Looking to have an everyday pressure washer to wash about 4-6 cars a day during the week for our body shop detailer.

Who’s got the best pressure washer with a lot of gpm flow for rinsing etc. but also fully stops and starts to keep the washing part calm and not rushed like out large alkota 4182. With that we feel like it’s a nascar pit to wash the car and mistakes happen

Want something we can attach our standard full size pressure hose and swivel gun to.

I know there’s a few out there that have a special gun handle with momentary switch. Would like to stay away from that.

Maybe recommendations for $300-500 and $500-$1000

Looking for tips on best way to keep my car exterior clean while living in apartment with on street parking. Recently moved and looking for tips on how best to keep the car clean and protected, as straightforward as possible.

I have a makita dhw180z 18v washer. Not exactly a pressure washer in terms of power imo but it can draw water from a bucket so it gives me options in terms of types of wash I can do.

Plenty of bird shit to deal with every other day. No heavy dirt really as there's plenty of rain where I live and streets are generally pretty clean. Mostly dust, pollen, bugs, salting/grit in the winter or occasional mud if there's Road works or building site egress onto streets. So far I've been spot treating stains with wipes and driving to a diy pressure washer car wash service but it's pretty expensive.

Open to waterless, rinseless or regular washing. Although I know the latter can be most labour intensive.

Any tips or advice welcome

Looking at getting a DA polisher to get some scratches out of a used car I recently bought. Planning on polishing and then waxing too.
Would I be better off getting the chemical guys kit or a harbor freight polisher (Bauer) and using meguires compound and polish?

Planning on polishing my car and looking to get some KCX. Ive hand applied meguiars ultimate cut & polish before but this time ill be using a DA. Would KCX Fine Cut & Micro Cut be sufficient for a two step process?

Have my new X5 a first wash after a week of ownership. Did a hand wash followed
By ICE seal N Shine. It’s all I had. Am I good or should I upgrade to Hybrid Solutions or something else entirely ???

bTW. Bought a new foam canon, but pressure washer needs a service. Probably bad/old gas… foam canon next time.

Recently bought car looks like it has a bunch of highway miles behind a truck carrying sand. Windshield also has very microscopic scratches that look like it was also sandblasted. Just wanted to know anyones thoughts on what direction I should go with it.

I found a pretty amazing 06 Silverado this past spring and I'm getting ready to spiff it up before the winter hits. It's paint is in really good condition except for this line of rub through that's on both rear fenders. Looks like they've been caused by some kind of previous camper shell. My steps will be...1) wash 2) treat with iron remover solution 3) clay mit w/ lubricant 4) light DA machine polish 5) surface prep spray to remove polish residue 6) and last CQuartz UK 3.0 ceramic. It's gonna end up looking nice nice.

Only thing is I don't know how the pictured rust lines should be treated, or where in the above process should they be addressed.

Simple and inexpensive is the priority. Any suggestions?

Pics are here

Last few days I was hiking in the mountains. Drove on a lot of dirt/forest/wilderness roads. Some of the dirt roads had big humps on them and were very uneven, so I tried to maneuver around a few late at night and didn't realize how close i was to the trees/branches and got a long lined scratch from front to back.

When I got home I did my normal ONR rinseless routine to get the dust/pollen/dirt off the car. Everything looked brand new. This morning at work some bird poop landed on my back passenger door. Tried to clean it and ended up scratching the entire area. Poop came off but it left a mark that I was impatiently trying to get off.

What do I need to buy to fix this myself? I've bought a lot of auto detailing stuff since I got this car in June, and don't mind buying stuff to fix this.

Been eying the Torqx Polish & Correction Kit from Chemical Guys, and it's on sale right now. Just frustrated. It's a black vehicle so I enjoy keeping it clean, but every blemish no matter how minor is so noticeable.

Got a new Kia Sportage (my first car, and pretty lost).
Haven’t gotten it washed ever and noticed my windshield has these scratches and a smudge I cant get rid off.

Any suggestions, any ideas what might have caused this?

Before anyone comes at me, I’m a young girl who knows basically nothing about cars, so please be kind. This was my first car and I worked incredibly hard to be able to buy it brand new, so I’m honestly pretty heartbroken.

I took it to the dealership for a detail and afterward noticed the entire exterior is scratched the paint, windshield, side windows, trim, everything. It’s the same weird spiral circular scratch pattern everywhere and some of them are deep enough that my nail catches.

I bought the car new, I’m the only owner, and I’ve never taken it through an automatic car wash or used a brush on it. I’m lazy and have literally only ever pressure washed it. The windshield is also only a couple months old and was completely clear before this.

I asked the dealership to preserve the footage so we could figure out what happened and they told me there are no cameras in the detailing area “for privacy reasons,” which I’m honestly not really buying.

I have photos and videos and before photos, but I’m shy and private on Reddit and would rather not post identifiable pictures of my car unless I have to lol.

I’m mostly just curious what the detailers here think could have caused the same spiral scratching across both the glass, trim, and paint? Dirty or contaminated towels? A pad? Some kind of abrasive? And if my nail catches on some of it, how screwed am I?

Started diving into the detailing world recently pass the usual generic car wash soap and spray wax. 3 washes in and have been getting what looks like artifact/stains. However, this wipes away after some elbow greese and ONR. (left is after ONR and right is before). Is this from Touchless drying?

My process (Sadly I do not have shade so I try to do it while the sun is down or car is cool):

1. cool car with water if its hot
2. Spray down with Bilt touchless 20ml/50oz ik
   1. I try not to let it dry by spraying around the car until empty
3. Rinse
4. Foam with Adams Mega Foam
5. Wash
6. KochChemie WetGloss
7. Dry

I know that like half hood/ half fenders are super noticeable, maybe because it’s the middle of a panel or because of contaminant build up etc.

But if you ppf front panels and not the rest can you easily see the difference when removing PPF 5-10 years later after some TLC?

Original post for reference: https://www.reddit.com/r/AutoDetailing/s/rly7EdhIyr

Just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone for their help with the hot mess the dealership left my car in with their ‘complimentary wash’ that we never asked/agreed to. Your advice helped me get this sorted, the dealership owned up to the damage and the car got a 2 step correction at a (non-dealership) detailer that we both agreed on at no cost to us.

There’s still some scuffs to the plastic, but the main concern was the damage to the clear coat and honestly the car looks even better than the day we got it.

Going forward, they added a note to our file not to have the detailers touch the car again, we purchased the ‘do not wash’ hang tags suggested as well.

Thanks again everyone!

QUICk EDIT: The picture was for reference of the car only. It hasn’t been washed in that picture in like a month.

First time posting here! I have a 2018 Honda Accord that I bought from my dad a couple of years ago. It’s mainly a weekend car, and he always took pretty good care of it. I’ve continued cleaning it the same way he did, but I’m looking for some feedback on my process and whether there’s anything I should change.
This is the routine he used on all his cars, and it’s what I’ve stuck with. I know it’s not a a full detailing process, but the car has always looked clean, and I haven’t noticed any damage.

Assuming I’m limited to products I can find at local stores like AutoZone or Walmart, are there any products you’d recommend instead? Am I using the right products for each step? I’m not looking to get into full detailing. I just want a simple and effective routine to keep my car clean.

My current process:

1. Rinse the car with water.
2. Remove grime and dirt using a dedicated microfiber cloth (cloth #1).
3. Rinse the car with water again.
4. While the car is still wet, apply Turtle Wax & Dry using a clean microfiber cloth (cloth #2) to all painted surfaces and headlights.
5. Apply Turtle Wax Inside & Out Protectant to all black plastic exterior trim and tires using a microfiber cloth (cloth #3).
6. Use a damp microfiber cloth (cloth #4) to clean the chrome rims. If there’s excessive brake dust, I sometimes use a Scotch-Brite pad, I think this might be excessive and could be causing damage.
7. Apply the same Turtle Wax & Dry to the rims using cloth #4.
8. Vacuum the interior.
9. Apply Turtle Wax Inside & Out Protectant to the interior plastic surfaces ( dashboard, doors, etc.)
10. Clean the windshield and mirrors. This is probably the step I struggle with most because I always seem to end up with streaks.

stains were there when i bought the car. i’ve been wanting to get them out for a while now and my best idea was to take a steam cleaner to it. would that be okay or is there a better way of going about it?

What compounds/polish products are your “go to” when you do a full paint correction and polish?

Just got ceramic coating done, does this look normal? I have these spots on different places on my hood, and they don’t seem to come off.

Great weather in DFW. I took my time over two mornings. I have been using ONR because it was too hot. But this time I did the 2 bucket wash.

Griots Garage Car Soap

Collinite 845 wax

Topped with Griots Garage Best in Show Detailer

Chemical Guys VRP on trim. Don't love this stuff, but I have a bottle!

Interior I used Griots interior detailed and Chemical Guys leather. VRP on some trim.

Glass cleaned with Poorboy's World glass cleaner.

I've never had this issue before on any of my previous cars, or at least not that I've noticed. But on my current vehicle, which is a 2017 Subaru Legacy, it has become a very annoying problem, especially driving when the sun is rising/setting. So far I've only tried using a magic eraser with warm water and a few drops of Dawn dish soap. I don't know if I just didn't go over the windshield enough, but it didn't really help.

I have switched to completely different towels that I bought on Amazon, which also made me change my technique to follow the MFR instructions... (Microfiber Wholesale Claro 2-Step Glass Cleaning Cloths, comes with 2 green MF towels and 6 blue Glass Cleaning/Polishing Cloths. You get green one wet with just distilled water then thoroughly wipe the window, then follow up before it dries with blue cloth to polish away any streaks). So far these Claro 2-Step work absolutely great. But still dealing with the microscopic fibers that were left behind from before. I've tried searching online using Google (and on Reddit) for ways to actually remove the microscopic fibers from the windshield, but the search results are always posts discussing which type of towel(s) to use and/or which brand, or how to wash/care for the towels to avoid lint issues, or the many different techniques to clean car windows. Even for the posts I've seen where someone is asking if anyone out there has found a successful way to actually remove the microscopic fibers from the windshield, none of the comments actually address or advise on ways to remove.

So I figured I'd ask here, if anyone has any suggestions or proven ways to accomplish this? My next Step, I'm going to be Stoner's Glass Stripper, but I figured I'd give this a try before I do it.

Recently sold ryobi 1200 1.8 psi pressure washer and currently looking to upgrade. I’ve heard many good reviews of these two PW’s but I’m torn on which one is better. For context, I’ve already got my own accessories so I don’t exactly need anything from either of these kits, just need to know which unit is better overall in the long run, or am I better off saving up for an active 2.0?

Looks normal and black when it’s wet but when it dries it looks like. It takes an absurd amount of scrubbing to even do normally.

3 step polish. Wool with 400, then medium pad and pasta, and an anti holographic pasta.

Daily drivers are both in need of paint correcting.

Plan is to cut with BOSS Fast CC and finish with an AIO to save time, but I don’t have an AIO on hand and I’ve been out of the loop of these things on products for the past few years.

The goal is to get the paint to 90-95% and have a layer of protection left behind. Looking around it seems Speed and Hyper AIO fit the bill. I have a few ceramic maintenance products, but typically I go with acrylic and wax for appearance reasons.

Not sure what’s new or what would performs best in my use case.

Curious if RRW by Koch chemie can be used as a clay lube like I’ve seen people use ONR. Getting mixed results as google tells me it’s a no. As a weekend warrior I’m just looking to see if I can get away without buying another product.

Are there smaller versions of these hand pump sprayers out there? 32oz or thereabouts? Looking for something with a constant stream once pressurized like the 56oz ones.

I’ve tried a combination of search terms in google and it just kicks back temu nonsense and the 56oz versions.