What are the first 3 products I should buy?

O

OdyMan

New member
What detailing products (soap, polish, wax, QD, AIO, etc) would you recommend for me to get to keep my new Odyssey looking new?

Here's the details on me and my vehicles?
- new '06 Odyssey - garaged
- '99 Civic - parked outside
- live in Nor. Calif.
- three kids (meaning not much time for detailing)
- no PC

General product and/or brand receommendations?

Thanks.
 
A good shampoo, a carpet cleaner (3 kids), and some all purpouse cleaner
I love the poorboys shampoo
Adams carpet cleaner
and poorboys APC
those are what i recomened, im sure others will disagre but thats my 2 cents
 
You're going to need a lot more products than 3 to keep a van looking good and protected IMo. Just for exterior work I can think of more than three. But I will try:
Exterior:
-A good car soap (Megs NxT, Poorboys SSS, etc.)
-Wash mitt and bucket
-Poorboys PwC (blue if you have a dark color)
-4 Star UPP
-Trim and tire dressing

Interior:
-Glass cleaner
-Plastic and vinyl protector (Poorboys Natural Look)
-Carpet Shampoo
-Vaccuum
-MF and Foam applicators
-Microfiber towels

And stuff like that. This was just a brief list of what I think are 'must have' products for keeping a vehicle clean and protected. The ones in bold are the bare minimum that you should buy." Good luck.
 
It does not look like you really have much time and you are working by hand, so keep it simple and get into fine detailing when you have more time and can get a PC.

Car Wash- local -Gold Class
-on-line Super Slick & Suds

AIO - local - Mother's or Meguiar's
-on-line - Klasse AIO or PwC

Wax/Sealant - local - Mother's or Meguair's
- on-line - UPP or Natty's Blue
 
Welcome to the site...what part of NO CAL are you in?...I'm on Sonoma County....looks like you have quite a few good suggestions
 
My guess is you asking about OTC products that you can pick up at your local Autoparts Store. For that i would suggest

Meg's Gold Class Wash
Polish again i would stick with the Meg's also applies to wax and QD

Also like others have said get yourself a couple wash buckets a good wash mitt.

Stoners Glass Cleaner or the Meg's NXT glass cleaner.

For OTC products it really is hard to beat the Meg's line.

Beemerboy I also am in Nor Cal over here in Solano County.

Richard
 
What are the first 3 products I should buy?

I take by your thread title that you do realize that you will be buying more car care products down the line, but are just looking for a starting point.

I agree with the general concensus that the first product you should buy is a good automotive specific wash. For OTC, my preference would be Meguiar's NXT. It is widely available (at least here) at the discount stores and auto stores alike. My second choice would be Mother's California Gold. It might be my water, but Meg's Gold Class would be way on down the line of preferences.

Straying from the crowd a bit, but my second product would actually be a group of products...tools. Again going with OTC products...1) A quality wash pad, mitt, or sponge. There are several threads discussing preferences of product, but the general belief is that either a 100% cotton chenille mitt/pad, or a real (not synthetic) sheepskin mitt, or a sponge like a sea sponge (not readily available OTC) or a grout sponge. 2) Various tire and wheel brushes - W@lM@rt has a nice soft wheel brush in it's Detailer Line (look for 2-tone blue) and 3) a drying tool like an Absorber or a WaffleWeave drying towel. Viking has several nice towels which should be available at the auto stores.

My third product would be a QD. Try any of the OTC brands available...Eagle One Wipe-n-Shine, Meguiar's Quik Shine, Mother's Showtime.

Another option (but not a replacement) for the QD could be one of the Spray Waxes like EO's WAUD or Mother's FX Spray Wax.

That should be a quick and clean (not dirty ;)) start. You can expand and grow your collection from there. Check out some of some of the sponsors here and supplement or replace your OTC products as you decide.
 
Thanks for all the great advice. I wish I had $1,000 and an understanding wife, but that ain't happenin' right now. So I'll settle for some of the products listed here and go from there.


Beemer, I'm in Sacto. Grew up in Lake County and spent many days in the BIG cities of Sonoma County.
 
I have been doing some research recently - I got on the phone and called every woman I in my wife's address book and did a survey on how much they know about washing cars. (I actually do the marketing for a detailing company, so that isn't quite as weird as it sounds!). After that I phone a few male friends and asked them questions.

One of the conclusions I reached is that few people know how to care for wheels. And it's wheels that they find to be a problem later on.
It should also be noted that people really don't notice the wheels when they look at a cars - say when they are going to by a used car. But the condition of the wheels makes a dramatic difference to the appearance, and therefore resale value.

So if I were you, the first three items I would buy are a decent wheel cleaner, (forgive me for not mentioning brand names), a wheel brush, and a wheel wax/sealant.

If you clean them properly and often, you can stay on top of the problem. Once brake dust (which is metal fallout) settles and starts to etch your alloys, then it gets more and more difficult to sort out, and it can easliy ruin your wheels. They are probably the most vulnerable area, as they are closest to the road, to the dirt and the road-salts, and they get sprayed with hot brake dust. They are also hardest and most expensive to repair.

Other than that, a good wash mitt, and a good shampoo would be next on my list.
 
1. california water blade- its a large squeegy, used to wipe water off the entire vehicle price: 10 to 20 bucks
2. claybar kit, i think mothers brand has a kit for like 17 bucks, it comes with clay bar, cleaner wax, and i light spray wax
3. finally i would get a good wax for the price i like the meguiars nxt wax, its very easy to use by hand, about 10 bucks a bottle
total price 40 to 50 bucks
an all purpose cleaner like simple green, power purple or something

good luck detailing
 
Just 3, I would say:
Good wash/wax shampoo. (You said you don't have much time to keep it up, so this may prolong the life of the wax.)
Bundle of good quality MF's.
Mother's clay kit. (It comes with clay, 4 oz. of wax and a full size QD)

Obviously, you should have wash mitts in good shape. This is one item that you don't want to keep using until it gets thread bare, as you will be inflicting new marring onto the car. But, as you mentioned you wanted only 3 ideas, there has to be a limit. But I would recommend this as a 4th item. This will get your exterior looking good, but of course, won't touch the interior. However, for spots, you might be able to use something you already have for spots in the house. Dressing, well, I would recommend using one made for cars, rather than something you may have in the house (like Pledge® or something.)
 
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