What's the best change in your detailing process?

SilverLexus

SilverLexus

Super Enthusiast
For me it was getting handy with the PC and rotary and using swirl remover polishes with a finishing pad. Really helps the surface prep.



What have been the biggest and most impactful changes in your process?
 
Proper wash and dry techniques.



Unfortunately, I still rely on glazes as sort of a crutch on my dark blue car. I don't have the patience to polish to perfection with a PC. I don't mind glazes, though, as often as I apply a caranuba. I'm the only one who will know they're under there.
 
I have to say the first time I used clay after years of using only cleaner waxes.



Nothing since came close to that shock.
 
Yeah, I have to give it to Mike Phillips and his PC teaching technique. Not just having the tool but also being able to use it properly.:)
 
I would say clay first, then the PC. Couple that with the "real" products I use now compared to the over the counter stuff. I get better results much faster.
 
Washing with the foamgun, no question about it. It's utterly revolutionized my detailing as I hardly ever have to polish out marring. I could probably get by easier without my rotary/PCs/Cyclos than I could without the foamguns. While I've changed products over the years (e.g., MFs), the foamgun is the big change in my *process*.
 
for now it would have to be, claying and using sealants.

im hoping soon it will be using the pc.
 
SpoiledMan said:
Yeah, I have to give it to Mike Phillips and his PC teaching technique. Not just having the tool but also being able to use it properly.:)
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He just released a new 2 hr, 45 min video going over his PC techniques. I can't wait to get it since I can't attend his weekend detailing clinic. I need to learn the proper PC technique. :waxing:
 
Accumulator said:
Washing with the foamgun, no question about it. It's utterly revolutionized my detailing as I hardly ever have to polish out marring. .
Click to expand...



I would have to say it is the ever present posts of the Accumulator on how to avoid marring by using proper washing techniques. Been reading them for quite a while but until recently had concentrated on polishing out the marring. It finally dawned on me that just because I could dimish marring thru polishing eventually I would go thru the clear and then where would I be.



So washing techniques has to be my number one item at this time. Thanks Accumulator!!
 
since getting serious with detailing, buying my foam gun was my greatest improvement. Even using multiple mitts while washing with a conventional two bucket method, I was still inducing a good deal of marring on my paint. After buying the foam gun, this marring as been reduced to nearly none. I dont have to polish as often and that is a wonderful thing.
 
Accumulator said:
Washing with the foamgun, no question about it. It's utterly revolutionized my detailing as I hardly ever have to polish out marring. I could probably get by easier without my rotary/PCs/Cyclos than I could without the foamguns. While I've changed products over the years (e.g., MFs), the foamgun is the big change in my *process*.
Click to expand...

MMMMM I'll trade you one of my foamguns for a cyclo :spot
 
The PC a while back.

Wife no longer checking the credit card statements.

The Poorboy's line a few months back.

gmblack showing me his QEW wash procedure a week or two ago.



-GT
 
For me, I move from PC to Rotary...oh man, it cut down alot of time.

And 2nd, the Gilmour foam gun kickass yo :2thumbs:
 
SilverLexus said:
What have been the biggest and most impactful changes in your process?
Click to expand...



1. MF towels. Especially WW for drying. Before this forum, I'd always heard that cotton diapers where the ultimate. They are all shop rags now. And WW is so much better than chamois, which I never really liked...



2. Claybar. Wow!



3. New one for me - less than a week: Steam Cleaner. the Picallo from Costco on-line. Best $50 I've ever spent.



On my "someday soon" list:



1. Foam gun. $50 for something that's only a little more sophisticated than a $10 yard sprayer seems a bit excessive, but from what others have said... I don't expect this to be as valuable as the steam cleaners, but the foam gun still makes my list.



2. PC. OK, I'm probably the oldest member of Autopia that hasn't bought one yet. I'm still happy with my $20 Turtlewax 6" orbital (you can get a similar one from Harbor Freight now for $15), but I've been wanting to try foam pads instead of cotton or MF bonnets.



3. Pressure washer. Mostly for around the house, but I need one to do a good undercarriage wash on my 12YO Toyota Pickup that suffered some bad oil leaks (that I fixed). BTW, anyone got any tips on pressure washing spider webs (real ones - not the paint kind)? PM me - I don't want to high jack the thread. We get a lot of spider webs in NE FL, and I seem to have more than my share of them.



Good thread! Thanks,
 
I'd have to say, even more proper techniques (better than I was currently using), the PC 7424, and now Souveran (I never thought I'd spend $70 on a tub of wax in my life, now I can't wait to use it)



If it ain't the modding bug, it's the detailing bug......spending never ends :( :(
 
3Dog- Heh heh, no deal. If anything, I can see getting a *third* Cyclo so I can keep one set up with the brushes all the time :D Sorta keeping my eyes open for one of the older ones with the engraved nameplate and the aluminum top handle.



cwcad- eh, I just bothered to post some stuff that'd worked for me and it got some people thinking. The real lesson was to keep an open mind and think more. When I first heard about the foamgun I thought it was a "toy" (as somebody else who hasn't used one recently put it ;) ) and when I first tried it I still thought so. It took a little cogitatin' to figure out what the real issue was and how the foamgun could help resolve it. The old "more thinking, less doing" approach.
 
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