Dodo Juice Blue Velvet, I'm trying to use it up. I also gave the headlights a thorough clean, got all around the edges that are normally inaccessible, used Bowden's Boss Gloss for that. While I had the Perl out I topped up the tyres as well, including the spare.View attachment 138850View attachment 138851
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That bronze is REALLY nice Dave

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Ran through the touch-free wash this morning and didn't notice the sap mist again but I'm thinking it's this upper 90's weather, once it cools off it will come back..Deyon, thoughts or is this it's run for the season

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