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New to detailing, product suggestions

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  • #1

    New to detailing, product suggestions

    Hello folks,

    I am NYC apartment dweller, do not have access to running water or electricity in the parking lot. I plan to start washing and detailing my cars myself in the parking lot. I do not want a professional finish but just enough to maintain the cars' exterior clear coat. There are already swirls on the cars from an automated car wash that I may not be able to fix. I just do not want to worsen it.

    The supplies I have



    Eagle One 598816 Wax-As-U-Dry Aerosol
    https://www.amazon.com/Eagle-One-598816-Wax-As-U-Dry-Aerosol/dp/B001GJ5DXS


    Rain-X spray and Rain-X removing cream.

    I do not have any equipment as in polisher or detailer. I do not plan to buy them as I do not have access to the electricity in the parking lot. So everything done with my hands. I thought of getting 12V detailer off ebay, but I am not too sure if its good enough for even a basic job. If folks recommend, will happily get it.

    I didn't buy these products with much research as that just led me to more confusion, so after asking some folks who I thought they knew their stuff, got these. But I am open to buying the specific set(s) if someone gives me concrete guidelines. Tired of just collecting the products.

    The condition of the cars is like this. Overall surface is easily cleanable but some hard to reach crevices are difficult to clean. The surfaces are not smooth but not very rough either. I am not too sure if I should clay bar or get something like nano skin towels.
    I have tried cleaning the windshield various times of one of the car but it just never cleans as good as I would like it to be. Plus, I would also like to apply water repellent but the use of Rain-X only makes it worse.









    So I am one confused fella, trying to get some serious directions. I have checked various YouTube videos. While that has given me some idea, I am still clueless about the products. Hence I joined here, hoping if I stick to one manufacturer's products, I will have little to deal with complexities of which product to use on which one.

    I will be checking other threads too, still will appreciate spoon-feeding on the initial set of products and direction on using them.

    Many thanks in advance.
    Tags: None
  • #2
    Re: New to detailing, product suggestions

    Do you have any access to a coin-op car wash, where you could spray some water at least?

    You can usually bring your own soap, bucket, wash mit, etc if you go at night, off hours. At least you could wash a bit better that way.

    Since you have the clay already, may as well use it.

    You probably would want to look into some kind of cleaner/wax to make it a bit quicker in the parking lot.. Something like ColorX should be around and easy to find. Then you could always do a coat of the Turtle Wax after it..

    As for the glass.. you can certainly clay the glass, which should help. I use the Meguiars glass cleaner most of the time followed by RainX. So can see how that goes first...
    2017 Subaru WRX Premium - WR Blue

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    • #3
      Re: New to detailing, product suggestions

      Thank you.

      There is no coin-operated wash near me within like 20 minutes driving. Still I can find a way to manage washing.
      I am more worried abt the next steps, like what wax, compound, polish that kind of stuff to use. Amateurs seem to use all these terms interchangeably, hence it is very confusing to a newbie like me. Hence, looking for exact products and their sequence to use.

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      • #4
        Re: New to detailing, product suggestions

        1. Wash with the car wash solution.

        2. Dry.

        3. Use clay bar treatment. I like to start from top down.

        4. Apply Turtle Wax Super Hard Shell. This product is a "cleaner wax", designed to clean and protect the paint. It will produce an improvement.

        5. Enjoy!

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        • #5
          Re: New to detailing, product suggestions

          Originally posted by drumdan View Post
          1. Wash with the car wash solution.

          2. Dry.

          3. Use clay bar treatment. I like to start from top down.

          4. Apply Turtle Wax Super Hard Shell. This product is a "cleaner wax", designed to clean and protect the paint. It will produce an improvement.

          5. Enjoy!
          Thats all? Nothing to put on top of turtle wax, like some kind of silicone spray to cover wax so that it stays there for a while? The videos I see online, they use so many products!! I was like, this thing is complex.

          I wouldn't be able to wash/details during winter periods, so I would like to give it some good cover.

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          • #6
            Re: New to detailing, product suggestions

            I admire your drive to do this in an NYC apartment parking lot. Drumdan's suggestions are perfect considering the circumstance you are in. In the fall put a good coat of wax on, and do not wash the car all winter. The wax will stay on and not washing will prevent driving wet brine salt into the crevices of the metal. Probably don't get a lot of salt on NYC roads if I recall, but still, don't wash it. I was told by a GM engineer that washing a car in the winter, in areas that use a lot of road salt, is the worse thing you can do for your car. Good luck.

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            • #7
              Re: New to detailing, product suggestions

              Once you use these products up, replace with the meguiars equivalent! They have a solid lineup of everything you need. If you want a topper for your wax try their ultimate quick wax or ultimate fast finish

              Since you are an apartment dweller you may want to look at Meguiars ultimate wash and wax. Between full washes you could tidy up your car with this product and a few microfibers and keep it looking great.

              Comment

              • #8
                Re: New to detailing, product suggestions

                Originally posted by Blueline View Post
                I admire your drive to do this in an NYC apartment parking lot. Drumdan's suggestions are perfect considering the circumstance you are in. In the fall put a good coat of wax on, and do not wash the car all winter. The wax will stay on and not washing will prevent driving wet brine salt into the crevices of the metal. Probably don't get a lot of salt on NYC roads if I recall, but still, don't wash it. I was told by a GM engineer that washing a car in the winter, in areas that use a lot of road salt, is the worse thing you can do for your car. Good luck.
                Oh no, they put a ton of salt on the roads. There is absolutely no shortage of impatient+careless drivers in the city so most of the times, they make sure you don't see a speck of snow on the road. The result, most cars turn white due to the salt.

                I am worried about wax only coating because, we can not idle the cars in the parking lot. So we use a ton of windshield deicer just before leaving. Since that stuff contains a lot of alcohol, I wonder if it will remove the wax.


                Originally posted by gregpack View Post
                Once you use these products up, replace with the meguiars equivalent! They have a solid lineup of everything you need. If you want a topper for your wax try their ultimate quick wax or ultimate fast finish
                This is exactly the idea. Since most of Meguiar's products are reasonably priced and well rated on Amazon, I would like to stick to one brand and where I can get some support if needed.


                Originally posted by gregpack View Post
                Since you are an apartment dweller you may want to look at Meguiars ultimate wash and wax. Between full washes you could tidy up your car with this product and a few microfibers and keep it looking great.
                Thank you. I will certainly take a look at these.

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