Essential tools & brushes?

[CTSV]

If there's anything I've learned; tools and technique are more important than product used.



Saying that, I'm still a bit overwhelmed by the vast selection avaliable and I'd like some suggestions on how to spend ~ $200 for some 'must have' items.



Currently I have;

a boar's hair wheel brush

a medium sized lug and trim brush

a rim barrel cleaner (the turbo stick from adams-- it's drill operated and work's OK most of the time, but it's not effective on the tight spaces for the calipers and doesn't get behind the spokes.)

A single enclosed bucket with grit guard-- I do have a second bucket for my 2 wash, but no grit guard for it.

a decent selection of MF towels, 2-3 silk style glass, 3-4 waffle style, 1 large waffle drying towel, and 5-6 super-plush buffing/ Detail spray towels. A billion cheapos for whatever

a wheel well brush which works OK, but it's not 100% effective since the rims are close to the wells-- I have to turn the wheels lock to lock to use it properly.

2 dense foam blocks for tire/trim dressing

a large and small synthetic wool car was mitt

2 dense foam interior trim applicator pads.

A mother's power ball.





I'm thinking about(in order of importance)

a foam gun-- but which?

another bucket with grit guard,

a cone foam polisher for the drill and wheels (they're painted-- black)

a horse hair interior brush-- just because it's $10

a stiff brissel carpet brush-- ditto above





Thanks.

 

[wascallyrabbit]

in stead of the cone for your wheels i would look at griots garage wheel wands or the wheel woolies. definitley a carpet brush. natural bristle brushes at the local hardware store in varies sizes for the interior. i don't use a foam gun so i have no comment on them. that said the most popular one around here is the gilmour foam gun. all my wash buckets have grit guards.

 

[Accumulator]

..I'd like some suggestions on how to spend ~ $200 for some 'must have' items.



Currently I have;

a boar's hair wheel brush

a medium sized lug and trim brush

a rim barrel cleaner (the turbo stick from adams-- it's drill operated and work's OK most of the time, but it's not effective on the tight spaces for the calipers and doesn't get behind the spokes.)

A single enclosed bucket with grit guard-- I do have a second bucket for my 2 wash, but no grit guard for it.

a decent selection of MF towels, 2-3 silk style glass, 3-4 waffle style, 1 large waffle drying towel, and 5-6 super-plush buffing/ Detail spray towels. A billion cheapos for whatever

a wheel well brush which works OK, but it's not 100% effective since the rims are close to the wells-- I have to turn the wheels lock to lock to use it properly.

2 dense foam blocks for tire/trim dressing

a large and small synthetic wool car was mitt

2 dense foam interior trim applicator pads.

A mother's power ball.





I'm thinking about(in order of importance)

a foam gun-- but which?

another bucket with grit guard,

a cone foam polisher for the drill and wheels (they're painted-- black)

a horse hair interior brush-- just because it's $10

a stiff brissel carpet brush-- ditto above

For the wheels, I like a few additional items...I'll give the Griot's pns to keep it simple, but others have the same stuff:



-10209, Small sheepskin mitt. Much handier than I ever expected, I simply love it

-11838, Three-finger foam mitt. Similar to above, good for back sides of spokes

-10241, Big foam swabs. Handy for reaching around the tight spots (calipers, etc.)



I don't see the need for a cone for the wheels.



I consider the foamgun essential for marring-free washes. The brand to look for is Gilmour (sold under a lot of different names). Both the all-plastic and the metal-guts versions have their fans and IMO both are OK. I'd get the size with the one-quart bottle as it's too easy to bump the paint with a larger one. How to *USE* the foamgun is a whole big topic in-and-of itself!



**REPLACE THOSE SYNTHETIC WASH MITTS!!** Well, I'm assuming they're the synthetic ones that look like real sheepskin. IF so, really...replace them with genuine sheepskin or good MF ones. I'd recommend a BHB but the OK ones are both pricey and borderline-too-gentle.



Sounds like you need a floorjack to raise the car up so you can access the wheelwells (and undercarriage).



In marked contrast to wascallyrabbit and many others, I don't use/need gritguards.



While I myself use...well, let's not go there...more than two wash buckets, I dunno if you really need more than the two (wash and rinse). Well, OK..one for wheels/wells/etc. But don't spend lots of $ for something fancy.



Most of my horsehair/boar's hair brushes for interiors are *SO* gentle that they're only useful on the cars that never really need much interior cleaning anyhow. The brush for carpets can probably be bought for pennies if you shop right. Yeah, they're "only $10", but each of those is still 5% of your whole budget, 10% combined

 

[Jngrbrdman]

Your interior tools are lacking quite a bit. For the interior you need a few stiff bristled brushes. Autozone sells a couple sets with a brass, steel, and nylon brush. Those are really important. I'd also put a blade of some kind in your interior set. You should also put some kind of multi-tool in there for when you have to unscrew or unbolt seats and plastic covers to get it really clean. A Leatherman or something like that covers a lot of bases. And my personal favorite tool kit for a million different things are Slick Stixxx. I use these for bike detailing and also for interiors, engines, and other areas. They are ridiculously useful.



A couple retired tooth brushes aren't a bad idea either. Those come in really handy. Keep a clean one in there too for when you are scrubbing leather or areas that you don't want to stain with the dredges of whatever grease is in your other brushes. You may want to put a black sharpie in there too. I've used that to just clean up tool marks on black bolts or even sometimes on scratches on black plastic. Not a permanent solution, nor something I use very often, but I have definitely been glad to have one from time to time. Also, when you are in an Autozone or somewhere like that, look for the rubber chisel tools. Those are awesome at picking polish out of seams and emblems. Definitely get some blue masking tape for properly taping things off so you have less to clean up and fewer 'oops' moments.



This is my interior tool box. I bought a generic dremel tool several years ago that really sucked. The box was outstanding though. I use that now with all my interior stuff and it makes it a lot easier to get my gear together when I have a job to do.

 

[CTSV]

Wow, fantastic suggestions, espically the slick stixx!



I'm glad I posted this up, I may have to *expand* my budget based on some of this.

Sounds like you need a floorjack to raise the car up so you can access the wheelwells (and undercarriage).

definitally have one, Not sure why I didn't think of just jacking it up, should definitally give me some more room. Thanks!

Well, I'm assuming they're the synthetic ones that look like real sheepskin. IF so, really...replace them with genuine sheepskin or good MF ones. I'd recommend a BHB but the OK ones are both pricey and borderline-too-gentle.

yup.. they're these exact ones

Adam's Professional Car Wash Pad

 

[imported_DetailDan]

I wouldn't get too carried away with a bunch of different products, especially if you're just maintaining your own car.

 

[CTSV]

I wouldn't get too carried away with a bunch of different products, especially if you're just maintaining your own car.

You're right, but I've told myself no go-fast parts on the V until at least the bumper 2 bumper is up, so I need something to burn some cash on every once in a while.

 

[Jngrbrdman]

I wouldn't get too carried away with a bunch of different products, especially if you're just maintaining your own car.

Why not? A car is a lot of money spent on one object. It's not an 'investment' like stocks or gold or anything like that, but you did put a significant amount of money into it when you bought it and you may even be committing a sizable amount of money towards it every month. I don't see what's wrong with having a couple hundred bucks worth of tools and products in the garage to maintain it.

 

[Accumulator]

..definitally have [a floor jack], Not sure why I didn't think of just jacking it up, should definitally give me some more room...

Remember to stick a jackstand underneath too if you're crawling around under the car, jacks fail at the worst possible moments. And if you keep the floor jack(s) in the wash bay the way I do, be sure to keep up with lubrication, even overkilling it, as the humidity can wreak havoc with them and leave you stuck with the car up in the air.

 

[chrisguga]

I personally bought the Mother's Powercone and love it for polishing my clear coated wheels. I used M105 with that powercone and removed some small scratches and imperfections and really shined them up.



I don't think you mentioned anything about a dual action polisher. My biggest recommendation to you is to buy a Porter Cable 7424xp or something similar and Optimum's or Meguiar's microfiber polishing kit. You'll also need a new backing plate as the one that comes with the polisher is trash.







You seem to be an Adam's Polishes user who has now realized that their products really don't stack up to the competition and are priced too high. I still like and use some of their stuff, but their polishes and pads are especially weak. I still like their detail spray as my QD and their SVRT is nice and lasts a long time when I spray a layer or two of Optimum spray car wax over the plastic exterior bits. I also like their interior conditioner. I have moved on from pretty much all of their other products.

 

[imported_DetailDan]

Why not? A car is a lot of money spent on one object. It's not an 'investment' like stocks or gold or anything like that, but you did put a significant amount of money into it when you bought it and you may even be committing a sizable amount of money towards it every month. I don't see what's wrong with having a couple hundred bucks worth of tools and products in the garage to maintain it.

Theres a difference between products that are required and ones that he could easily do without. Im not saying he shouldnt spend a couple hundred on supplies, but spend wisely. Spending on unnecessary products is the biggest mistake I see new people making. Keep it simple.

 

[CTSV]

Remember to stick a jackstand underneath too if you're crawling around under the car, jacks fail at the worst possible moments. And if you keep the floor jack(s) in the wash bay the way I do, be sure to keep up with lubrication, even overkilling it, as the humidity can wreak havoc with them and leave you stuck with the car up in the air.

oh absolutely I use stands on the car, I have a 2 Ton HF aluminum low profile jack. I wouldn't trust that thing with my life any day, they only seem to last a year or two before the cylinders explode.

I personally bought the Mother's Powercone and love it for polishing my clear coated wheels. I used M105 with that powercone and removed some small scratches and imperfections and really shined them up.



I don't think you mentioned anything about a dual action polisher. My biggest recommendation to you is to buy a Porter Cable 7424xp or something similar and Optimum's or Meguiar's microfiber polishing kit. You'll also need a new backing plate as the one that comes with the polisher is trash.

I do have a 7424XP, and I have the adams backing plate that they sell which is decently flexiable. The ball doesn't fit inside the spokes of the V's rims at all, that's where the cone idea came from, and I could use it on the chrome trim too if I wanted.

You seem to be an Adam's Polishes user who has now realized that their products really don't stack up to the competition and are priced too high. I still like and use some of their stuff, but their polishes and pads are especially weak. I still like their detail spray as my QD and their SVRT is nice and lasts a long time when I spray a layer or two of Optimum spray car wax over the plastic exterior bits. I also like their interior conditioner. I have moved on from pretty much all of their other products.

yup.. Love the detail spray, the SVRT, the wheel well dressing, the interior conditioner and I find myself using their waterless wash often too.. but there's noting too special about the rest of it. In fair-ness, I'm not sure how you can distinguish glass cleaner and an APC too much from your compeition anyway.

 

[Accumulator]

..In fair-ness, I'm not sure how you can distinguish glass cleaner and an APC too much from your compeition anyway.

Eh, IME when you find a *REALLY* great glass cleaner (and what consitutes "great" will depend on what you're cleaning off the glass and what towels/etc. you use), you'll know it and the diff will make a great impression.

 

[chrisguga]

I personally love Stoners glass cleaner. You basically can't make it streak. Cheap too.