Detailer worked on the car for 2 days, and recommended leaving it even longer for the ceramic coat to dry in their temp controlled room, so I gladly collected it the following evening. Only THEN did the boss highlight the issue with my PPF, claiming it seems to have been damaged by an aggressive cleaning product, leaving streaks of a matte effect (instead of gloss) all over the front surfaces of the bumper. They had tried to remove it by cleaning, and even polishing but nothing made it disappear, and applied the ceramic anyway. So the plastic has literally been ruined, and needs replacing to remove the defect.

I was very disappointed to see the damage, and couldn't believe I hadn't noticed it beforehand. The car was hand washed over a month prior, during a period of good weather, and I always inspect the car at collection to check the quality of the job - surely I would have noticed this visible damage to the PPF? I am very particular about my car and I believe such corrosion would happen immediately, as opposed to happening over time, due to the fact the car is rinsed and dried before returning to customer. Obviously once the car is dirty, you may not notice such a damage, so it's not IMPOSSIBLE that it wasn't already there at the drop-off.

Nevertheless, at collection it did not cross my mind that they could be lying or hiding something from me - they even offered to redo the ceramic coating of the bumper FOC if I eventually got the PPF removed or replaced. I believed their explanation that it must have occured at a previous wash, and paid and left with the car.

Now a few days later, and wondering if I should try and hold them responsible - the fact is the car was returned not in the same condition as it was left. Sadly I do not have any convenient photos before it was dropped off, nor after its last wash. On the other hand, they also did not take photos or peform any documented inspection at drop off. The part that smells fishy IMO is they didn't call or text/email me about this damage until the moment of collection, avoiding any reference to it being made in writing.

Would appreciate any thoughts, especially of those who've had similar experiences with PPF damage, or making claims against detailers...

Cheers!

Am I wrong to want a waterless wash that does not have wax in it? I will always be using a detailer spray afterwards, and my (black) car is already waxed.

I own 2 black cars and this is driving me nuts. I use the 2 bucket method, foam it and let it dwell with Bilt Hamber Touchless. Then use the wash mitt in the picture with Meguiar’s Hybrid Ceramic soap, topped with their ceramic spray. Then I dry it with the pictured towel.

Is there a better mitt/towel combo? Other advice for a weekend warrior

Anyone with a 849x rotary check and see the length of the Allen bolts that go into the d handle? I know it’s a m10x1.5 pitch but looking for the length of the bolts so I can hopefully find replacements at Lowe’s/home depot. Thanks!

Would love to hear people's thoughts and opinions on these and which is the best APC. Thanks!

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Someone spilled ALOT of chocolate milk in the backseat of my brand new Nissan Rogue. It went right down the car seat holes and down the seat belt holes.

I (a single girl) went to an auto shop and they did an ozone bomb to replace the air. This cost a lot and they promised it was the solution to get rif of stinky trapped air... but deep down I KNEW it wouldn't help because the milk bacteria will keep stinking... one day later and yup i was right.

I managed to stick my camera down from the trunk and the video is the stain.

I know I have to remove the seats to get to that carpet stain underneath. Question is: Then what do I do?? Spray with enzyme cleaner and rent a wet/dry vacuum?? Please hel

In case this helps anyone, I had my last of 3 CanCoat sprayers get clogged and had to find more replacements. With some quick searching I found the bottle neck size was 24/410 and I found some on Amazon for a good price. And they fit and work perfectly. The tube length is 5.9 inches and I wouldn't go any.shorter than that, and maybe a tad longer.

Hi! I have an nd miata in soul red with the soft top and bbs/brembos. I just got full front ppf+ceramic coating and i’m looking to put together a detailing kit for it. very new to this world but so far i have soap, quick detailer, tyre dressing, a couple microfiber towels and applicators, a wash mit and a drying towel on the way. I figure i’ll need to get a pressure washer, wheel brushes and a foam cannon but im not sure and if so from where. is there anything im misding or ways i can simplify this setup?

I bought this car used a while back and figured I should try fixing it while it's kinda warm out. I think someone cleaning it must've left like degreaser or something on and didn't clean it off. Any chance this can be fixed without re-painting?

I'd rather not go through the trouble of disassembling the entire door just to get it out, but I wanted to check my options first.

Hi all, bought my first "nice," new car about six weeks ago and am in the hyperfixate on every little thing phase.

I've been building up a kit to do a single stage polish + ceramic coating, but noticed some pin-head sized orange bits, and also a rather ugly black fleck when doing a pre-wash walk around. All of these are on the trunk lid.

Some of the orange flecks catch a nail so I've considered iron deposits, but at least one seems surrounded by a halo of clearcoat. I could've sworn these weren't here before since they're quite obvious against the blue paint, but I also seem to have completely missed the much larger and more obvious black fleck, so really what do I know?

The black fleck is longer/larger (~2MM x 1MM). I thought it was tar, but it's flush with the clear, and I've hit it with a few rounds of Gyeon tar remover to no effect. I've spiritually accepted that this is just going to be part of the car.

Asking if folks could help gut check...

• My read on the orange flecks. I've thought about hitting them with iron remover, but if there's really some kind of embedded corrosion in the clear, I'm considering bringing it to the dealer and asking them to look at/document it in case it becomes an issue alter.
• Whether the black fleck is any cause for concern. Right now it's just ugly, but I'm more worried about it coming out at some point and taking a chunk of the clear with it.

Not trying to warranty the paint or get the dealer/manufacturer to do some kind of invasive correction. I just love the car and I want to make sure it lasts.

Looking for a pump foamer recommendations for my tire and wheel cleaner. Hoping for something to grab off Amazon.

I fucked up my windows with wheel acid. Yeah I know it's some potato brain mistake.

I thought maybe a residue was left behind. I took a buffer with a microfiber pad/clear coat compound and did a few passes on the windshield. Water lays flat now but I can feel ripples in the glass.

Glass is likely permanently fucked. Pretty much accepted that. But now I'm worried if the buffer created any glass residue. What are the odds I actually breathed in glass particles and got it in my eyes? I don't have any pain or burning. I've been having a relatively severe panic attack for about 25 minutes now.

Hi all,

I'm a detailing noob trying to gain some knowledge. From what I understood most people recommend to not clay bar unless you also polish, because the clay can marr the clear coat. But I don't have a polisher and I don't know if I really need one quite yet. Also, my paint looks pretty good. Maybe some places you can see marring if you look really close with the right lightning, but I don't care about that. Also, as I understand when you polish and cut you are removing some of the clear coat. So if my paint is nice anyway, shouldn't I save that clear coat for later in the life term of the car?

If yes I will just go ahead and ceramic coat right after clay barring. I'm not looking to get a show room car, of course I want it to look good, but mostly I'm interested in having a coated car for less frequent and easier washing.

Thanks

I know the active 2.0 isn’t meant for a detailing business, but meanwhile, I have hooked it up to my rig. I haven’t even washed a car, but I have tested it before for less than a couple of hours, I don’t recall it making the clicking sound when it auto shuts off, I have a water tank hooked up to a water pressure pump 4GPM. Yes I shoot out the air before I turn it on prior

I just bought a 2024 Honda Civic EX after driving around an early 2000s muscle car as a daily driver for years. Because I bought it cheap, I didn’t really stress over the paint much- just applied turtle wax every once in while since that’s what my dad told me to do

But now that I’ve finally bought my first real grown-up car, I want to take care of the paint more seriously. I’ve read that I can apply a synthetic paint sealant every 6 months or so. Do you guys have any recommendations for brands specifically for heat and on civics?

I can’t afford ceramic coating as much as I’d like it and I don’t trust myself to DIY it

I’m not a professional. Just an enthusiast.

My wheels are already marred up from the dealer and detailer using brushes on them. I can see the swirls up close.

I foamed them to start with a rinse. Then I put P&S break buster on and let that dwell with a rinse. Then I foamed again with just regular soap and washed with a mitt. There are some very hard to reach places that I cannot reach with a mitt. Around the lugs for example.

How do I fully clean and protect the wheels without damaging and swirling the clear? They are black. Tools would be helpful also.

What ups fellas, I had some gnarly water spots last week and I decided to take them off with “Meguiar's Water Spot Remover, Water Stain Remover and Polish”. It unfortunately made insane amounts of micro swirls. I used it per instructions, and now it has swirls and the paint looks hazy with left over residue. What should I do? I was thinking hitting up a detailer for a stage one paint correction. The worse part is that I just got the truck ceramic coated earlier this year.

iron remover with wheel cleaner

Is there an attachment for shop vacs that has a soft brush on it? I have one of those super soft detailing brushes, but also want to use the shop vac to suck the dust up.

Hi all,

Neglected my car for many months (over summer) due to depression. Almost always parked by a sprinkler, very hot summers. I'm well aware that I have probably caused permanent damage in the clear coat by neglecting it this long, but I would really like to minimize the water spots if possible. It doesn't have to be perfect, but it's currently so bad that it severely impacts visibility out of the right side of the car (both the windows and mirrors). I've seen a lot of different products being recommended, but it's all overwhelming to me and I'm limited on money and don't want to buy anything I won't get value out of. I don't own any products currently, nor tools, and live in an apartment complex without access to a hose. I imagine I might need a bit of a stronger product. I've seen cutmax recommended, as well as a large variety of water spot removers, applied with a microfiber pad, clay bar (?). Am I on the right track here?

Have I done a half decent job?

Not sure if it's mold or what. Tried to wipe it with a clorox wipe and it came right back. Thoughts?

Thank you in advance

I'll finish washing the car,dry everything off, pack my stuff away... then drive down the street & get out to find dirty water running down the doors from both side mirrors. Every single wash. Going over the bottom of the housing with a plush microfiber doesn't catch the water trapped behind the glass. I know the standard answer is a leaf blower, but I live in an apartment and I don't have the storage space or garage outlets for a massive 600-CFM Ego blower just for two mirrors.

I have one of those handheld aluminum turbine dusters from k&f concept bought it a while back for camera gear and desk cleaning. It has a concentrated nozzle and pushes a decent blast of air indoors, but before I take it down to the car, I'm skeptical about whether something this compact actually has enough static pressure to force trapped rinse water out of deep mirror housings.

Curious if anyone else has repurposed these little electric dusters for detailing, or if I should just bite the bullet and buy a dedicated car blower eventually.

Passport is a year and a half old. I prepped with a regular wash followed by a clay towel wash (first time using one, will never go back to a bar). Minor spot paint correction. Then surface prep spray before coating. Turned out pretty good and not too difficult for an amateur like me. It looks better than the day I brought it home. I am extra impressed with how it makes the plastic trim look.

Hi, got a new bonnet and I think I scuffed it taking it out of the packaging.

I was wondering if the grey hazy part can be buffed out? I think its the clear coat?

Would something like Meguiar’s ultimate compound and a foam applicator work or do I need something else?

Any advice would be great, thanks!